St. Andrew’s United Church sold
Congregation merged with former George Street United Church two years ago
A landmark church in Peterborough, made surplus when two congregations merged two years ago, has been conditionally sold.
The sale of St. Andrew’s United Church on Rubidge St. will take effect in April. The asking price on the real estate listing website, from Century 21, is $849,000.
The congregation at St. Andrews merged with that of George Street United Church in 2016; both congregations had been dwindling.
The newly amalgamated congregation was renamed Emmanuel United Church, with George Street United called Emmanuel East and St. Andrew’s Emmanuel West.
For a while, churchgoers alternated worship services between the two churches, but lately services have been mostly held at the George Street site.
Dean Haggarty, the chairman of trustees for Emmanuel United Church, did not say in an interview who is buying St. Andrew’s or mention any plans for the building.
“We’ve been cautioned to maintain as much confidentiality as possible – and I’m following through on that,” he said. “I’m hopeful that it all goes well – that the conditions are fulfilled and the sale of the building goes through.”
The church will be decommissioned in a special ceremony on Sept. 30, Haggarty said.
An exterior inscription says the church was built in 1835 and rebuilt in 1885.
Haggarty says there’s no heritage designation on the church building, but that the buyer doesn’t plan to tear it down.
But St. Andrew’s wasn’t included on a list of 17 churches that councillors recently voted to include on a heritage registry.
The registry doesn’t mean a building cannot be torn down, but it does require that council get notice
when the owner applies for a demolition permit.
The real estate listing says the building has been well-maintained over the years.
Meanwhile, another local church is facing hefty repair bills. The sanctuary at St. Paul’s Presbyterian on the corner of Murray and Water streets was deemed structurally unsound a few years ago; the repair would have cost $2 million.
That was too much for the congregation, which began to worship elsewhere in the church before putting it up for sale.
Now St. Paul’s has been sold to a developer who hasn’t publicly stated the plans for the building (although no demolition permit has been issued on the building by City Hall).