Winnipeg church that needs $7M in repairs could be sold under certain conditions, bishop says

The bishop of a 140-year-old church in downtown Winnipeg that's facing the possibility of demolition said every effort will be made to find a buyer who will preserve the church, provide a space for its congregation to worship, and continue programming geared to helping people in the city's core.

Geoffrey Woodcroft, the Anglican bishop of the diocese of Rupert's Land, which includes Winnipeg, says he gave Holy Trinity Anglican Church permission to sell the property last February, based on those conditions.

"To that end, I've spent the last couple of months seeking counsel and seeking persons, professionals, vocationals, who may be able to help us in this project," Woodcroft told CBC on Tuesday.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, located on the corner of Smith Street and Graham Avenue in Winnipeg's downtown, has significant structural damage in need of repair, including water damage and cracks that creep up the walls around the altar and elsewhere in the building.

Holy Trinity's latest annual report, released in February, said the parish has been aware since the late 1980s that "major repairs to build a foundation under the historic church would be necessary to avoid a collapse."

Without the repairs, estimated to cost about $7 million, "structural failure and/or the building being condemned is likely a matter of months to a few years at most," an April post on the diocese's website said. 

With shrinking membership, the congregation says that's money it doesn't have.

While structural issues aren't uncommon in heritage buildings, "you cannot ignore your property for decades — it's a kiss of death," said Cindy Tugwell, the executive director of Heritage Winnipeg — a non-profit that advocates for the preservation of old buildings. 

"A lot of these buildings that are ignored for decades now cost millions to fix," she told CBC's Information Radio host Marcy Markusa in a Tuesday interview.

Tugwell said she doesn't want to see the church torn down and questioned why repairs weren't done decades ago on the building, which was designated a national historic site in 1990 and added to the City of Winnipeg's list of historical resources in 2008.

She thinks the repairs could be tackled in bite-sized pieces, beginning with stabilizing the structure to avoid a potential collapse. The church could then convert and diversify the building, similar to the WestEnd Commons — a mix of housing and worship space built in what was previously St. Matthews Anglican Church. 

"A lot of churches have had to face these financial problems, so they've converted their buildings, they've diversified, they're part of the community," said Tugwell. 

"There's funding out there, maybe, for the activities they provide the community," she said, such as a twice-weekly lunch program that Holy Trinity offers for people in need.

Gordon Goldsborough, head researcher and webmaster at the Manitoba Historical Society, said he's not surprised that a church built between 1883 and 1884 has structural issues.