top: Knox United Church, 1907. Daysland, Alberta
bottom: United Church, 1936. Dorothy, Alberta
These two wooden churches are simple in their design with the bell tower located at the front left. Each tower is clad in painted wood shiplap. The Knox United Church’s spire is significantly higher than the roof line of the church, a symbolic gesture of rising up towards the heavens above the occupants of church who are confined to the earth. The United Church at Dorothy, near Drumheller, closed in 1961 when the area became a ghost town. Interestingly, the abandoned church, located in a semi-desert, barren land- scape, retains its spiritual significance. Both churches show the effects of weathering on wood in an open landscape. The spire of the Knox United Church was struck by lightening on July 26, 2002, and repaired in 2003. The height of the spires in contrast to the open prairie around them, make them lightning rods in addition to heavenly beacons.
Church architecture coincides with the idea expressed in scripture that says “Know and fix in your hearts that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below ...” 4 Spires and domes represent this metaphysical reality within the temporal and transcendental land- scape. Whether these ideas were consciously held by the architects and builders of these churches is somewhat of an enigma, however, they did build these structures as an act of reverence and as a place of worship. These church structures therefore still remain an indelible form of vernacular architecture in Canada. g
3 The debate about whether to include towers and spires stems from a difference within Western monasticism between the Cister- cians and the Benedictines during the 13th century. For instance, St. Bernard de Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk was not in favor of abbeys with towers or spires. (see Simpson Vol. II p. 115.) The writ- ings/drawings of Villard de Honnecourt , a mediaeval monk and architect, may also be instructive here. It is apparent that mediaeval architecture was symbolic in its application and mystical in its aim. (see von Simson, Otto. Gothic Church Architecture . Princeton University Press, 1974 ) 4 Deuteronomy 4:39. St. Joseph’s breviary or bible .
1 F. M. Simpson. A History of Architectural Development. Vol. II. Mediaeval. London: Longmans and Green, 1909. p. 115. 2 There is little evidence to suggest that these churches were copied locally from one church to another.
Michael Leeb is a visual artist and member of the So- ciety for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC). Heather Bretz is an Intern Architect in Calgary and is also a member of SSAC.
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architecture and land
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