New photo book highlights Guelph's historic downtown churches

A new book is taking a close look at the legacy of downtown Guelph's historic stone churches.

The Stone Churches of Downtown Guelph focuses in on seven of the city's historic churches. Author Robert White says there used to be more like them.

• Lakeside Church vandalized with Islamic State messaging

"As congregations age [and] people move more to the outskirts of a community, it's becoming more and more challenging for those downtown churches to remain," he told The Morning Edition's Craig Norris.

White, a photographer and journalist, started taking pictures of the buildings as a personal project. but soon saw an opportunity to preserve their legacy.

He said the architecture of the buildings — much of it done by hand in the early 20th century — is becoming increasingly hard to maintain.

"It's more and more difficult to find people who can do the work," he said.

As if to prove his point, he noted that the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate has been in the midst of renovations for years, and that they had to bring in someone from Michigan to restore their organ.

White says high maintenance costs and low congregation numbers could make the coming years hard for these churches. 

"I think the biggest challenge is for the congregations to be able to continue to draw people in," he said.

He will launch The Stone Churches of Downtown Guelph on Oct. 28 at St. Andrew's Church in Guelph.