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Old Pentecostal church demolished Katherine Hudson Northern News Services Published Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The board member of the Artist Run Community Centre (ARCC) was on 49 Street at 8 a.m. Saturday, watching the group's temporary home for more than seven months crumble to the ground. "Just the miraculous speed with which it came down, for me, was really striking. They started at 8 a.m. and by noon, it was totally flattened. It was a pancake," said Sawatzky of the large excavator that clawed at the structure under which there was nothing but a wide-open space in a blanket of rubble. Homes North developer Les Rocher leased the building free of charge to a group of artists back in March, with the plan being very clear that time was ticking on the roof over their heads. "For ARCC itself, the whole premise of us being in the building was under the knowledge that it was going to be demolished. For us, that provided us with a certain kind of energy and a creative licence that we took with the place," said Sawatzky. "It's not that we in any way felt that it was disposable, but there was always a sense of pressure to utilize the space that was not going to be there for very long." He said as he watched the building fall, he remembered the group's many creative pursuits. "I kind of have this belief that in the act of destruction, it is at the same time a creative act as well ... It was stirring up a whole bunch of creativity we had poured into the building. You could see some of the markings we had put on the building as it was being demolished. It was nothing but good memories for me. It was in some ways sad to see such a beautiful structure being demolished, but you know something else is going to go in its place." ARCC president Rosalind Mercredi said Rocher contacted her and offered her stained glass from the windows two days before the building went down. "It was still just such a good building, with all the wood panelling and everything. It's such a loss that something couldn't have happened. Even at the end, we were hoping we could move it or something. Even at the bitter end as it's coming down, you still feel maybe something will happen," she said. Rocher said he recycled whatever he could from the building - windows and doors. He said he offered $40,000 to arts and theatre group, as well as the city, to go toward moving the building to another location and save the history and architecture of the old Pentecostal church. The building was opened as the United Church of Yellowknife in 1958, and taken over by the Pentecostal Church in 1975. "It's just a shame that we couldn't have found a location to move that building ... I don't know, I couldn't understand that. It was quite a building. Nobody had a place to put it," he said. "We were under tight time restraints because we had an arrangements and I had to honour my commitments." According to a City of Yellowknife public notice for the demolition of the building, the site must be cleared of all debris to the satisfaction of the development officer within 60 days of the of demolition. The lot will then be used to construct a building for the GNWT. "I thought it was a beautiful building and the acoustics were absolutely amazing. Hindsight's always great - coulda woulda shoulda, it just didn't happen," said Rocher. "It's a shame when you see things like this happen ... The ARCC had a shot at it, they all had a shot at it." Mercredi said the ARCC is still searching for a new home, and in the meantime will do little venues around the city and perhaps at the Snowking's Snow Castle in March. "Our problem is to actually having consistent money so we can pay rent ... You never had to worry about a venue so you could just plan programs and events. You never had to really consider, 'Where am I going to have it? How much is that going to cost?'" Sawatzky said the ARCC knew the demolition was to be a reality, and is cherishing the memories artists had in the structure. "We were grateful for this space," he said.
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