St. Andrew’s has foot in the past, stairs to future
Renovations at Ancaster church retain old charm of building amid 21st-century dazzle
As the venerable St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Ancaster creeps toward a 200th anniversary (in less than a decade), the architecture has recently shot ahead at a gallop.
The old supports are still in place, of course, but they’re being supplemented, reinforced and energized by the new.
In the past few years, with numbers in flux and a building in need of work, the congregation at the Sulphur Springs Road landmark has undertaken a huge capital campaign in support of a massive renovation and, at roughly the same time, welcomed a new minister. They launched the campaign in 2016 at a vulnerable time, in a kind of pastoral vacuum after the last one left and before the new one — Rev. John Read — arrived.
“New” one, in both senses. He’s got a guitar in his office, small kids at home. There’s a praise band at the church now. He’s young enough I’d trust him to download an app to my cellphone, if I had a cellphone. But he’s also very rooted, in touch with tradition as well as novelty. And he’s not even the newest thing about the church.
That would be the aforementioned renovation, recently completed and on show this weekend as St. Andrew’s welcomes the community for an open house on Saturday, Nov. 24, and special thanksgiving/celebration service on Sunday, Nov. 25.
The old church is not like you’ve ever seen it, and yet it’s like it always was. There are these structural gateway pieces, sleek, white and modern, cutting dramatically across the visual planes of the old building. And beyond that distinctive treatment is a great light-breathing glass entrance, its interior lively with staggered landings, levels and cross-pitched stairways.
It’s beautiful; it works, integrating old with new, outdoors with indoors. The renovation will allow the church to do a lot more with its space. And there’s an elevator. As impressive as it all is, the effort that made it possible is equally so, if not more. When the congregation took the plunge at a cost of $1.6 million, it was hard to imagine how they would raise the money.
“It’s phenomenal what they’ve done,” says Rev. Read. “There’s been such strong leadership (in the congregation).” People like Randy Raphael and Evert Nieboer.
“They recognized the need to do it. This was in 2016 and it had been 55 years since the last major renovation. It’s a remarkable thing. The elders had enough support even without a minister in place.”
The last building project — the one John alludes to — took place in 1961, when an addition was put on to the church’s core edifice, built in 1875, still standing. The congregation was founded in 1826 by the Rev. George Sheed, who died in 1832, even as a frame structure on the site of today’s church was being built. That original wood building was moved to make way for the 1875 stone one. As Ancaster boomed, first after the Second World War and then in the ’80s and ’90s, St. Andrew’s grew, first with the 1961 addition, featuring gym, kitchen, offices and parlour, and again in 1990 when the sanctuary was redesigned. All through this, St. Andrew’s at various times had to pair up with other congregations and/or share ministers, but in the end, became self-sustaining with its own dedicated minister for the first time ever.
It’s been quite a journey, and now, says Rev. Read, the church is fired up with fresh vision, of which the building is an outward reflection.
“Now a lot of people are noticing our church (just off Wilson Street, far enough that it had been sometimes out of sight/out of mind),” he says. “This lets people know we’re here.”
Ancaster downtown is bustling and, he adds, “we very much want to be part of that.”
For Rev. Read, it all has a torque of special relevance. His dad, Rev. Walter Read, once wore the cloth as minister of Alberton Presbyterian Church in Ancaster, which once was partnered with St. Andrew’s. That would’ve been the end of the connection as Rev. Read, short years ago, was immersed in engineering school. Far from following in, he was detouring widely around the footsteps of his parents (his mother was also a Presbyterian minister). But those footsteps somehow rounded back on him; while in engineering school John felt a calling.
He switched disciplines, trading the drafting board for the Lord’s table. He enrolled in Knox College and graduated with the Gold Medal in 2010. He was called to St. Andrew’s in 2016. Like Rev. Read himself, with a foot in the past and one in the future, the new building, designed by INVIZIJ Architects of Hamilton and built by Caledonia-based Schilthuis Construction, is a powerful blend of the timeless and the timely.
Well worth a visit this weekend.