Description of Historic Place

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the Rural Municipality of Benson No. 35 within the Hamlet of Woodley. The property features a one-storey, wood-frame church built in 1929.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church lies in the building’s role as a place of religious worship. The church was established in 1911 by Russo-German settlers. Services were held in a local school until 1929 when the funds were acquired to construct the church. The church has been used ever since as a place of worship, and features extensive religious fixtures, including the wooden raised pulpit, altar and an ornate altarpiece in the sanctuary.

The heritage value of the property also lies in its architecture. The building exhibits the influence of Gothic Revival architecture, similar to many other Lutheran churches in Saskatchewan built in this period. Typical of the style, the church exudes a stately image through its tall vertical proportions, its spire-topped belfry and steep gable roof. The Gothic style is also reflected in the pointed windows, central rose window and extended pilasters at the base of the tower.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Benson No. 35 Bylaw No. 83-1.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the St. Luke’s Lutheran Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the religious nature of the property, such as pulpit, and wood-carved altarpiece;
-those elements that reflect the building’s Gothic Revival architecture, such as the bell tower, extended pilasters, gable roof, rose window and pointed windows;
-those elements that reflect the property’s status as a rural church, including the limited massing, small form and its location on its original site.