Description of Historic Place

St.
Mary and St. Alban's Anglican Church is a handsome granite fieldstone church dramatically placed
in a rural setting west of the rural community of Kaleida. The municipal designation applies to the building
and its spacious grounds and cemetery to the rear of the church.

Heritage Value

St. Mary
and St. Alban's Anglican Church is an exquisite example of a small rural church carried out in granite
fieldstone. Built in 1892 to the designs of a major Winnipeg architect, Charles Wheeler, the church was
constructed by Richard Steward and Harry Bowler, with carpentry assistance from Samuel Magee. The resulting
building is refined and sophisticated, not only in its exterior, where stones are expertly placed for
effect, but also inside, where rich wooden Gothic Revival details are lit with coloured glass from the
Winnipeg firm of Ernest Edgell. The church was dedicated to the memory of the Honourable William Winram,
a pioneer who represented the area for 13 years in the Manitoba Legislature beginning in 1878, and who
was Speaker of the House for three years.

Source: R.M. of Pembina By-law No. 3/2011, 28 March 2011.

Character-Defining Elements

Key
elements that define the site character of St. Mary and St. Alban's Anglican Church include:
- its
rural setting within open fields west of the community of Kaleida
- placement of the church on its site
with main doors facing west and with a related cemetery behind and to the east of the church building

Key
elements that define the exterior heritage character of the church include:
- the basic rectangular form
with a medium-pitched gable roof
- the granite fieldstone walls, with blocks expertly cut and shaped
and laid mostly in courses, and featuring large corner buttresses and a massive chimney at the rear as
well as the memorial stone at the northwest corner reading "WINRAM MEMORIAL A.D. 1892"
- the
fenestration, with pointed openings highlighted with stone surrounds, including the main door with its
tall transom light with simple arched wooden tracery

Key elements that define the interior heritage
character of the church include:
- the open space of the nave with bright white plastered walls and elaborate
wooden ceiling accented with diagonally patterned wooden insets and impressive hammerbeams, etc.
- the
organization of the space to focus on the chancel and altar, with wooden pews arranged on either side
of a wide central aisle
- the simple wooden rood screen, with pointed arch elements, separating the chancel
from the nave, with further separation defined by steps up to the chancel
- the various handcrafted wooden
religious features and articles, including the pulpit, hymn board, etc.