Spire at St. Andrew's United Church to be demolished for safety reasons

Built in 1904 St. Andrew’s United Church, recognizable by its tall pointed spire, is a well-known North Bay landmark located in the city’s downtown.

Given its age, it is not surprising that it now requires some major renovation work.                          

The inside of the tower or bell tower as some refer to it, has deteriorated to the point where restoration work can no longer be put off.

“When they did the restoration of the narthex they put cladded 1963 brick over the 1904 brick. So, the 1904 brick is starting to all come apart. And even on the outside, it is coming apart,” explained parishioner and restoration project manager  Reid Milne.

Milne says repairing the tower is a matter of public safety.   

“It is a hazard for people walking up Cassells Street here or even driving because if that thing gave way, we don’t know how far it would extend once it goes,” said Milne.

“I’ve been cutting the lawn here for the past seven or eight years and I would notice first one piece of brick on the ground, and when I came back there would be another. The next time I went to cut the lawn I brought my binoculars and I could see the brick was breaking off. Some of the flanges were totally gone and I knew then we had an issue.”

An inspection of the inside of the tower by construction companies and a local architect confirmed his suspicions.   

“Surprisingly though when we went up, there were no birds and no bats. It was a little wet but nothing to speak about. That was the strange thing.”

Correcting the problem involves removing the spire and dismantling the brick.

“They will have to go 16 to 20 feet down. And then it has got to get capped by a roofing company and some maintenance work with the bricks will have to get done,” Milne said.

“I asked the architects about putting some sort of small spire back on top once the work is done, but they are set on just leaving it flat. But there is going to be a system where all the water runs off it.”

Work is tentatively scheduled to begin October 13 and will take an estimated two weeks to complete, costing $259,000.

A church fund will help cover part of the cost, but the rest will need to come from fundraising and donations.

And that will be a challenge now that COVID-19 has put an end to some of the church’s traditional fundraising events.

“We have families who have been here for generations. We have one parishioner who has been coming here for at least 80 years. We have people who were baptized here 50 or 60 years ago, married here, and had their funeral service here. So, we are hoping some of the parishioners who have a connection to St. Andrew’s will donate on behalf of their family. We’re also hoping members of the community, even if they don’t go here will donate towards the building fund because of its history.”

When talk of the project began, there were hopes a church bell would be found tucked away inside the tower.

The closest they came to finding signs that a bell even existed was the discovery of some markings where a bell would have hung.

Based on the timing of previous work, it is thought a bell might have been removed during the 1920s or ’30s.

While the bell remains a mystery, the inspection did reveal some interesting discoveries.

“We found an original handmade wooden ladder from 1904. It is 18 feet long. It needed to be that long to get into the tower. People trusted their lives climbing this ladder. It was found inside the part of the tower that hasn’t deteriorated,” said Milne.

“And we found four speakers like you would see in old war movies hanging in camps. These ones were used in the church to pipe music out onto the street. Who knows what else we’ll find once that spire is off? It could anything.”

Located deep within the church no longer visible to the general public, is part of the building’s original stone exterior.  

Milne says the project has captured the attention of Salvage Kings.

The website says it's "an exciting new series featuring the demolition and salvage teams at Priestly Demolition Inc. in the fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping job of tearing down buildings and racing against the clock to pull out anything valuable left behind."

“They will be filming it. They and Priestly Construction sort of work together. At some point, it will be broadcast on TV.”

Donations can be made by calling the parish office at 705-472-7680.