Provincial Registry of Heritage Property · Nova Scotia
St. Mary's Polish Church
Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
The record
- Designation
- Provincially registered heritage property
- Type
- church
- Year built
- 1913
- Decade built
- 1910-1919
- Builder
- M.R. Chappell
- Cultural association
- Polish
- Notice of registration date
- 3 May 1984
- Civic address
- 11 Wesley Street
- Community
- Sydney
- County
- Cape Breton
- Province
- Nova Scotia
- Country
- Canada
- Coordinates
- 46.15811, -60.18446
- File number
- Prov_file_29
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
2 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1764 map "L'Isle Royale, Située a l'Entrée du Golphe de Saint Laurent" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1764 · L'Isle Royale, Située a l'Entrée du Golphe de Saint Laurent (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1913 · Sydney, Canada. Coal Resources of the World. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
The Province of Nova Scotia's Registered Heritage Properties dataset ↗
The Province's registration record
Reason for registration
the central role this church has played in maintaining Nova Scotia's diverse cultural heritage and for its association with the industrialization of this province.
Character-defining elements
Exterior character-defining elements of St. Mary's include:
- a rectangular, wood frame building with short facade;
- a medium pitch gable roof measuring 42 feet at the peak, with a roof line height of 23 feet;
- projecting eaves and verges with decoratively moulded cornices and freizes;
- a single, centered, inset steeple at the south end rising to a height of sixty-five feet;
- bottom portion of the steeple serving as the main entrance and porchway;
- a four-sided steeple rises to the verges where it tapers, through hipped corners to an eight-sided section decorated with crosses, to the spire which is almost fifteen feet in height and is topped with a cross;
- simulated pilasters projecting from and extending up the two sides of each corner at each corner of the main plan; rising to a height of twenty-six feet and each topped by a four-sided roof and cross;
- five Gothic-peaked windows featured on each side of the main section; within each peak is a quatrefoil placed above three decorative fixed panes;
- double panelled main entrance doors with one fixed pane glass panel;
- two other panelled doors located one on each side of the main section of the facade; recessed Gothic designs above the doorsand a quatrefoil encased in decoratively moulded peaked frames;
- the church's ongoing use by the local community of Polish descent.
Nearby in the register
- Holy Ghost Ukrainian Churchchurchunder 1 mi
- St. Philip's African Churchchurchunder 1 mi
- Sacred Heart Churchchurch1 mi
- Lyceumpublic1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.