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Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)
Encyclopedia
Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto
, Canada
is the home of the oldest congregation in the city. The parish was established in 1797. The Cathedral was begun in 1850 and completed in 1853, was at the time one of the largest buildings in the city. It was designed by Frederick William Cumberland
and is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture
.
It opened for services on 19 June 1853.
The church is listed as an heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act
and is the episcopal seat of the Anglican Church of Canada
's Diocese of Toronto
.
Royal St. George's College
, on Howland Avenue, is the church's choir school and is open to boys in grades 3 through 12.
as a hospital. It was robbed and damaged by the American troops. Shortly after, in 1818, the church was enlarged and a bell tower addition was completed. This bell was used as a fire bell for the town of York. In 1833, the wooden structure was taken down and replaced by a stone structure in the Neoclassical
style. In January 1839, the church burned down and was reconstructed. Upon reopening in December 1839, the church became a Cathedral. St. James Cemetery
, the parish cemetery, was moved in the 1840s to St. James-the-Less at Parliament and Bloor, although there are still unmarked graves under the modern parking lot.
In 1849, the Cathedral was destroyed in yet another fire. An international architectural competition was held to replace it, drawing eleven entries from Canada and the United States. Frederick William Cumberland
and Thomas Ridout's Gothic Revival
design placed first, followed by the submissions of John Ostell
and Kivas Tully
respectively. Construction began on 1 July 1850, and the Ohio stone and brick Cathedral was opened to the public in 1853. The church's original organ was built in 1853 by Samuel Russell Warren.
However, it would not be until 1873-1874 when the tower and spire, the transept
s, and the pinnacle
s and finial
s were completed by architect Henry Langley
. The spire was the tallest in Canada upon completion. The tower's clock was installed one year later. In 1889, side galleries and aisles were removed, and the choir stalls and organ console were installed in the chancel. In 1936, St. George's Chapel was dedicated, and the organ was overhauled by Casavant Frères
.
Upon his death in 1867, John Strachan
, Toronto's first Anglican bishop, was buried in a vault beneath the High Altar. Dean Henry James Grasett (1808-1882) was also buried here.
Major renovations were completed in 1982. The parish celebrated its bicentenary in 1997, when the peal of 12 change ringing bells was installed as the largest peal in North America.
To raise money to help pay for rising costs of maintaining the church, part of the grounds were planned to be sold to a condominium developer. Part of the land was to been part of the original cemetery, and the developers planned to move the graves in order to clear the land. Public outcry ensued and a deal was made to sell off a parking lot to the northwest of the church for the SP!RE
condominium development.
s, even the flying buttress
es—allow as much light as possible to flood the interior. The Gothic style means an aesthetically unified whole, but the combination of different architectural elements such as the ribbed vaults
, flying buttresses, and pointed arches allows for generous illumination of the interior space with natural light.
s of the clerestory
. This allows for a play of light and shadow that dramatizes the heaviness of the wall, and was the effect of emphasizing the wall's depth by partially cutting into it. The spires are built of stone and decorated with pinnacles and dormers, and ball flower ornaments atop the pinnacles. Tower walls are reinforced with square and octagonal buttresses that taper abruptly with generous weatherings at transitional points and terminate in pinnacles, some with slender colonettes abutting chamfer
ed edges, with ribbed, stepped, or gable caps. These buttresses are accented by heavy weatherings in lighter coloured stone (creating visual contrast while drawing attention to the points of stress on the building), and topped with pinnacles, thus emphasizing their massiveness, structural function, and verticality. They provide spatial rhythm on the east and west facades.
A careful balance between horizontal and vertical elements can be observed throughout the interior and exterior of the church. On the exterior, a dog-toothed fret runs along the aisle roofline, while on the interior, a band of continuous painted bosses similarly run along the top of the aisle wall. These horizontal bands balance the composition against the verticality of the exterior tower and pinnacles, and the interior pointed arches of the nave arcade, creating a sense of stability and repose.
At 92.9 metres (305 feet), the tower and spire have remained the tallest in Canada and the second tallest in North America after St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
—although the spire of St. James is still shorter than the dome of Saint Joseph's Oratory
in Montreal
, which is the tallest church in the Western Hemisphere. The tower has five bells that still ring through the city today, and the chiming clock is "one of the finest examples of a chiming public clock anywhere in the world." At the turn of the 20th century, St James' Cathedral was still the tallest building in Toronto, and was often the first thing immigrants noticed when they stepped off the train at old Union Station.
