Heritage Toronto

A drawing of the scorched remains of the first St. James Cathedral following the 1849 fire. Martin Henry, 1849. Courtesy of Toronto Public Library.

View southwest from the corner of Jarvis Street and Adelaide Street. St. James Cathedral Church can be seen in the background. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 22, Item 25.

The church dominated 19th-century social life

The first Anglican priest in the Town of York arrived from England in 1796 to minister to the newly-formed parish of St. James. Lacking a church building, the congregation held its early services in the parliament buildings on Front Street. The following year, the province reserved a parcel of land at King and Church Streets and the first simple wooden church building was completed a decade later.

Members of the young congregation treated soldiers during the War of 1812 and helped families affected by Cholera outbreaks in the 1830s. Made the Cathedral Church of the new Diocese of Toronto in 1839, St. James dominated 19th-century social life and it was a stronghold of power during the city’s formative years.

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The church dominated 19th-century social life

The fourth and current building opened in 1853 and was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Frederic William Cumberland, who was selected as the winner of an architectural completion—the first of its kind in Toronto. The cathedral’s tower and spire, still the tallest of any church in Canada, took two decades to finish.

The congregation began to shrink in the early 20th century as Toronto’s core shifted north and west. However, in the 1970s, residential development in the St. James neighbourhood brought new parishioners who revitalized the community. In 2012, the St. James Cathedral completed the Cathedral Centre, an outreach and event space that continues the church’s tradition of serving its neighbourhood.

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The church dominated 19th-century social life

The church dominated 19th-century social life

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