Curator & Collector

Exterior of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, BC

Inside this small, unassuming building is a physical space that is his home to one of Vancouver’s oldest Anglican congregations and a number of artworks and artefacts of some significance. This church, which sits on Burrard Street in Vancouver’s downtown, was unlocked for the Olympics, when I visited it most recently.

Christ Church cathedral has always been special to me. I like the relative darkness of the interior, which reminds me of the even darker St. Thomas’s on Huron Street in Toronto; additionally, the colours and relatively small space remind me of St. Mary’s on Bathurst and Adelaide Street, also in Toronto. Christ Church is quite distinct from either of these, though.

For one thing, it houses a small collection of Bill Reid artworks, perhaps because the Bill Reid Gallery is located in the eponymous Cathdral Place immediately behind the church:

Bill Reid artworks

The atmosphere is warm and welcoming. Incidentally, according one person who showed me around recently, the roof is made to resemble the upside down hull of a wooden ship:

Christ Church Cathedral interior

Towards the choir

Of course, the organ, which is well-maintained and sounds magnificent in concert, is visually stunning:

The organ

The stained glass dates from different eras, but is always beautiful:

Stained glass window memorial to a military unit

As one can see in the full-size picture of the window above, the church is notable from a historical point of view as a “military church”; for one thing, visitors to the church can see, in a small room behind the choir, several memorials to the soldiers who died in World War I and also World War II:

The crowning glory, for me, though, is the visual storage cabinet showing the regimental flags of the Vancouver-area units that fought in WWI. Visitors can open the cabinet and see the regimental flags.

Christ Church cathedral, then, is a well-curated space that houses not only some of the military history of WWI-era Vancouver, but also a few of the artworks of one of Canada’s greatest artists. It’s a church whose memorials come from the community, and it exists for the community. Although I am no longer of religious persuasion, I’m very glad it remains an integral part of Vancouver’s city life.