The total length of the cathedral is 198 feet, with a maximum width of 98 feet.
In the interior, the absence of disfiguring galleries frees the vertical movement of the arcade and clerestory. A high-pitched roof of heavy timber, crowned with enriched ribs and carved bosses is very powerful, and creates a sense of shelter to the nave. The exposed rafter
s of the roof of the nave are articulated structural elements, and broad tie-beams and decorative cornice
s accent the joints. The elegant vault of the apsidal
chancel
, though expressing the thrust from the vault in the ribs that flow down to the ground, is a sham vault of lath and plaster that is coloured to represent stone.
The division of the interior into six bays is reflected on the exterior by the strong buttresses along the east and west elevations.
Pews flow through the arcade in rows of four, gallery fronts, and chancel paneling is all black walnut, as are the Corinthian capitals. Glazing bars of windows in sash of varying widths are reminiscent of Gothic tracery, creating delicate divisions in the rich stained glass.
The orientation of the inside of the cathedral is viewed as controversial because it does not follow the conventions of the Church of England. The conventional placing of the Church of England is on an east-west axis with the altar at the east end. St. James cathedral stands on the north-south axis with the sanctuary place in a location considered “the residence of Satan himself”. The orientation, decided by the design committee at the time, conforms to the symbolic representation of the church at the time, where the conflict with the American troops was apparent. The pews are oriented in central rows, with aisles on each side. Because the pews were representative of puritanical severity, the comfort of the seating was not highly regarded in the design.
The organ has 5000 pipes and includes the original gallery organ from 1853 over the main south entrance at the rear of the cathedral. Trumpet pipes have since been added to the gallery organ which creates a spectacular sound when the organist adds them to the front chancel and aisle pipes, which were added in 1916.
.
Created in the early 20th century (east and south sides around the park required demolition of a series of three storey buildings), the park's Postmodern landscaping is Victorian inspired with formal gardens and a water fountain. Two walkways with park benches cross the park diagonally with a large ornamental gazebo
in the middle functioning as a central meeting place. The formal gardens are located in the southern quadrant of the park as defined by the X-shaped walkway plan, and the formal gardens have two paths intersecting at the fountain. Maintenance of park is performed by Toronto Parks and Recreation staff and the formal garden by members of the Toronto Garden Society. The park is often used for wedding photo shoots. In fall 2011, the park was occupied by members of Occupy Toronto
.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, 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...
is the home of the oldest congregation in the city. The parish was established in 1797. The Cathedral was begun in 1850 and completed in 1853, was at the time one of the largest buildings in the city. It was designed by Frederick William Cumberland
Frederick William Cumberland
Frederick William Cumberland was a Canadian engineer, architect and political figure. He represented the riding of Algoma in the 1st and 2nd Ontario Parliaments and in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1872....
and is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
.
It opened for services on 19 June 1853.
The church is listed as an heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act
Ontario Heritage Act
The Ontario Heritage Act, first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage value or interest....
and is the episcopal seat of the Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...
's Diocese of Toronto
Anglican Diocese of Toronto
The Diocese of Toronto is an administrative division of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the central part of southern Ontario. It has the most members of any Anglican diocese in Canada. It is also one of the biggest Anglican dioceses in the Americas in terms of numbers of parishioners, clergy...
.
Royal St. George's College
Royal St. George's College
Royal St. George's College is an independent school for boys located in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school admits boys from Grades 3 through 12. Founded in 1961 as an Anglican choir school in the tradition of the great collegiate and cathedral choir schools in England,...
, on Howland Avenue, is the church's choir school and is open to boys in grades 3 through 12.
History
The Anglican parish of St. James was established in 1797. In 1807, the first "church of York” was built in Toronto out of wood. As a young structure, it was used in 1813, during the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
as a hospital. It was robbed and damaged by the American troops. Shortly after, in 1818, the church was enlarged and a bell tower addition was completed. This bell was used as a fire bell for the town of York. In 1833, the wooden structure was taken down and replaced by a stone structure in the Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style. In January 1839, the church burned down and was reconstructed. Upon reopening in December 1839, the church became a Cathedral. St. James Cemetery
St. James Cemetery (Toronto)
The Anglican St. James Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Toronto still in operation. Opened in 1844 as the burial ground for St. James Cathedral. To date over 89,000 interments and 75,000 cremations have taken place at the cemetery. Recognizing the growing trend towards cremation throughout the...
