Holy Rosary Cathedral (Vancouver)

This late 19th-century French Gothic revival church, the Holy Rosary Cathedral, serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. It’s right here in downtown at Richards and Dunsmuir.

Construction started in 1899, on the site of an earlier church with the same name. It opened on December 8, 1900, was blessed the next day, and consecrated in 1953. People have said its style resembles the medieval Chartres Cathedral in France. This church became a cathedral in 1916 and is now on the Vancouver Heritage Register, legally protected.

The parish itself began in June 1885, and Father Patrick Fay, who was a chaplain for Canadian Pacific Railway workers, was the first pastor. He held the first mass for the parish in the same year. Masses were held in Blair's Hall and Keefer's Hall, but with 69 families, a new church was needed. Legend says Father Fay chose this spot by going to the Coal Harbour waterfront, looking south, and picking the area with the tallest tree. Construction for the original wooden church started in 1886 and it was finished and blessed the next year. It was enlarged two years later, and a bell tower was added.

Vancouver was growing fast, so plans for a bigger church were made. Father James McGuckin took over the project after Father Fay was transferred and then died. The parish was already in debt, and the Catholic community was still small, but McGuckin pushed ahead. The cornerstone for this new church was laid on July 16, 1899, by Archbishop Adélard Langevin. Thomas Ennor Julian and H.J. Williams were the architects, and it was built in just 491 days. When it was done, people called it "the finest piece of architecture west of Toronto and north of San Francisco."

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, McGuckin’s order, even mortgaged their headquarters in France to help fund it. This new church opened on December 8, 1900, and was blessed the day after. By the end of that decade, it was the most financially important parish in the archdiocese. The church officially became a cathedral in 1916. The Oblates, who had administered the parish since 1893, left in 1927 due to mortgage issues and a shortage of members.

The cathedral couldn't be consecrated until it was debt-free, so that ceremony didn’t happen until October 3, 1953, 53 years after it opened. Archbishop William M. Duke officiated, with about 35 bishops from Canada and the U.S. attending.

Back in October 1952, a gunman came into the church and fired a rifle round at the altar, but no one was hurt. In April 1959, a slight tilt was found in the bell tower, likely due to nearby tunnel drilling and blasting.

Many significant events have taken place here. In 1936, it hosted the first archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress in Western Canada. Pope John Paul II visited in September 1984, and in late September 2001, it was the first place in Canada to host the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. A memorial mass for victims of the 2025 Vancouver car attack was also held here on May 2, 2025, attended by Premier David Eby.