105-year-old Edmonton church given historic designation

EDMONTON – McDougall United Church has officially been given historic designation. Tuesday, Edmonton City Council passed the motion to designate the 105-year-old church as a historic resource. The designation now gives the city access to $500,000 from the Heritage Reserve Fund for the restoration process.

Mayor Don Iveson shared his joy after Tuesday’s council meeting,

“Very, very positive development today. We lose some buildings, and it’s very unfortunate, but I’m very pleased that McDougall church is one that working with the province we’ve seemed to be able to save.”

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The church has been the topic of debate for nearly a year, as repair costs for the building soared. McDougall residents feared the building would be demolished if money for repairs was not found, and called on the city to buy the property.

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In February, the city released a report saying the restoration would come with a hefty price tag of $18-25 million.  A couple of months later, as hope for the building dwindled, the church council decided to seek historic designation and the province stepped up and kick-started the restoration process with $750,000.

READ MORE: Province pledges $750K to McDougall Church, which will seek historic designation

According to the mayor, Tuesday’s decision saves the building from demolition.

“The $750,000 from the province and the $500,000 from us plus the designation will make it official that the owners cannot apply for a demolition permit, except under very extraordinary circumstances. For all intents and purposes, this historically protects the building as well as you can under the law.”

However, with less than a fraction of the money needed to restore the historic building, this is only the first step.

“This now allows us to draw properly on reserve to fund the significant structural building envelope work that needs to happen just to get the church stabilized. It’s still going to require a lot more money but with that also comes the opportunity to program it to make it relevant to concert goers and other community uses,” Iveson said.

The long process of restoring the building has already started, with funds from the province.