From Threatened Church to Community Square
The building at 3214 W 10th Ave in Kitsilano is a former church sanctuary that has housed community groups for more than 90 years. In the mid-1990s, around 1994, community activist Mel Lehan led the campaign to save the St. James church building from demolition and chaired the organization as it became St. James Community Square. The City of Vancouver bought the property and granted a long-term lease to the non-profit society that runs it today, a site now drawing roughly 500,000 visits per year.
Mel Lehan Hall: The Room
The principal performance space, historically called St. James Hall, is now officially Mel Lehan Hall, though it is still widely listed and booked under the old name. The re-purposed sanctuary has a raised stage and a sprung dance floor, and its vaulted ceilings give the room strong natural acoustics. The hall and balcony total over 4,000 square feet, including 2,000-plus square feet of oak hardwood sprung floor, with about 220 chairs plus roughly 135 pew seats, a Kawai RX3 grand piano, two projector screens, a green room, four entry points, and wall-mounted speakers. Official capacity is listed as 366 without alcohol and 227 licensed; concert listings commonly cite an intimate ~250-seat figure.
A Folk, Roots and Celtic Listening Room
The hall is the primary concert home of the Rogue Folk Club, which presents live folk, roots, and Celtic music in Vancouver. Programming runs across transatlantic folk, Cajun and Zydeco, acoustic, traditional, and fusion styles, mixing touring and local performers in a seated listening-room setting. Listed concerts have featured artists such as Calum McIlroy, Steve Poltz, Amy Helm, and The Revelers.
Role in Vancouver's Scene
Beyond folk concerts, the hall works as a multi-purpose community venue, hosting weddings, memorials and celebrations of life, book launches, dance groups, fitness and workshops, rehearsals, theatre, art shows, fundraisers, and worship. As an affordable non-profit space in Kitsilano, it serves as a long-running cultural hub for West Side audiences and a key intimate room on the city's acoustic and roots circuit.