HISTORIC CHAPEL — The faith community at Our Lady of the Lake chapel hopes to raise some $200,000 to repair the historic structure, which sits above Last Mountain Lake in south central Saskatchewan. (Flegel photo)

Historic chapel to be repaired

By Frank Flegel

SASKATCHEWAN BEACH, Sask. — Our Lady of the Lake RC Chapel sits over a hollowed-out hill just below the valley top above Last Mountain Lake. It is a unique structure that won a 1974 Massey Award, now the Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, for its architect, Clifford Wiens. It is one of only four structures in Saskatchewan to have received this prestigious recognition.

It is open air, the walls formed by grasses and trees that have grown up around and beneath the pyramidal roof. A huge rock serves as an altar and a concrete baptismal font is designed to capture water coming off the roof when it rains.

Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on the structure and the four massive wooden glued support beams have deteriorated to the point where the roof is in danger of collapse and the chapel cannot be used. The Archdiocese of Regina, which built and owns the chapel and the six lots around it, told the faith community last fall that it could not afford to pay for the repairs, estimated to cost around $200,000, and the chapel is to be torn down and the property sold. That didn’t sit well with some of the folks who use the chapel, so they decided to do something about it.

Arnold Flegel, a retired mechanical engineer, has lived in Kannata Valley, next to Saskatchewan Beach, since the mid-1990s. He also served Kannata Valley as councillor and administrator. He and his family have attended services in the chapel every summer and didn’t want to see it torn down. He helped form a committee including architects, the Last Mountain Pastoral Council, the chapel faith community and the Resort Village of Saskatchewan Beach; Carleen Desautels agreed to chair.

The intent is to raise the $200,000 estimated to put the chapel back in useable condition. “We can’t call it a restoration,” said Desautels, “because it’s suggested that the wooden beams be replaced with steel beams. So we’re calling it conservation.”

The committee made an application to Heritage Canada for inclusion in the list of the top 10 most threatened and has approached the Saskatchewan Association of Architects for their support. Clifford Wiens, now living in Vancouver, is supporting the project by acting as consultant.

The community, with the approval of Archbishop Daniel Bohan, is holding summer services in the United Church in Silton, about a mile from the valley.

The chapel was originally known as the Silton Chapel and was for the use of Roman Catholic services, but because of its unique structure and location several denominations used it for weddings.

The archdiocese has agreed to help the committee by acting as a repository for funds raised and held in trust for the project.