ARCHITECTURE:
This picturesque brick church, with both Gothic and Romanesque elements reflecting two stages of design and construction, sits at a prominent intersection of Gorge Rd and David St. The gable to the right of the square tower is from 1885, as is shown by its date stone in the gable above
three Gothic windows that echo the lower ones. The main roof has an octagonal lantern with a row of arched windows to light the interior. The square tower has a denticulated cornice and elaborate parapet with an obelisk at each corner. The main entrance on Gorge Rd, with its triple arches in heavily rusticated sandstone, is Romanesque; a low curved tower with conical roof is located to the left5 and a higher square tower to the right. There are many arched windows, often in groups of three, some two storeys high. The gables of the main façade have geometric decoration in the upper areas. The David St façade has more gables, one of which is above the conical roof of the semicircular apse. On the far left, the wings of the modernist addition shelter the David St entrance, obscuring the lower portions of two brick gables. The design is somewhat reminiscent of H.H. Richardson’s Trinity Church (1877) in Boston.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
A new Methodist community was established in the 1860s with Sunday School and prayer meetings on Kings Rd. In 1885 the Victoria New Methodist congregation named its first church Gorge Rd Methodist Church. The congregation grew rapidly, and in 1891 architect Thomas Hooper (Metropolitan Methodist, 1411 Quadra St, Harris Green TOH3) was commissioned to design a larger building incorporating the old one. A $14,940 contract was awarded to Thomas Henry Matthew (1460 Gladstone Av, Fernwood TOH2). William Currier Holt, 408 Alpha Tc, congregation member and building contractor newly arrived from Britain, volunteered as project construction mgr.
The cornerstone was laid September 1891 and the church opened June 5, 1892 with its new name Centennial Methodist, to honour John Wesley, Methodism’s founder, who died in 1791. Total cost was $26,000. The original building was left intact, the entrance removed and a second floor added to convert it into a hall and Sunday School.
Centennial Methodist was well known in the early 1920s under pastor Dr. Clement “Clem” Llewellyn Davies (b. Wales 1889-1951). He had been involved in a radio ministry in the USA, and organized the first church service broadcast in Western Canada on April 1, 1923, Easter Sunday. Radio station CFCL (Centennial First, Centennial Last) broadcast from the church until Dr. Davies left in 1924. Religious broadcasting continued from other locations but the station was later sold to Island Broadcasting Co and given the new call letters CJVI.
Despite removal of the steeple in 1931 for safety reasons, the church continues to be a landmark in the Gorge area. In 2001 a major interior restoration received $120,000 in funding assistance from Canada Millennium Partnership Programme, BC Heritage Trust, Victoria Civic Heritage Trust and Victoria Foundation. Also restored was the 750-watt beacon on the cupola, formerly used as a navigational aid by ships coming into harbour.