History (Building)
1900 Fernwood / 1291 Gladstone 1886 – 87; 1892
Spring Ridge Chapel; Emmanuel Baptist Church
Architect: Chapel – unknown; Church – Thomas Hooper (likely)
Construction Supervisor: Chapel – unknown; Church – Rev. Peter H. McEwen
Now know as the Belfry Theatre, this former church is distinctive by virtue of its steeple and its location on a pedestrian square. At one point the original finish had been stuccoed over, but fortunately we can now see it again in all its former splendour.
The 1886-87 chapel to the west is a single-storey, front-gabled structure with a gabled vestibule-porch in front, both with open bed classical pediments. It has two shed-roofed additions on the sides, and Gothic windows. It is covered with drop siding that is slightly wider than that on the newer building.
The main building has a gable roof with a bracketed classical pediment and a large Romanesque arch window facing Gladstone, flanked by a two-storey tower with a hipped roof to the right (west) and a three-storey belfry with with octagonal steeple and eaves modillions to the left (on the corner of Gladstone and Fernwood). There are two cross-gables facing east and west, the east one with a bracketed classical pediment and another Romanesque window prominently visible from Fernwood; other, smaller Romanesque windows are used liberally over the building. Both large gable windows are filled with art glass. On the ground floor of the belfry the original doors have been removed, leaving interesting cruciform decorative patterns. The building is covered with drop siding on the first two storeys, with shingle on the gable pediments and on the upper portion of the belfry. The building is a good example of the Shingle church of the 1890s and early 1900s.
The Baptist congregation was formed in Victoria in 1874 when Alexander and Fanny Clyde moved here from Stratford, ON. First Baptist Church was officially organized in 1876, with eight black and seven white charter members. A mission known as Calvary Baptist Church in 1885 opened a Sunday School on Edmonton, now Bay Street, at the home of Peter Wilson. That congregation purchased for $550 the 120′ by 120′ lot at the corner of Fernwood and Gladstone, and on February 6, 1887 dedicated the newly built Spring Ridge Chapel. In 1890 Emmanuel Baptist Church was formed and the congregation constructed the main sanctuary in 1892 for $8,000. The Rev. Peter H. McEwen acted as construction supervisor, and it is believed that Thomas Hooper designed the main structure.
April 4, 1971 was the final Sunday service in this building, and Emmanuel Baptist congregation moved to their new sanctuary on Cedar Hill Cross Road in Saanich. The Springridge Cultural Centre was founded in 1974 by Michael Stephen to promote culture in the city and make use of the church’s vacant space. The building was renamed the Belfry in 1976, and the first professional adult theatre production was mounted in 1977: Puttin’ on the Ritz by the Belfry’s first Artistic Director, Don Shipley. The company bought the buildings in 1990, and embarked on a program of renovation and restoration which were completed in 2003. In 2001 the Belfry won Hallmark Society and Heritage Society of BC awards for the restoration of the exterior.
From: This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods, Volume One – Fernwood and Victoria West by the Victoria Heritage Foundation, 2004.
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