Zion Lutheran Church

Reason for registration

the association of this building with noted 19th century architect Henry David Busch; and because this building is a prominent architectural landmark in the Old Town of Lunenburg.

Character-defining elements

Character-defining elements of the Zion Lutheran Church relating to its Gothic Revival style include:

- vertical composition and large scale of the building, accentuated with a highly visible, asymmetrical façade and spire;
- two towers at either end of the front façade; the western one with circular and lancet windows and a short, pyramidal tower with a finial and louvred gablet ; the other with a tall spire, the main entranceway, small louvred gablets on each side, and lancet windows on each storey;
- Saint Antoine-Marie bell housed in the taller tower;
- use of contrasting window styles on the whole building, including large stained glass windows and gothic windows on the nave, a triangular attic window with curved edges in the gable end, ascending paired mullion windows in the spire tower, an 'oculus' window and mullion windows in the shorter tower, and arched transom windows over the entranceways;
- strongly defined entranceways, one with a set of brick steps leading up to it in the southeastern tower, the other at ground level in the southwestern tower; both have double hung doors and pointed arch transom windows that draw in the viewer;
- wooden clapboard cladding, with dentil courses at each storey, moulded wooden belt courses and steep gable roof, which is echoed in the smaller gable roofs over the large windows at the sides of the nave, smaller entrances and the hall at the rear;
- Artemus Hall located at the northern end of the church, that was added in 1946, used as a community centre for the congregation, with a roof and window design that echoes the nave and demonstrates the unity of the community centre and the actual place of worship.