Our Church is the earliest Congregational Church in Dundee.
It originated from the union of two churches, which existed in the town at the end of the eighteenth century, and has
continued in ecclesiastical use since its completion.
The Church was designed by the architect James Brewster and
opened in 1833. The designation Ward Chapel adopted from the name of a field in part of which it was erected.
The Church forms an axial focal point at the west end of Euclid Street. Ward Chapel opened with 1200 sittings
at a cost of £2810. The building is rectangular in plan, designed as Gothic Church with later single storey schoolrooms
flanking the apse. The Church has traceried, pointed arch windows to the front and simpler windows to the north,
south and west elevations and also in the western apse. The interior of the building had a substantial amount of well-crafted
decorative timber work.
Known as the Cathedral of Congregationalism in Scotland,
the building is unusually ambitious for its date and has been associated with many influential families of the Dundee area
who have worshipped here. These included manufacturers, merchants, dyers, mill-owners, foundry-owners, such as the Baxters,
Buists, Carmichaels, Gilroys, Halleys, Hendersons, Lows, Neishs, Prains, Scotts and Stevensons.
Over the years the successive congregations have commissioned
a series of additions and alterations to the building. Most recent alteration was in 2003 with the removal of two dozen
pews to allow the construction of a Welcome Hall with a glazed screen, a prayer corner and steps were made to the Chancel
using some of the old pews.
