Description of Historic Place

St. Luke’s Anglican Church, built in Carpenter Gothic style, is a wooden structure with clapboard siding on a slightly elevated lot on the corner of Church and Main streets in Woodstock.

Heritage Value

St. Luke’s Anglican Church is designated a Local Historic Place for its spiritual and architectural values.

St. Luke’s Anglican Church has spiritual value because it represents the Episcopal (Anglican) beliefs of many of Woodstock’s Loyalist settlers. Completed in 1884, St. Luke’s Anglican Church is the third Anglican Church to be erected on this site, its uncompleted predecessor having been destroyed by the Woodstock Fire of 1881. The first church was erected on this site as early as the 1830's, linking the site to the early beginnings of the Anglican Church in Woodstock.

St. Luke's Anglican Church is a good example of ecclesiastical Carpenter Gothic architecture in Woodstock. This style is evident in such details as the central tower on the front façade and the Gothic arch windows. Its exterior is in original form with the exception of a recently added access ramp. Inside, the sanctuary has undergone only minor modifications including electric lighting and additional stained glass windows. The interior décor, including the woodwork and spatial configuration, remains intact.

Source: Carleton County Historical Society Historic Places Files, “St. Luke’s Anglican Church”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the exterior of St. Luke’s Anglican Church include:
- location on the corner of Main and Church streets on the site of two previous churches and in close proximity to other area churches;
- two-storey rectangular massing;
- wooden clapboard siding;
- Gothic arch windows;
- clerestory windows;
- decorated tower, steeple and spires.

The character-defining elements that describe the interior of St. Luke’s Anglican Church include:
- stained and coloured glass windows;
- clerestory and windows;
- pine woodwork covered with shellac;
- ornamental vaulted wooden truss work;
- wooden decoration and windows of chancel area;
- black oak and walnut pews and altar area;
- ornamental Casavant organ pipes.