Latter Day Saints Park Avenue Chapel

The heritage value of the Latter Day Saints Park Avenue Chapel lies in its association with the settlement and religious life of Raymond and its unique architectural style, marrying the design sensibilities of prominent Mormon architects with the stylistic influences of turn of the twentieth-century English domestic architecture.

The Town of Raymond was founded at the turn of the twentieth century through the efforts of wealthy Utah mine owner and industrialist Jesse Knight. Inspired by both a religious sense of duty and an entrepreneurial spirit, Knight wanted to create both a robust Mormon settlement and a centre for processing sugar beets. In 1901, he selected a location between the Mormon communities of Stirling and Magrath for the townsite of Raymond and established the Knight Sugar Company processing plant shortly thereafter. The many opportunities of the new community - including farming, ranching, and working in the sugar mill - initially attracted a wealth of settlers, part of the third wave of Mormon immigration into southern Alberta. By 1912, Raymond had grown so large that it was necessary to divide the community into two wards (religious jurisdictions). Raymond's First Ward continued to use the church originally constructed for the community in 1901, while the Second Ward employed the old school to conduct its worship services. In 1928, needing a larger space for its faith community, the Second Ward broke the ground on a new chapel. Construction on the building continued through to 1939, when the chapel was dedicated and the first service was held. Building the chapel was a labour of love, with community members offering their time and money to the project.

The Latter Day Saints Park Avenue Chapel is architecturally unique, uniting some of the pre-eminent designers of major Mormon buildings with the influences of turn of the twentieth-century English architecture. The chapel is based on designs by Hyrum C. Pope and Harold W. Burton, the architects for the famed Mormon temples in Cardston and in Hawaii. Their plan was adapted by R.B. Rolfson, another significant architect who was also responsible for the design of the Mormon chapels at Magrath and Stirling and for Raymond's Town Hall. The Y-shaped configuration of the building focused on a central rotunda and its decorative features are unique in Canadian Mormon architecture, with their only analogue being a twin church - now extensively altered - in Provo, Utah. The influence of late nineteenth, early twentieth-century English architecture is evident in the use of multi-coloured brick, the tall chimneys, and the roof dormers. In addition to its sacred space, the building also includes classrooms and a community hall, making it a centre for cultural activities.