FROM WIKI

Knox United Church is a Gothic Revival church located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and is a member church of the United Church of Canada.

Knox Presbyterian Church was established in 1883 Rev. James Robertson, Superintendent of the Western Mission for the Presbyterian Church in 1881. Their first church building was opened on October 21, 1883, a small wooden building. It was completed for $1000.

A new, larger, building was constructed at the corner of Centre Street and Seventh Avenue. Designed to seat 330 people it was a stone construction which cost $8,000. As the congregation continued to expand, a subsequent building was erected in 1912-13 at the corner of Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue South, the site of the present day Knox United Church.

The church building was designed by Calgary architects Lawson & Fordyce in consultation with Allen & Collens of Boston. The building is one of the most sophisticated examples of Gothic Revival architecture in western Canada.

The church split in 1925 after some members of the congregation voted to join with the United Church of Canada. Those who wished to remain in the Presbyterian Church went on to form a new, separate congregation.

FROM OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The stained glass windows followed several years after the building was completed. Most stained glass windows found in churches were typically ordered from catalogs and brought in from places like Toronto. Knox’s north-facing Memorial Window was custom-ordered and commissioned in the aftermath of the First World War and completed and installed by the Pittsburgh Glass Company and installed in 1921.

Titled “The Suffering of Mankind,” the 9,982-piece glass window depicts dead and dying soldiers from both sides of the conflict, as well as knights representing virtues like nobility and brotherhood. Knox also features one of Canada’s largest church organs. "largest Casavant Frères organs in western Canada .

This forms the centre of a strong music program. A permanent labyrinth was opened in 2005 and is open for daily meditations. The building is now also well known throughout the area as a venue for musical concerts of all kinds and is working to become more involved in the arts community in Calgary.