Church of St Charles, Roman Catholic church in La Cité-Limoilou, Canada
Church of St Charles is a stone building in La Cité-Limoilou featuring two symmetrical bell towers with spires, a triple portal entrance, and a large rose window on its copper-roofed facade. The structure displays classical Catholic architecture from the early twentieth century with carefully crafted exterior details.
The building was constructed between 1918 and 1920 and represents the third church on this site, as previous structures were destroyed by fires in 1899 and 1916. The reconstruction was part of the district's growth during the post-war period.
The painted decoration was designed by Guido Nincheri, and the roughly fifty stained-glass windows came from Fisher and Leonard. The main altar, pulpit and balustrade are marble and scagliola work by the Daprato firm of Chicago, while the side altars were made by the Monna workshops of Toulouse. A Notre-Dame-des-Anges statue was delivered in 1929.
The church closed for worship in summer 2012 and now houses the circus company Machine de Cirque, which moved in in December 2020. A grant of $2,325,474 awarded in August 2021 funded restoration of the bell towers' metalwork, the masonry and the facade openings. The building faces 5th Street at 500, 8th Avenue.
The Casavant organ was sold in 2014 to Norwegian clients, who used its parts to restore another instrument. In June 2025, equilibrist Guillaume Fontaine set a world record for time spent balancing on his hands on a strap strung between the church's two bell towers.
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