, the parish cemetery, was moved in the 1840s to St. James-the-Less at Parliament and Bloor, although there are still unmarked graves under the modern parking lot.
Frederick William Cumberland
Frederick William Cumberland was a Canadian engineer, architect and political figure. He represented the riding of Algoma in the 1st and 2nd Ontario Parliaments and in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1872....
and Thomas Ridout's Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
design placed first, followed by the submissions of John Ostell
John Ostell
John Ostell architect, surveyor and manufacturer, was born in London, England and emigrated to Canada in 1834, where he apprenticed himself to a Montreal surveyor André Trudeau to learn French methods of surveying. In 1837 he married Eleonore Gauvin a member of a prominent French Catholic family...
and Kivas Tully
Kivas Tully
Kivas Tully was an Irish-Canadian architect.Born in Garryvacum in County Laois, Ireland, Kivas Tully was the son of John P. Tully, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Alicia Willington...
respectively. Construction began on 1 July 1850, and the Ohio stone and brick Cathedral was opened to the public in 1853. The church's original organ was built in 1853 by Samuel Russell Warren.
However, it would not be until 1873-1874 when the tower and spire, the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s, and the pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s and finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s were completed by architect Henry Langley
Henry Langley (architect)
Henry Langley was a Canadian architect based in Toronto. He was active from 1854 to 1907. Among the first architects born and trained in Canada, he was a founding members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1880 and was instrumental in establishing the Ontario Association of Architects in 1889...
. The spire was the tallest in Canada upon completion. The tower's clock was installed one year later. In 1889, side galleries and aisles were removed, and the choir stalls and organ console were installed in the chancel. In 1936, St. George's Chapel was dedicated, and the organ was overhauled by Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères is a prominent Canadian company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building fine pipe organs since 1879. As of 2008, they have produced over 3800 organs.- Company history :...
.
Upon his death in 1867, John Strachan
John Strachan
John Strachan was an influential figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto.-Early life:Strachan was the youngest of six children born to a quarry worker in Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen in 1797...
, Toronto's first Anglican bishop, was buried in a vault beneath the High Altar. Dean Henry James Grasett (1808-1882) was also buried here.
Major renovations were completed in 1982. The parish celebrated its bicentenary in 1997, when the peal of 12 change ringing bells was installed as the largest peal in North America.
To raise money to help pay for rising costs of maintaining the church, part of the grounds were planned to be sold to a condominium developer. Part of the land was to been part of the original cemetery, and the developers planned to move the graves in order to clear the land. Public outcry ensued and a deal was made to sell off a parking lot to the northwest of the church for the SP!RE
SP!RE
SP!RE is a high-rise condominium building located at 70 Adelaide Street East at Church Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Context Developments...
condominium development.
Architecture
St. James Cathedral's Gothic Revival architecture is reflected throughout the structure. Every part of a Gothic cathedral is directly related to a “core dimension” which is used as an effort to achieve harmony and organic unity within the building where everything is linked rationally and proportionally, creating a coherent whole. Every element in the cathedral—including the stained glass windows, the pointed arches, high ceilings, the pinnaclePinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s, even the flying buttress
Flying buttress
A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...
es—allow as much light as possible to flood the interior. The Gothic style means an aesthetically unified whole, but the combination of different architectural elements such as the ribbed vaults
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
, flying buttresses, and pointed arches allows for generous illumination of the interior space with natural light.
Exterior
The cathedral's exterior is composed of white brick and Ohio sandstone. Several layers of brick in the facade create strong, square inset designs around the lancet windowLancet 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 of the clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
. This allows for a play of light and shadow that dramatizes the heaviness of the wall, and was the effect of emphasizing the wall's depth by partially cutting into it. The spires are built of stone and decorated with pinnacles and dormers, and ball flower ornaments atop the pinnacles. Tower walls are reinforced with square and octagonal buttresses that taper abruptly with generous weatherings at transitional points and terminate in pinnacles, some with slender colonettes abutting chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed edges, with ribbed, stepped, or gable caps. These buttresses are accented by heavy weatherings in lighter coloured stone (creating visual contrast while drawing attention to the points of stress on the building), and topped with pinnacles, thus emphasizing their massiveness, structural function, and verticality. They provide spatial rhythm on the east and west facades.
