BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Work is set to begin to build a new Côte St. Charles United Church in St. Lazare now that the old building has been torn down.

A demolition crew removed most of the old building, which dates back to the early 1900s, last Friday, leaving just the stone façade of the entrance of the original building and the foundation.

“Basically, it’s going to look the same as before,” said John Pichovich, a church trustee and treasurer while he was visiting the site Monday to see how work was progressing. The new building will be slightly longer than the original, he added.

The church, which is now home to the congregation of the former Wyman Memorial United Church in Hudson, which was sold in the fall of 2020, opted to build a new structure after discovering a number of issues as it attempted to renovate the old building, Pichovich said.

The stone façade of the front entrance of the building will be incorporated into the design of the new church, as well as stained glass windows that were removed from the old structure and stored before the demolition crew moved in.

The 100-member congregation is expected to begin holding services in the new church next May, when work is scheduled to be completed, Pichovich said.