Description of Historic Place

Lakedale Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, erected in 1904 and formerly known as Snake Creek Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, is a modest-sized wood-frame building set amid wooded farmland northeast of Angusville. The municipal designation applies to the church, its adjacent bell tower and cemetery, and the grounds they occupy.

Heritage Value

Lakedale Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church, established by Ukrainian settlers shortly after their arrival in the Angusville area at the turn of the twentieth century, is a fine vernacular interpretation of traditional three-frame churches found in Western Ukraine. The compact wooden structure captures in a simplified manner the symbolic and liturgical essence of the homeland's religious architecture through its sectional massing, prominent single banya (onion dome) and expressive interior, including hand-painted ornamentation by local artist John Pushka. Built under the leadership of Father A. Delaray, and situated on a peaceful donated site that also holds a cemetery and free-standing bell tower, this enduring centenarian is one of the oldest serving rural churches in the Lakedale area.

Source: Rural Municipality of Silver Creek By-law No. 2009-01, February 10, 2009

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the Lakedale Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church site include:
- the mostly open location next to a municipal crossroads amid farmland, with the church on groomed and fenced grounds that also hold a bell tower, cemetery; the church's north-south placement, etc.
- the adjacent wooden bell tower, two-tiered, with hip roofs, a cupola with louvred openings, etc.

Key exterior elements that define the building as a fine vernacular interpretation of traditional Western Ukrainian church design include:
- the narrow one-storey rectangular wood-frame form on a low foundation
- the three-frame massing, including a modest gable-roofed entrance porch, higher main volume, also with a gable roof, and compact polygonal apse, supplemented by a shed-roofed sacristy
- the small tin-sheathed onion dome centred over the nave on a high octagonal drum
- the nave's single, pointed arch windows with Y-tracery; also, the small apse rose window, etc.
- the straightforward materials and details, including the horizontal siding, plain return eaves, double-door entrance, double-bar cross on the dome, three Latin iron crosses atop gable ends, etc.

Key elements that define the church's well-appointed and intact interior include:
- the unaltered and modestly scaled layout, including the centre-aisle nave with a barrel vault ceiling, the slightly narrower and raised sanctuary, also with a vaulted ceiling, the south-end loft on posts of turned wood, accessed by a simple staircase off the nave, etc.
- the bright colour palette, including horizontal board panelling and wainscotting in varying shades of blue, accents and trim painted in contrasting colours, ceiling stars, stencilled patterns, faux finishes, etc.
- the religious furnishings and details, including the altar with a wooden tabernacle, tetrapod with religious objects, colourful iconography, plain wooden pews and pulpit, large nave chandelier, etc.