Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace
Municipality/Province: Vancouver, BC
Memorial number: 59026-037
Type: Building
Address: 1825 W 16th Avenue
Location: Canadian Memorial United Church
GPS coordinates: Lat: 49.2572049 Long: -123.1467808
Submitted by: Canadian Memorial United Church. A Padre's Pilgrimage, Toronto: The Ryerson Press.
Canadian Memorial Chapel was born in the hearts of private soldiers who, guided by a sergeant, formed a working party to bury six of Canada's war dead. On a November night of 1915, in the Ypres Salient, France, one of the soldiers said to Reverend Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt.-Col.) George Fallis, CBE, ED, DD: "Padre, after the war is over some chaplain should build a memorial in Canada in memory of fellows like these who have given their all." From that moment on, he would never lay away their beloved dead without the idea of a memorial chapel in his mind.
On his return to Canada he was advised by Reverend S.D. Chown, DD, General Superintendent of the Methodist Church, to go to Vancouver and choose a site in Shaughnessy Heights facing the eternal hills to erect the chapel of his dreams. He arrived in Vancouver in May 1920, to a willing congregation and plans were quickly laid. The first project was Memorial Hall and all plans were sent to Professor C.H.C. Wright, Head of the Department of Architecture in the University of Toronto, for judging. He awarded the project to McCarter & Nairn.
Memorial Hall was opened on 18 February 1923 and Sunday services were held in the gymnasium until Memorial Church was built in 1928. The corner-stone of Canadian Memorial Hall was laid by Mrs. Christopher Spencer and the address was given by Corporal J. A. Paton, MLA. The spirit operating in Canadian Memorial Hall is the same spirit of fellowship that existed in the trenches in France among Canadian soldiers—all men were brothers, irrespective of creed or colour.
A new addition was built in 1962 and was replaced by the Centre for Peace in 1997. Canadian Memorial United Church and the Centre for Peace remain committed to being a memorial for peace.
Inscription found on memorial
CANADIAN MEMORIAL CENTRE FOR PEACE
Street view
Note
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