Church of Saint David, Halifax

The Church of Saint David was born in 1925, when the Presbyterians leased and then purchased the former Grafton Street Methodist Church as their congregational home. The building stands atop a hill on Grafton Street, over and in the midst of the Old Methodist Burying Ground of Halifax, which is one of the most sacred sites of Maritime Methodism. Much valued for its historical and spiritual association with Methodism and the creation of the United Church in Canada, the place is also valued for its association with the talented and renowned architect, David Stirling.

Born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada about 1847, Stirling created many a building in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Ontario prior to designing the Grafton Street Church, in 1865. The latter was built in 1868-1869 (opened on November 7, 1869) on the site of an earlier, wooden church, erected in 1852 and burned down on February 23, 1868, leaving a small cemetery that still exists.

Designed in the Victorian Gothic (aka Early English or English College Chapel) style, Sterling's creation is a rare, if not unique, example of such architecture, constructed in brick in the province. It is more typical of Stirling's later Gothic-Revival style churches than his earlier ones; Grafton Street is the older of Stirling's two surviving Halifax churches.

The building is highlighted by its great front gable with tall Gothic buttresses and five detailed finials that project above the roof line. Most notably, the church was built without a steeple. Still, its front façade is quite striking and dominates the block.

Initially named simply the Presbyterian Church, the temple was renamed in 1930 in honor of the saintly King David I of Scotland, who reigned from 1124 to 1153.