Brunswick Street Baptist Church

The Brunswick Street Baptist Church can trace its congregation’s beginnings back to 1814. Brunswick Street Baptist Church, a distinguished and historic structure of downtown Fredericton’s streetscape, is like other churches in the city as it was constructed on a corner-lot. This purple sandstone Gothic Revival church was designed by the architect D.E. Dunham of Saint John and completed in 1883, replacing a wooden church on the same site destroyed by fire in 1882. 

The first Baptist church, built in 1840, was typical for its time in terms of style and was built in a symmetrical Gothic Revival style, with a three-bay façade on the gable end and a centrally placed steeple with a belltower. It appears that the open-cage belfry, situated on the upper-most part of the steeple, may have been added later, as its style appears different from the rest of the structure. Some of the most striking features of this building include the oversized Gothic Revival stained-glass window, positioned in the middle of the steeple, which extends almost the whole height of the steeple. A unique feature of this structure is the three entranceways positioned on the gable end; and inside this building’s sanctuary there are five aisles, but the center aisle stops behind the third pew.

The current structure, built in 1883, is constructed in an unsymmetrical design, out of stone. This church structure, usually made of wood, to a design that often featured a steeple on the side of the building rather than in the center. This church resembles those built in the English Perpendicular Gothic style and in the Victorian Gothic style. The building is rather long and narrow and has three gables on the side of the structure that has the steeple. The front façade of the structure has a large medallion window situated near the peak of the roof. There is a centrally placed main entrance just below this window with a hooded label moulding above it. On the corner without the steeple is a long pinnacle, caped with a finial, typical of churches built in the Victorian Gothic Revival style.

The interior follows Baptist tradition, with a central pulpit surrounded by semi-circular pews, a horseshoe shaped balcony, and a richly stained wood interior. All the pews are rounded back and still have their original finish. On the ceiling is a chandelier of a very grand size and style . From inside the church the beauty of the stained-glass windows can be viewed during daylight hours.

Information provided by the church and mynewbrunswick.ca.