A careful balance between horizontal and vertical elements can be observed throughout the interior and exterior of the church. On the exterior, a dog-toothed fret runs along the aisle roofline, while on the interior, a band of continuous painted bosses similarly run along the top of the aisle wall. These horizontal bands balance the composition against the verticality of the exterior tower and pinnacles, and the interior pointed arches of the nave arcade, creating a sense of stability and repose.
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
—although the spire of St. James is still shorter than the dome of Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal, , is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine on the west slope of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-History:...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, which is the tallest church in the Western Hemisphere. The tower has five bells that still ring through the city today, and the chiming clock is "one of the finest examples of a chiming public clock anywhere in the world." At the turn of the 20th century, St James' Cathedral was still the tallest building in Toronto, and was often the first thing immigrants noticed when they stepped off the train at old Union Station.
The total length of the cathedral is 198 feet, with a maximum width of 98 feet.
Interior
Over the principal entrance, a wonderfully carved organ cover rises in triumph over a well-executed royal coat of arms, while colourful Minton tile-work lays underfoot.In the interior, the absence of disfiguring galleries frees the vertical movement of the arcade and clerestory. A high-pitched roof of heavy timber, crowned with enriched ribs and carved bosses is very powerful, and creates a sense of shelter to the nave. The exposed rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
s of the roof of the nave are articulated structural elements, and broad tie-beams and decorative cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s accent the joints. The elegant vault of the apsidal
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
, though expressing the thrust from the vault in the ribs that flow down to the ground, is a sham vault of lath and plaster that is coloured to represent stone.
The division of the interior into six bays is reflected on the exterior by the strong buttresses along the east and west elevations.
Pews flow through the arcade in rows of four, gallery fronts, and chancel paneling is all black walnut, as are the Corinthian capitals. Glazing bars of windows in sash of varying widths are reminiscent of Gothic tracery, creating delicate divisions in the rich stained glass.
The orientation of the inside of the cathedral is viewed as controversial because it does not follow the conventions of the Church of England. The conventional placing of the Church of England is on an east-west axis with the altar at the east end. St. James cathedral stands on the north-south axis with the sanctuary place in a location considered “the residence of Satan himself”. The orientation, decided by the design committee at the time, conforms to the symbolic representation of the church at the time, where the conflict with the American troops was apparent. The pews are oriented in central rows, with aisles on each side. Because the pews were representative of puritanical severity, the comfort of the seating was not highly regarded in the design.
The organ has 5000 pipes and includes the original gallery organ from 1853 over the main south entrance at the rear of the cathedral. Trumpet pipes have since been added to the gallery organ which creates a spectacular sound when the organist adds them to the front chancel and aisle pipes, which were added in 1916.
St. James Park
To the east of the Cathedral is St. James Park, an urban public park that is owned by both the church and the City of Toronto. The park is bounded by the Cathedral to the west, Adelaide Street East to the north, Jarvis Street to the east and King Street to the south. It is located across King Street from St. Lawrence HallSt. Lawrence Hall
St. Lawrence Hall is a meeting hall in Toronto, Canada next to the St. Lawrence Market. It was built, alongside the new city hall, in 1850 after an 1849 fire destroyed much of the market. The Renaissance Revival style building was designed by William Thomas. It was created to be Toronto's public...
.
Created in the early 20th century (east and south sides around the park required demolition of a series of three storey buildings), the park's Postmodern landscaping is Victorian inspired with formal gardens and a water fountain. Two walkways with park benches cross the park diagonally with a large ornamental gazebo
Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
in the middle functioning as a central meeting place. The formal gardens are located in the southern quadrant of the park as defined by the X-shaped walkway plan, and the formal gardens have two paths intersecting at the fountain. Maintenance of park is performed by Toronto Parks and Recreation staff and the formal garden by members of the Toronto Garden Society. The park is often used for wedding photo shoots. In fall 2011, the park was occupied by members of Occupy Toronto
Occupy Toronto
Occupy Toronto is a protest and demonstration that began on October 15, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, near Bay Street in Downtown Toronto's Financial District and moved to St...
.