A SPACE FOR ALL Southern Ontario ’ s Paris Presbyterian Church overhauls its AV & stage design to serve the local arts community
By Michael Raine | Photos by Joseph DeBuglio
With a congregation that
dates back to 1820 , predating the town itself , and a building that was erected in 1893 , the Paris Presbyterian Church has a long and proud history of serving the community in its small southern Ontario town . In addition to the approximately 200 worshippers that attend service every Sunday , the church is also regularly used by community social and youth programs , STEM student camps , music lessons , the Brownies , and more .
It ’ s also a beautiful building , with a slate roof , wooden wraparound balcony , and grand century-old pipe organ with a striking stained-glass rose window and ceiling . And prior to 2020 , it also had an intricate , multi-tier oak pulpit that , while pretty cool in its traditional style , was not very useful outside of church services .
“ One of the core values of our church is to be a part of this community . What that means is to have our space used by the community . We are considering how this building can be used five or 10 years down the line and beyond ,” Reverend Joel Sherbino told the local newspaper , The Brantford Examiner , in 2018 when discussing the building ’ s future .
“ It ’ s an interesting time ,” Sherbino continued , “ we ’ re celebrating our 125 th anniversary and thinking about how to keep it useful for another 125 years . This is a big time in the life of our church …. Our church building , beautiful and ornate and as central to the community as it is , requires extensive repairs and renovations .”
This where the story begins for how the church ended up with a completely revamped stage , sound and video system , and acoustics . But those , let ’ s say , more fun elements are not where the restoration project was meant to begin . The initial focus for the multi-million-dollar , multi-year plan was the building ’ s 100-year-old slate roof , which is reaching the end of its lifespan . Then , of course , the pandemic hit in March 2020 and all public gatherings were forbidden , including church services . Since the building would be empty , its leaders retooled their plans and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to revamp the interior .
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