Description of Historic Place

St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, a small wooden building constructed in 1906 and later expanded, is a municipally designated site on a country road near Gimli. The church and its large timber-framed bell tower are set within a landscape of dense bush and a few open fields close to the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. The site's designation applies to the church, the bell tower and the lands they occupy.

Heritage Value

St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church is a modest example of how long-established architectural practices from Ukraine were adapted to the pioneer conditions of rural Manitoba to enable early settlers to maintain and foster their religious traditions. The building's simple form, interior layout, materials and detailing, including a single banya (dome), recall in a humble manner important symbols associated with more elaborate Eastern rite facilities in the Ukraine. From its donated site to lumber sawn from local logs, this church demonstrates the desire among Ukrainians in the Gimli area to give tangible expression to their religious values and practices, despite limited resources and other challenges of settling in a new country.

Source: Rural Municipality of Gimli By-law No. 4-99, August 26, 2002

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
- the placement of the church and bell tower on a traditional east-west axis on a large grassed lot, with the main door facing west

Key elements that define the external heritage character of St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church include:
- the traditional rectangular shape with a steeply pitched gable roof, a simple tin-sheathed onion dome with a traditional Latin cross centered on the ridge, high shiplap sided walls painted white with contrasting coloured trim and a shed-roofed section at the northeast corner
- the simplified angular pointed windows with clear glass, including two equally spaced openings on the north wall and three equally spaced openings on the south elevation

Key elements that define the simplified Ukrainian Catholic character of the church's interior include:
- the unaltered one-room plan, with an open nave containing the altar at the east end, a small mezzanine at the west end and an attached vestry with tongue-and-groove board siding
- the unpretentious materials and finishes, including a high truncated ceiling painted a traditional pale blue, dark-varnished wainscotting, upper walls painted white, fir floors and a pipe that connects the chimney with a small wood-burning stove against the north wall
- essential furnishings and objects, such as the handmade tabernacle on the altar, the small table with a crucifix in front and the simple hand-hewn wooden pews and pulpit against the south wall