From the Windsor Daily Star – November 9, 1946:
First sod for the new church in The Voice of the Most Precious Blood Parish will be turned Sunday at 4:30 p.m. by most Rev. J. E. Cody, coadjutor bishop of London. Benediction will follow in the old church. Above is a drawing of the new church by Mr. John R. Boyde, architect. It will be at Tecumseh boulevard and Meldrum road, on the same site as the present frame structure. Major the Rev. Michael J. Dalton, M.B.E., wartime padre of the Essex Scottish Regiment is pastor of this parish.
Sadly this nice looking church fell victim to a fire, and the church has since been replaced:
What was it about the 1970’s and Catholic Churches? It’s like architects tried to out do each other with ugly boxy designs…
Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend… Hard to believe it’s August already….
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There are some historic photos in the church hallway, if anyone is interested.
The church that burned down (in the early 80’s?) bore little/no resemblance to the original drawing, someone must have a pic of it.
This link sheds some light, the fire occurred Nov.14,1978, the link gives a history of the parish(with a few pics) about halfway down is the version that burned down.
http://www.mostpreciousbloodchurch.ca/index.php?page=history
It’s true, the building lacks a lot in terms of style and beauty. Even with the wonderful new addition that 70s feel pervades. However, the people of that parish thrive and are truly wonderful, full of life and character. That’s something even great architecture can’t always capture.
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Bob C. is correct.
And, interestingly, the ciborium (the “container” which holds the consecrated Host and housed in the “Tabernacle” in a Catholic Church) did not burn or melt at all and may be seen today on display at Most Precious Blood Parish in the Narthex. The fire was so intense that all other solid metal objects we smelted down to nothing but that particular ciborum survived. Anyone who believes in the real presence of Christ in the consecrated host will find this Windsor fact significant.
Thanks for another great post.
Interesting… Thanks for all the stories everyone…
So I think it’s safe to say the Church as illustrated above was never built?
My mom had her baptism at Most Precious Blood in July of 1950. I have a few neat photographs. Interestingly, the priest who did her baptism just passed away two years ago. (meanwhile he looked old in the pictures from 1950)
Interesting to read that the ciborium (the “container” which holds the consecrated Host and housed in the “Tabernacle” survived the 1978 fire. My own Parish had the same situation in the 1970’s (I wasn’t born yet) But, today when u are in the lobby of Our Lady of Mt Carmel you can see it on display. (Must have something to do with how they are manufactored; if not a paranormal circumstance)
Our Lady of Mt Carmel is another 1970’s DARK BOX Church. The original one was a classic (Little House style) with white siding and steps to the entrance. Again, I have pictures of this Church due to baptisms/etc.
My mother was member of this church. When the church burned down they held Mass in the gym at St. Brenard school. The attendance went up and more older pople were attending Mass. They also noticed that there were no steps to the gym. The new church was build without steps to make it more accesable.
the tarnished green steeple on top of the church is from the original church that burned
Does anyone know the actual date of the fire. I have two pictures that were taken by my cousin. I totally forgot I had them till he asked. If you like I can forward them along.
This doesn’t look like the Church that was once there. I grew up in that parish and was one of the last people to get married in that church on Oct. 28th 1978. The church caught fire the second week of November 1978. I don’t know where this picture came from but it isn’t the Most Prescious Blood Church that burned down. I still have the newspaper article from the Windsor Star. In the mid 1960’s Father Frogarty the pastor at the time, built an addition to accomadate the over crowded parish. Where the current church is now is where the court hard was and I had my wedding pictures taken there. The original church had a single steeple that survived the fire. The Ciborium is still on display in the entrance way.