Description of Historic Place

The 1910 St. Andrews United Church, with its thick limestone walls and low west-end addition, occupies a discreet site in a quiet residential neighbourhood across from a stone quarry in Garson, a village northeast of Winnipeg. The municipal designation applies to the church and its small lot.

Heritage Value

St. Andrews United Church, originally a Presbyterian church, is especially valued for its bold use of Tyndall stone, a high-quality limestone commercially known as Manitoba Tyndall. Named for the rail stop from which it was first shipped, the fossil-laden stone, with its characteristic mottled appearance, has been used to detail hundreds of buildings across the country, including interior features of the reconstructed Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. St. Andrews, with its simple form, massive stone walls, steep gable roof and pointed windows, also is a very fine expression of the Scottish parish churches that are its models. The well-crafted building, constructed by mason John Hart and carpenter George Cushnie, and entirely planned and built by volunteers employed at the Garson quarry, is a symbol of local dedication. Largely unaltered, the building, now used as a residence, is an important community landmark.

Source: Village of Garson By-law No. 144/90, October 24, 1990

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the St. Andrews United Church site include:
- its location on the west side of Gillis Street, across from one of the early Garson-area quarries
- the church's east-west alignment, facing east, within a small grassed lot with front shade trees

Key exterior elements that define the building's outstanding limestone construction and fine craftsmanship include:
- its simple one-storey rectangular form with a steeply pitched gable roof, exposed wooden eaves and massive stone walls
- the small front entrance porch with a gable roof that matches the slope of the main roof
- the exceptional stonework, including rusticated, random-laid limestone walls and sills contrasted by smooth-cut stone window heads, a hood-mould with grotesques above the entrance transom, a cornerstone inscription (northeast corner) and a short stone chimney
- Gothic Revival features such as the pointed arch around the entrance, the three-part, clear and obscured-glass windows with upper Y-tracery, etc.

Key elements that define the simple yet finely finished interior include:
- the largely unaltered spaces of the small front vestibule and high open nave with a truncated ceiling
- fine materials and finishes such as the richly stained tongue-and-groove boards that cover the ceiling and walls of the nave and vestibule, the nave's double wood doors, the fir flooring, pendant light fixtures, etc.