The Church of Our Lady of Good Hope is an historic Carpenter Gothic

Carpenter Gothic

Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...

-style Roman Catholic  church building located on a bluff overlooking the Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 in Fort Good Hope

Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories

Fort Good Hope is a charter community in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on a peninsula between Jackfish Creek and the east bank of the Mackenzie River, about 145 km northwest of Norman Wells. The two principal languages are North Slavey and English...

, Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Only 45 feet by 25 feet in size, it was built between 1865 and 1885 as a mission of the Oblate Fathers

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope...

. Father Émile Petitot

Émile Petitot

Father Émile-Fortuné Petitot Father Émile-Fortuné Petitot (also known as Émile-Fortuné-Stanislas-Joseph Petitot) Father Émile-Fortuné Petitot (also known as Émile-Fortuné-Stanislas-Joseph Petitot) (Inuk name, Mitchi Pitchitork Tchikraynarm iyoyé, meaning "Mr...

, "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 window

Lancet window

A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...

s 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 is a National Historic Site as designated by the Government of Canada on June 6, 1977. The designation does not include the historic cemetery located to the left of the church building.