Historic Anglican Church in Casablanca Reopens After Major Renovation and Expansion

In January 2019, the church launched work to build "a non-profit community center that should benefit the church’s faithful". This, due to the growing attendance in recent years, particularly with the large community from Asia or sub-Saharan Africa who began to attend prayers alongside the English, Americans and Canadians residing in Morocco. The church then followed up with restoration work that has just been completed.

At a total cost of around 5.5 million dirhams, "the work was done in 2 phases, the first consisted of the construction of a building housing a large multipurpose hall, some classrooms and an office for the priest. As for the second, it concerned the restoration of the main building of the church and the construction of the extension building, using essentially the same materials as what already exists, and maintaining its architectural spirit, while marking some differences to clearly indicate that it is an addition," said architect Abderrahim Kassou.

For the record, the St John’s Church was built in 1906. Located right next to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, on Guej Street, the place of worship was built outside the old ramparts of the economic capital’s Medina. The British consul in Casablanca, Bruce Maclean, had ordered an architectural firm to lay the first stone of the church on May 12, 1905. The church was finalized in the summer of 1906 but was not inaugurated until five years later.

Of great historical value for the city of Casablanca, it also served as a refuge for those who landed in Morocco during World War II and even for Major General George Patton, who was a regular attendee.