Church of Our Lady of Good Hope


The Church of Our Lady of Good Hope is an historic Carpenter Gothic-style Roman Catholic church building located on a bluff overlooking the Mackenzie River in Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories, Canada. Only in size, it was built between 1865 and 1885 as a mission of the Oblate Fathers. Father Émile Petitot, "renowned ethnologist, linguist and geographer of the Canadian northwest" was a resident of the mission from 1864 to 1878.
The building's simple exterior, with its wooden siding, steep pitched roof, lancet windows and lancet entranceway under a steepled bell tower, make it a rather plain example of Carpenter Gothic style architecture, which belies the extraordinary painted decoration of its interior.
The Church of Our Lady of Good Hope was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on June 6, 1977. The designation does not include the historic cemetery located to the left of the church building.