St. James Anglican Church

Description of the Historic Place

St. James Anglican Church (today known as Emmanual Anglican Chuch) is a one storey brick building built in 1912. The church is located on a corner lot at 607 Dufferin Avenue in the neighbourhood of Nutana. Built in 1928, the Hall (or the Refinery) is a one-and-a-half storey structure located adjacent to the church.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of St. James Anglican Church lies in its architecture, which features characteristics of the Romanesque Revival style. This red brick building with a front-facing gable roof was designed by Thompson, Daniel & Colthurst. A four-sided tower forms the front entry of the church, and the four-sided tower roof is supported on decorative brackets, and has four narrow, gabled air-vents.  The church has cedar shingles, with a hexagonal steeple that rises from the tower roof.  The main structure has a gabled cross-wing at the rear, solid buttresses and arched voussoirs.  A large "rose" window on the front wall is made up of shards of glass from the stained glass windows that were destroyed during two major fires which gutted the building. The hall (referred to as The Refinery) has its original stucco exterior with half-timbering.  It features a steeply pitched, front-facing gable roof with bell-cast eaves and maintains its original windows.    

The heritage value of St. James Anglican Church also resides in its value as a religious and cultural landmark in Saskatoon. This was the first Anglican Church on the Nutana side of the South Saskatchewan River; the present building was built in 1912 to replace the first frame church, which was moved there from the 500 block of Dufferin Avenue in late 1907/early 1908. The church survived two major fires; one on November 2, 1976 and again on February 28, 1982. After the second fire, the original stone foundation and walls were retained and the rest was rebuilt. 

The hall (now referred to as The Refinery) was originally used as a facility for a badminton club, as recreation centers and school gyms were in short supply. Today, the building is home to a variety of community and arts-based programming in Saskatoon.

Source: City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database

Character Defining Elements

Key elements which contribute to the heritage value of this historic resource include:

• Its architectural style with Romanesque Revival influences, evident in: its four-sided tower, tower roof and decorative brackets;  gabled air-vents; cedar shingles; hexagonal steeple, solid buttresses and arched voussoirs;
• Those elements that speak to its religious and cultural importance, including the rose window on the church’s front wall and the Hall (Refinery) with its stucco exterior, half-timbering, steeply pitched roof, windows and bell-cast eaves; and
• Those elements that speak to its status as a neighbourhood landmark, including its orientation on its original lot and location along Dufferin Avenue.