A historical church in the north end of Halifax is no longer at risk of being demolished now that the bell tower and steeple have been deemed structurally safe.
St. Patrick’s Church sits on Brunswick Street and has been closed to the public since June, when the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth shut down operations due to safety concerns from the city.
However, parishioner John Murphy tells our newsroom, he couldn’t believe it when an engineering firm they hired to take a second look, said the structures were sound.
“Going from the top down, the steeple, it’s got absolutely no rot in it. The timber that it is constructed from is in perfect condition.”
As for the bell tower, he says, it was well constructed but still needs a bit of repair work which is currently underway.
The original price tag to fix things up was estimated at about $12 million.
Now, Murphy says, it is not going to be anywhere near that, not by, “a country mile”.
“The repair work is being done in two phases. We still have the scaffolding up and they’re getting the first phase done to have the closure order lifted and then the finish up work will be done in the second phase, probably in the spring of 2025.”
A yellow fence outlines the base of St. Patrick’s Church. Photo: Blair Beed
Major historical significance
St. Patrick’s Church is a heritage building, that has been standing for 140 years.
It survived the Halifax Explosion that happened on December 6, 1917, only needing new stained-glass windows, plaster and a dusting off of the organ.
Friday is the solemn anniversary and roughly 130 people attended a ceremony at the Fort Needham Memorial Park, at 9 a.m., to reflect – and Murphy was one of them.
He, says his own father survived the devastating event, just one week shy of his sixth birthday, and lost his family home.
Murphy shared with our newsroom stories from his father.
“My dad had vivid memories of the house being on fire…going to get his mom out and then we kind of got dispersed. We had 14 members of our family die that day, so my grandfather had to kind of look after many of the people that survived.”
“There being no clothes, because he lost all his clothes. There are some pictures of them basically wearing adult coats as five- and six-year-old.”
He says it was quite a battle for years as they rebooted their lives.
What will St. Patrick’s future hold?
Parishioners found out about a month ago, the church is structurally sound.
Now, Murphy says, the report has been given to the city, and they will decide when to reopen the building.
“So, it’s in their hands. I would think the order should be lifted fairly soon. Unless they’re super busy with such things… I’d expect to hear within a couple days or a couple of weeks.”
However, whether or not the church will go back to providing services is another story all together.
Photo: Blair Beed
Murphy says, he doesn’t think the archdiocese has an “appetite” for it, but it does happen, it will be cause for celebration.
“You know, about these things… you don’t miss them until they’re gone. We met at St. George’s Church a couple of Sundays ago. They were having a social, so we went to support that. You know, the hugs and the tears…it’s like…oh my goodness are we ever going to get back in the church? It really means a lot to a lot of people.”
Murphy says, it could take a few years yet, to hear the final decision.
