St. Laszlo Canadian Magyar Hall

The St. Laszlo Canadian Magyar Hall is a Municipal Heritage Property which occupies .477 ha of land in the Rural Municipality of Bayne No. 371, approximately 6.5 kilometres northeast of the Village of Prud'homme. The property features a cemetery, three stone cairns, and a wood-frame church with a bell tower, completed in 1911.

The heritage value of the St. Laszlo Canadian Magyar Hall lies in its connection to the religious values of the Hungarian immigrants who settled in this area. Named after St. Laszlo, a venerated saint in Hungary and also the patron saint of travelers, construction of the church began shortly after the arrival of the first Hungarians to the area. The construction of this church demonstrated the settlers’ desire to continue their religious practices in the Hungarian language in their new setting. The grounds surrounding the church building features three cairns dedicated to the church founders and a cemetery where many of the original settlers are laid to rest.

The property is also valued as a representative example of rural church architecture. Of wood-frame construction, St. Laszlo's features a rectangular-shaped sanctuary with vaulted ceiling, regularly-spaced arched windows along the sides and a centrally positioned bell tower on the front façade of the building.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Bayne No. 371 Bylaw No. 1/03.

The heritage value of St. Laszlo Canadian Magyar Hall resides in the following character-defining elements:

-those features reflecting the building's use as a place of worship, including the cross on the roof and three round windows on the front façade;

-those elements which reflect the representative architecture of the building, including wood-frame construction, rectangular form, bell tower and arched windows;

-those elements of the grounds which speak to the association with the Hungarian immigrants, including the fieldstone construction of the cairns and the carved plaques featured on each cairn;

-the headstones and defined green space of the cemetery.