Sunday, January 3, 2010
Sunday Church Feature
St. Richard's of Norgate

St. Richard's Anglican Church at 1398 West 15th St. in the District of North Vancouver is on the corner of Philips Avenue and West 15th Street. It was the sixth mission of St. John's Anglican Church and started to provide a Sunday School in the new housing development in the Norgate Park area. Sixty families were contacted and the diocese granted a loan of $1,075 to the parish for the lot purchase and construction costs. The church hall cost $2,200 and was dedicated in 1950. The actual St. Richard's Anglican Church cost $47,000 and was dedicated on February 1, 1955, It became a separate mission parish in 1957.


Norgate Park is an area south of Marine Drive, north of , east of the Native Lands, and west of Pemberton Avenue It consisted of mainly one story ranch homes built on cement slabs for veterans from WWII. Some of these veterans brought their war brides from England here to their new home in Canada. Today the area is simply called  Norgate. Except for renovations like making rooms out of the garage areas, most of the homes remain the same. A few two story homes have been built, mainly versions of the 'Vancouver Special".


The original 1950 Sunday school church building was a rectangular hall positioned with the narrow end facing Philips Avenue. It sat at the location of the present St. Richard's. In 1955 to facilitate the building of a new larger church the hall was moved to the east side of the lot and turned to face 15th Street. The building is now called the St. Richard's Church Hall and serves the community as the Acorn Early Education Centre, Norgate. The present church building has its entrance on 15th Street, but is positioned with the narrow end on Philips Avenue.


This church that hummed with the children from 60 families in 1955 no longer has a Sunday School. In fact, the total church congregation on a Sunday morning is about 20. The Korean Stump Presbyterian Church congregation worships in the sanctuary on Sunday afternoons.  St. Richard's Anglican Church is the only Christian church building in the Norgate area, and at 10:00am every Sunday morning the rope is pulled to ring the bell to tell the community the Sunday church service is starting..


The year 2010 may bring an end to the ringing of this bell, since St. Richard's is in the throes of closing.


Photo: Taken 2007 by SW.
Closed: As an Anglican Church in 2011. Congregation welcomed by St.
                Catherine's Anglican Church.

Note: Suzanne Marie Wilson attended this church until its closing. Her
               granddaughter Holly Marie Misner was baptized here in
               September 2007.
Update: A June 10, 2011 North Shore News article reports that the church
               is for sale.
More information: See blog http://www.churchesonsundays.blogspot.com/