Description of Historic Place

The Conquest United Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located prominently on the corner of Bounty Street and Pacific Avenue in the Village of Conquest. The property features a Classical Revival, one-and-a-half storey, red brick structure with a Gothic-inspired bell tower and four Doric columns.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Conquest United Church lies primarily in its architecture, which is unique for a prairie town. Designed by the prominent firm of Storey and Van Egmond, the church is much larger and grander than the residential structures nearby and has one of the most mixed styles of architecture in the province. While Classical elements are featured in the pedimented porch and four Roman-inspired Doric columns, the bell tower exhibits a Gothic influence. In addition, the structure's square, peaked, exterior roof provides for an ornate, wood-paneled interior domed ceiling, whose materials and craftsmanship impart a sense of grandeur in the sanctuary. The wood-paneled ceiling also complements the woodwork throughout the church, which is found in the sanctuary's handrails and doorways, around the stained-glass windows, and in the unique bifold doors of the basement's Sunday School rooms, all of which create a sense of continuity and opulence throughout the church.

Heritage value also resides in the church's association with the community's 1912 decision to maintain their existing Congregational Unit of Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist denominations and to permanently merge the three denominations into one congregation. This merger predates the United Church Act of Union by thirteen years. The church has been in continuous use since its construction in 1916 and remains a landmark in the community.

Source:

Village of Conquest Bylaw No. 2/85.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Conquest United Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the blending of Classical and Gothic architecture, including the Gothic-inspired bell tower, the four Doric columns, the squared-shaped dome exterior, the fan-shaped windows, and the red brick cladding;
-those features that reflect the building's function as a place of worship and that contribute to its sense of grandeur, including the stained glass windows, the wood-paneled dome ceiling, the use of woodwork throughout the sanctuary, and the heavy bifold doors that enclose the Sunday School rooms.