Winnipeg Free Press

A city hall committee is recommending a 98-year-old Osborne Village church be added to Winnipeg's list of protected heritage buildings in order to thwart a plan by the property's owners to demolish the landmark. The historical buildings committee wants the First Church of Christ, Scientist, on the northeast corner of River Avenue and Nassau Street North, to be put on a list that exempts it from demolition. "Usually when we're talking about heritage buildings, you hear about it in the Exchange District or St. Boniface," said the committee's chairwoman, Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Jenny Gerbasi. "But this is Osborne Village. And Osborne Village has a (neighbourhood) development plan which has a section on heritage and it speaks to this. And it's very clear that we should not be demolishing buildings except as an absolute last resort." The First Church of Christ, Scientist was already on the city's historical buildings inventory awaiting evaluation before the city received an application for demolition late last year. The inclusion on the inventory meant the historical buildings committee would have to evaluate the church's significance before the city could issue a demolition permit.