Description of Historic Place

The Anglican Church Property is a Municipal Heritage Property featuring a vernacular wood-frame church with a multi-sided apse situated on two corner lots in a residential neighbourhood of Cabri.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Anglican Church Property lies in its association with the spiritual life of two prairie farming communities, and in its architecture and appointments that express the religious sensibilities of its founding congregation. The church was built in 1913 to serve the Christian Reformed congregation of Cramersburg, a Dutch settlement located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Cabri. The church's modest design and restrained interior reflect both the economic realities of pioneer life and the sobriety, simplicity and humility valued by the Christian Reformed faith.

By 1923, Cramersburg's residents had dispersed in the face of crop failures and low grain prices. The church was purchased by Cabri's Anglican congregation and moved to its present site where it provided a place of worship for its new community until 1978 as St. Andrew’s Church. Since then, the church building has stood as a remembrance to Cabri's forebears and has provided a venue for occasional weddings.

Source:

Town of Cabri Bylaw No. 1-84.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Anglican Church Property resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those architectural elements that identify the building as a vernacular country church, including the polygonal apse wedded to a simple rectangular-plan structure; the bell tower surmounted by its belfry and modest spire; clapboard siding and shake shingles; pointed arch windows in the apse and unassuming square-framed windows in the other walls;
-those interior elements that reflect the building's function as a place of worship, including the pulpit and floor plan consisting of nave and elevated chancel and choir;
-interior elements that create a rich, but understated ambience typical of a Christian Reformed church, including dark-stained interior doors, mouldings, and plank flooring; the wood-panelled vaulted ceiling and wainscoting; and the unadorned, white-washed walls.