The walls of Cheam View United Church came tumbling down as the building was demolished on Tuesday.
Crews with Clearview Demolition were on site at the corner of Yale Road and Spadina Avenue for weeks preparing the 70-year-old downtown Chilliwack church for demolition. An excavator started to collapse the sanctuary on July 30, and it was expected to be completely demolished by July 31, after other parts were taken down earlier.
The hall beside the church was demolished on July 10. Two stained-glass windows were removed from the church around July 17 and they will be repurposed.
The church has a long history in Chilliwack. The site was originally home to a new Chilliwack Methodist Church which was built in 1908. The Methodist Church entered into a union with the United Church in 1925. In 1953, to accommodate a growing church community, construction began on a new and bigger church.
Then called Chilliwack United Church, it opened its doors in 1954. More than 65 years later, in 2020, Cheam View United Church was born when Chilliwack United amalgamated with Mt. Shannon United and Rosedale United.
Cheam View partnered with Mamele’awt Qweesome/To’o Housing Society to build a six-storey “mixed use” facility, featuring affordable housing for seniors and low-income residents at the site where the church was demolished.
