4/13/14

Wallace Memorial Chapel                                          (North Vancouver Archives Photo # 6333)

Posthumous
The Wallace Memorial Chapel
St. Martin's Anglican Church
North Vancouver, B.C. Canada

The Wallace Memorial Chapel was part of  St. Martin's Anglican Church in  1951 to 1969.

St. Martin's Anglican Church started as St. Thomas Anglican Church in 1910.  It was located on the corner of Lonsdale Ave. and Queens Road in the Upper Lonsdale area of the District of North Vanocuver.

"...the parish was officially rededicated on Nov. 11, 1919, to St. Martin of Tours "in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice on St. Martins Day in 1918, to perpetuate the memory of those who were killed in the Great War. (REF 1.)

In 1923 the church farther north in the District of North Vancouver at the corner of Windsor Road and St. Georges Avenue.  Here the congregation built a hall that became the church.  It faced St. Georges Avenue.  

In 1927 this building was turned 90 degrees with the church entrance then being  on Windsor Road.  And in 1947 a transept and apse was added to the south side of the church.  A bell tower with a church entrance was added on the north side. The entrance has since been moved to the east side of the church. (See photo below.)

St. Martin's Anglican Church

Sanctuary

In 1951 the Wallace Memorial Chapel was dedicated by the Wallace family to the son, Blake Wallace.  Access to to chapel was through the arch on the east wall of the chancel (now framing the organ pipes). 

Arch to Wallace Chapel

"CLARENCE WALLACE (1894 – 1982) SERVED WITH  THE 5TH CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION IN WW I AND WAS WOUNDED IN 1915 DURING THE 2ND BATTLE OF YPRES.  POSTWAR, HE CONTINUED THE FAMILY TRADITION AS A MAJOR VANCOUVER SHIP BUILDER AND PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CANADA'S WAR EFFORT IN WWII, FOR WHICH HE WAS MADE A “COMMANDER OF THE ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE”.  HE WAS APPOINTED LT. GOVERNOR OF BC FROM 1950 TO 1955 AND IS INCLUDED IN VANCOUVER’S “HALL OF FAME”. 

"HIS ELDEST SON, FLYING OFFICER BLAKE WALLACE (1917 – 1941), ENLISTED IN THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE IN 1939 AND FLEW HURRICANES DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN IN 1940.  HE WAS CREDITED WITH TWO ENEMY AIRCRAFT DESTROYED IN 1941 BUT WAS SHOT DOWN AND KILLED DURING A MAJOR AIR BATTLE OVER NORTHERN FRANCE IN OCTOBER THE SAME YEAR." (Link 2.) 

Church with Transept on Left             (North Vancouver Archives Photo #6327)        The front wall of this small memorial chapel was dominated by three stained glass memorial windows.  (See top NV Archives photos #'s 6333 and 6327.)  In 1969 there was a need for space for new organ pipes.  The chapel served that need and was closed.  The three stained glass memorial windows were moved to the west side of the chancel opposite the organ pipes and the original entrance to the chapel. Wallace Memorial Windows now on west wall of chancel

For more information about St. Martin's Anglican Church see Blog Posts 3/30/14 and 4/6/14.

Photos: Colored photos taken in 2014 by SW.Reference 1: North Vancouver Heritage Inventory, 1984, available at the North 

                          Vancouver Archives.
Reference 2: A Short History of St. Martins, 1910-1956, North Vancouver, 

                           B.C., Roy Pallant.

Link 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrard_Dry_Dock
Link 2: http://www.jsca.bc.ca/itw/JerichoBrochure1206.pdf

*****

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen