Key Number:	HS 25092
Site Name:	St. Mary & St. George Anglican Church
Other Names:
Site Type:	1603 - Religious: Church, Cathedral or Chapel

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			45	1	6

Address:	600 Geikie Street & Miette Avenue
Number:
Street:	Geikie
Avenue:	Miette
Other:
Town:	Jasper
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:	Gothic Revival
Plan Shape:	Irregular
Storeys:	Storeys: 1
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Stone
Superstructure:	Undetermined
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	High Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Massing of Units: Single Detached Wings: Front and Either Side Wall Design and Detail: Half-Timbering Wall Design and Detail: Corbelling Wall Design and Detail: String or Belt Course Wall Design and Detail: Inscription or Date Stone Roof Trim - Eaves: Projecting Eaves Roof Trim - Eaves: Rafters Exposed Roof Trim Material - Eaves: Wood Roof Trim - Verges: Plain Fascia Roof Trim Material - Verges: Wood Towers, Steeples and Domes: Tower Towers, Steeples and Domes Location-Side to Side: Side Left Towers, Steeples and Domes Location-Front to Rear: Offset Rear Dormer Type: None Chimney Location - Side to Side: Exterior Side Left Chimney Location - Front to Rear: Offset Front Chimney Stack Material: Stone Chimney Stack Massing: Single Roof Trim - Special Features: Finial Window - Structural Opening Shape: Pointed Window - Special Types: Stained Glass
Exterior:	Inscription, pointed windows, tower, steeple, buttresses, exposed rafters, finial, corner brackets. The church is built in the Gothic Revival Style. Prominent features include the use of tudor arched windows - many of which are filled with colourful stained glass figures and scenes. The tower is crowned with pinnacles. The proportions of the church are low and wide, and half-timbering details enliven the gable ends. The roof is supported by a wood truss system.
Interior:	The church has a basilican plan, with a central nave leading to the chancel, which contains the organ chamber, choir, vestry and tower bells. The baptistry is at the entrance end of the church. The main floor is finished, however, the basement space is basically an unfinished dugout space in which the cut in grade is exhibited and large boulders similar to those used on the exterior of the church are evident. Heavy timber tudor style detailing is evident on the interior. The nave has a seating capacity for 150 people.
Environment:	Corner lot, nice lawn, trees. The Church of St. Mary St. George is located on a large pie-shaped lot on the south side of the intersection of Miette Avenue and Giekie Street, Jasper Townsite. The area to the north of the church contains a large open park thus permitting an unobstructed view from that direction. A number of large pine trees are located on the east site of the church.
Condition:	Very good (1983)
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Constructed	1928/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Church	1928/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
The Federal Government of Canada The Synod of the Diocese of Edmonton, lease for 42 years..	1907/01/01 1965/10/01

Architect:	A.M. Calderon
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Mrs. Marion B. Smith of Bournemouth was revealed, after her death, as the anonymous English benefactor of this church. Funds were in memory of her son, killed in WWI, his new testament and string of olive. Beads are embedded in corner stone. 1928 - built to replace original log structure. 1929 - church opened. 1932 - Edith Cavell memeorial tower - added * * * Building / Site Description: The Church of St. Mary St. George is located on a large pie-shaped lot on the south side of the intersection of Miette Avenue and Geikie Street, Jasper Townsite. A Rectory and Parish Hall are also located within the same lot. The area to the north of the church contains a large open park thus permitting an unobstructed view from that direction. A number of large pine trees are located on the east site of the church, consequently the church is obscured when viewed from the south along Geikie Street. The church, styled after 14th Century English Gothic, is generally in very good condition. Historical Significance: Jasper National Park was established in 1907. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (G.T.P.R.) laid steel into the Athabasca Valley in 1911 and established the Hamlet of 'Fitzhugh' which was changed to 'Jasper' in 1913. The first Church of St. Mary and St. George was built in 1914 with logs obtained from the G.T.P.R.. Jasper was classified as a mission by the Edmonton Diocese until 1923 when it was reclassified as a parish. In 1927, A.M. Calderon from Edmonton was commissioned to design a church in the form of a 14th Century English Gothic country church. The church was completed in 1928 and a tower, dedicated to Edith Cavell, was built the following year. The building is still being used as a church today. Architectural Significance: This structure reflects the 19th Century English Gothic Revival in Canada. The Architect, A.M. Calderon, one of the early architects to work in Edmonton. He was well versed in the art of church design, having articled under George Edmund Street, Royal Academician, the well-known English ecclesiastical architect. The Church of St. Mary and St. George is one of a number of churches designed by Calderon in Canada. This building is the only remaining ecclesiastical structure designed by Calderon in Alberta. The masonry of the building is finished with a rough coat of pebbled stucco. Its use of local stone in combination with the rough stucco is well suited to the environment and is one of Jasper's more significant structures. Mrs. Smith of Bournemouth was revealed, after her death, as the anonymous English benefactor of this church. Funds were in memory of her son, killed in W.W. I. His New Testament and string of olive beads are embedded in the cornerstone, which was laid by Viscount Willingdon, Governor General of Canada. * * * Draft Press Release The Honorable Mary J. LeMessurier, Minister of Culture, announced today that the Church of St. Mary and St. George has been designated a Provincial Historic Resource. The Parish of St. Mary and St. George was first established as a mission in 1914 following the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways and the creation of Jasper National Park. So closely was the church associated with these fundamental events in Jasper's history that the first Rector, the Rev. G. Provis, supervised the construction of the first permanent Anglican church in Jasper with the assistance of the local superintendent of the G.T.P. and the Chief Warden of the Park, R.W. Langford. Indeed, Frederick A. Brewster, who became the first Peoples' Warden following the construction of the old log church and continued to be an active church member until his death in 1969, was an outstanding example of the mountain park experience in this church's membership. He arrived in Jasper 1912 as a contractor involved in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Following the completion of the railway he remained in Jasper to establish a guiding and promote winter skiing in the Jasper area. In 1927 the original wooden structure was replaced with the present building, the design of which was inspired by the widespread revival of interest in thirteenth and fourteenth century Gothic parish churches of England. Gothic features of the church include the use of pointed double arched windows, and a tower crowned with medieval battlements and sloping buttresses, two of them topped with pinnacles. Following its construction and continuing to the present day, the church has been augmented by donations of furnishings, stained glass windows, plaques and other decorative memories. The Church of St. Mary and St. George is historically important for its architecture as well as for its association with the development of the unique mountain park character of Jasper.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	1985/04/29

Register:

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0576