Historic designation will sever connections to community, pastor says

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This article was published 19/06/2018 (2136 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The pastor of a North End church famous for its award-winning, five-storey mural says the pending designation of the church as a historic building will prevent it from doing other murals.

John Rademaker, pastor of the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Church, said a city official told him once the designation is set, the church wouldn’t be allowed to alter its exterior walls.

“They’ve got these architect-engineer guys on this heritage committee and they are all stuck on all these, what they call, character-defining elements and one of them is the brick work,” Rademaker said. “They don’t want any coverage of any kind or whatsoever. They think it would be detrimental.”

The Vineyard Church is located in the former International Harvester warehouse, at the corner of Main Street and Sutherland Avenue.

Built in 1904, the building is considered to be in pristine condition by the city’s historical buildings and resources committee, which recommended it be designated.

A report to Monday’s property and development committee singles out the exterior brick work of all four walls and the building’s interior timber mill structure as key elements that need protecting through the historical designation.

The former warehouse is one of five buildings the committee will consider adding to the list of historical resources.

The church’s giant Mending, chosen as the 2016 Winnipeg Mural of the Year by a local arts organization, is one of two murals on the south-facing wall; it depicts an Indigenous woman mending a human heart with a needle and thread.

Rademaker said the church plans to add more murals on that wall and on the rear wall in the future.

The murals, Rademaker said, are a vital means for the church to connect with the community.

‘We get an awful lot of comments about this for sure, especially from street people. They stand there and look at it and, you know how art works, you look at it and then you get something out of it. It’s a real opportunity to connect’– Pastor John Rademaker

“We get an awful lot of comments about this for sure, especially from street people. They stand there and look at it and, you know how art works, you look at it and then you get something out of it,” he said. “It’s a real opportunity to connect.”

The designation would also block the church’s plans to expand its transitional housing program, he said.

The Vineyard has offered 32 beds to the homeless for the past 10 years on its second and third floors.

Rademaker said the church is finalizing plans and securing funding to double the capacity by redeveloping the vacant fourth level, but he said the renovation work would require drilling holes into the walls for washroom and kitchen facility venting, which he said the city won’t allow if the building is designated.

Rademaker said the city’s emphasis on protecting heritage buildings at all costs appears to ignore the good his church is doing.

“We’re not developing condos here. We’re not Princess (Street), we’re not the Exchange,” he said. “We’re a church in the crappiest part of town and we’re trying to meet the needs of the people in the community and we’re doing it very successfully. We’re making an impact for the people who live there.”

Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, said there’s a great deal of misunderstanding on the part of building owners abou how a historical designation can affect development plans, adding city staff need to better communicate with those owners.

Tugwell said she believes a compromise can be worked out with the church on the murals, suggesting any future work be done on canvas that can be hung on the walls.

Rademaker, however, said outdoor mural artists refuse to paint on canvas, preferring to work on brick.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca