This photo was taken on a late afternoon. The usual image of a church is front facing, but what captured my imagination was this view from the rear of the building.
I loved the curves in the brick wall, contrasting gently with the spire and the impressively tall trees guarding the entrance. Trees seldom reach such a height on the Canadian prairie. The last glimmer of sunlight creates shadows on the wall and on the grass.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church was built in 1900 of local fieldstone and was designed in the Gothic Revival style. St. Paul’s was a popular name for churches in Manitoba back then.
The church is intact and attended regularly to this day, though it is no longer surrounded by those tall trees.
“The façade and walls of a house, church, or palace, no matter how beautiful they may be, are only the container, the box formed by the walls; the content is the internal space. ~ Bruno Zevi, architect
Location: Wawanesa, Manitoba
Date: Autumn 1980
Source: Pentax ME Super with Kodacolor 125 ASA film
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