The Third Avenue United Church is an iconic downtown landmark in Saskatoon.

Standing out among the densely packed concrete buildings littering Saskatoon’s downtown is Third Avenue United Church, a visual masterpiece compared to its bleak surroundings. The church’s English Gothic style offers a touch of historic beauty and its stone façade remains the only building of its kind off-campus, while the bells toll as an hourly reminder that something beautiful and historic resides among the 21st-century bustle. The church also contains a hauntingly grand organ, covering the back wall of the church.

Due to declining numbers of churchgoers in recent years and limited funding, the congregation decided to put the iconic church up for sale. The Third Avenue Centre, a non-profit organization, raised enough money and won the vote of the congregation to turn the church into an acoustic theatre which would seat 1,000 people. In addition, the University of Saskatchewan College of Arts and Science supported the proposed inclusion of a performance theatre.

On March 12, however, the decision to transform the church into a theatre was rejected by the River Bend Presbytery for undisclosed reasons.

The church will now go up for sale again and will be sold to the highest bidder, one who could potentially level the historic building to create something more profit driven. The land the church sits on is worth more empty than it is occupied.

If the church is torn down, it will join a long list of beautiful architecture that has risen and fallen in the city’s relatively short history. On that list is the original City Hospital, which was built in 1909 and was the first municipal hospital in Western Canada and second in the nation; the King Edward School, which became the original City Hall, and was demolished in 1956 to be replaced by the current City Hall building.

Most recently, St. Mary’s School was demolished in the summer of 2012. A functional building until its demise, St. Mary’s School was built in 1913 and demolished because it was in the way of a community revitalization program. Although the community and much of Saskatoon rallied in support of retaining the old building and incorporating it into the community, city officials and Tourism Saskatoon disregarded community outcry in favour of “progress.”

Both the Legion building on 20th Street and the Gathercole Building at the base of the Traffic Bridge were recently demolished, regardless of protests.

Most notably, however, was the Capitol Theatre that from 1929-1979 was the arts centre in Saskatoon for both movies and live productions. Many people protested when the theatre, which has now been turned into a parking garage on 1st Avenue, became endangered, but a wrecking ball still ripped through the side of the building.

Our city, which is too young to have many notable historic buildings, has no sense for preserving the few historical sites that we do have. Certainly our growing city, rich in the arts, has an appetite for more venues and culture, and it would seem the Third Avenue United Church is the perfect location and building for arts to take root.

We need to stop tearing down the somewhat old to make way for the brand new and start preserving our foundation. Everything ages, and it doesn’t make sense to continue on this path of destroying our history. It isn’t enough to have a Bessborough and a campus building; we need to have a Capitol Theatre and a Third Avenue Centre as well. We need to usher in new growth while preserving our past.

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Photo: Jordan Dumba/The Sheaf