Through My Lens: First Baptist Church

The origins of what became the First Baptist Church of Vancouver began with a Sunday School class of 30 children gathered at Blair’s Saloon on June 6, 1886. Exactly a week later, the saloon — and most of Vancouver — was destroyed in what became known as the Great Vancouver Fire.

The group picked itself up and built its first church on two lots purchased from the Canadian Pacific Railway. It soon outgrew that building, as well as the next, and so, in 1904, the congregation bought a lot at the corner of Burrard and Nelson for $4000.

This is where they built its current building, out of stone, in the Gothic Revival style. (The Toronto-based architects of Burke, Horwood, and White also designed the Hudson’s Bay buildings in Vancouver, Victoria, and Calgary.) The building was dedicated on June 9, 1911.

These days, Burrard Street is one of the busiest streets in downtown Vancouver, and condos abut the 114-year-old church. Until a few months ago, the building was surrounded by plywood construction fences due to restoration work of the main church building and construction of the 57-storey tower just behind it. The joint project between First Baptist and the developer provides market housing as well as a daycare, church office space, and a separate seven-storey building dedicated to social housing.

Joint projects between developers and old downtown churches have become something of a pattern in Vancouver — stay tuned to learn more.

First Baptist Church is my photo choice for today, the Third Sunday of Lent.