Edmonton designates Catholic church in Oliver a historic resource

Edmonton city councillors have taken a major step toward protecting the future of the 119-year-old St. Joachim Church in Oliver on Tuesday, voting to have it designated as a Municipal Historic Resource.

“This beautiful red brick church is an excellent representation of late nineteenth-century French-Canadian ecclesiastical architecture and an important part of Catholic history in Edmonton,” David Johnston, principal heritage planner for the City of Edmonton, said in a news release.

The basic structure of the church was built in 1899 after the St. Joachim’s mission, which was established in the 1850s, had grown in numbers to the point that its original chapel was no longer large enough.

View more photos of St. Joachim Church in the gallery below:

According to the city, the church at 9924 110 St. N.W. served as “the heart of the Catholic community in Oliver” until St. Joseph’s Cathedral was constructed in 1925.

“As a direct descendant of the earliest parish community in Edmonton, and as the oldest extant Roman Catholic Church in the city, St. Joachim Church strongly represents the rich history of Roman Catholicism in Edmonton,” the city said in a news release on Tuesday. “Some of the features that make the church so recognizable include the oeil-de-boeuf window, the classical round-arched windows and symmetrical facade with a three-tower scheme.”

According to the city, St. Joachim Church’s design also touches on nineteenth-century French-Canadian architecture and was influenced by High Victorian Gothic and Baroque aesthetics.

The architect who designed the church was Francis X. Deggendorfer.