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City of Toronto Council and Committees |
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All Council and Committee documents are available from the City of Toronto Clerk's office. Please e-mail clerk@toronto.ca.
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Authority: Toronto Community Council Report No. 7, Clause No. 53,
as adopted by City of Toronto Council on May 11 and 12, 1999
Enacted by Council: May 12, 1999 CITY OF TORONTO
BY-LAW No. 281-1999
To designate the property at 130 Gerrard Street East (Jarvis Street Baptist Church)
as being of architectural and historical value or interest.
WHEREAS authority was granted by Council to designate the property at No. 130 Gerrard
Street East as being of architectural and historical value or interest; and
WHEREAS the Ontario Heritage Act authorizes the Council of a municipality to enact by-laws
to designate real property, including all the buildings and structures thereon, to be of
historical or architectural value or interest; and
WHEREAS the Council of the City of Toronto has caused to be served upon the owners of the
land and premises known as No. 130 Gerrard Street East and upon the Ontario Heritage Foundation,
Notice of Intention to designate the property and has caused the Notice of Intention to be
published in a newspaper having a general circulation in the municipality as required by the
Ontario Heritage Act; and
WHEREAS the reasons for designation are set out in Schedule B to this by-law; and
WHEREAS no notice of objection to the proposed designation was served upon the Clerk of
the municipality;
The Council of the City of Toronto HEREBY ENACTS as follows:
1. The property at No. 130 Gerrard Street East, more particularly described and shown
on Schedule A to this by-law, is designated as being of architectural and historical value or
interest.
2. The City Solicitor is authorized to cause a copy of this by-law to be registered
against the property described in Schedules A and C to this by-law in the proper Land
Registry Office.
3. The City Clerk is authorized to cause a copy of this by-law to be served upon the
owners of the property at No. 130 Gerrard Street East and upon the Ontario Heritage Foundation
and to cause notice of this by-law to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in
the City of Toronto as required by the Ontario Heritage Act.
ENACTED AND PASSED this 12th day of May, A.D. 1999.
CASE OOTES, NOVINA WONG,
Deputy Mayor City Clerk
(Corporate Seal)
SCHEDULE A TO BY-LAW No. 281-1999
In the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario, being composed of part of Park Lot 6 in
Concession 1 from the Bay, in the Geographic Township of York, designated as PART 2 on Plan 64R-
14680 deposited in the Land Registry Office for the Metropolitan Toronto Registry Division (No.
64).
The easterly limit of Jarvis Street and the northerly limit of Gerrard Street East as confirmed
under the Boundaries Act by Plan BA-1893 (CT488073).
The hereinbefore described lands being delineated by heavy outline on Plan SYE2921 dated
April 23, 1999, as set out in Schedule C .
SCHEDULE B TO BY-LAW No. 281-1999
Heritage Property Report
Jarvis Street Baptist Church
130 Gerrard Street East
October 1996
Table of Contents
Basic Building Data
Historical Background
Architectural Description
Context
Summary
Sources Consulted
Attachments:
I Short Statement of Reasons for Designation
II Location Map
III Photographs
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Heritage Property Report
Basic Building Data:
Address: 130 Gerrard Street East (northeast corner of Gerrard Street East and Jarvis
Street)
Ward: 6
Current Name: Jarvis Street Baptist Church
Historical Name: Jarvis Street Baptist Church
Construction Date: 1874-1875
Architect: Langley, Langley and Burke
Contractor/Builder: none found
Additions/Alterations:1938-1939, alterations following fire, Horwood and White, architects
Original Owner: Jarvis Street Baptist Church
Original Use: religious
Current Use*: religious
Heritage Category: Notable Heritage Property (Category B)
Recording Date: October 1996
Recorder: HPD:KA
*this does not refer to permitted use(s) as defined in the Zoning By-law
Historical Background:
With the founding of Toronto as the Town of York in 1793, the area north of Queen Street was
divided into park lots which were distributed to government officials. Originally the setting of
the country estates of Toronto's founding families, by the mid 19th century the parcels directly
north of the townsite were divided into residential lots along tree-lined avenues named Church,
Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets. In Toronto's most fashionable neighbourhood, substantial houses
were interspersed with churches.
The first Baptist congregation in Toronto was formed in 1829. After meeting in temporary
facilities on present day Colborne and Lombard Streets, a church was constructed on Bond Street
(on the site of present-day St. Michael's Hospital) in 1848. This congregation was important in
the development of other Baptist churches in Toronto, opening facilities on Beverley, Parliament,
Bloor and Alexander Streets as missions under the Bond (later Jarvis) Street church.
In 1874, following the acquisition of a vacant lot on the northeast corner of Jarvis and Gerrard
Streets, construction of the present church began. Senator William McMaster, a prominent Toronto
wholesale merchant and the founder of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, contributed $60,000.00
toward the building costs. McMaster was an important Baptist philanthropist who funded McMaster
Hall for the Toronto Baptist College (the forerunner to McMaster University in Hamilton). As an
original member of the Bond Street congregation, McMaster took a special interest in the
development of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church.
The prominent Toronto architectural firm of Langley, Langley and Burke was engaged to design the
church. In a practice spanning over 40 years, Henry Langley designed more than 70 churches and
altered, enlarged or completed many others. Following his apprenticeship with architect William
Hay (who designed St. Basil's Roman Catholic Church at 50 St. Joseph Street), Langley formed a
partnership with Thomas Gundry in 1862. Their projects included the reconstruction of
St. Stephen s-in-the-Field Anglican Church on Bellevue Avenue (damaged in a fire in 1865) and the
design of St. Peter s Anglican Church on Carlton Street (1866). Working on his own, Langley
designed Metropolitan Methodist Church at Queen and Church Streets (completed in 1872). In 1873,
Henry Langley formed a new partnership with his brother, Edward Langley and his nephew, Edmund
Burke (this firm was succeeded by Langley and Burke, Burke and Horwood, Burke Horwood and White,
and Horwood and White). Jarvis Street Baptist Church was among the first commissions received by
the partnership. Coincidentally, Burke was a member of the congregation.
Jarvis Street Baptist Church was the first church in Canada designed with a U-shaped galleried
auditorium, described by J. R. Robertson as the more modern method of seating which bends the
audience around the chancel (Landmarks, 423). The church was extended by a 2-storey school
building to the rear (east), containing a church parlour, library, classrooms and, on the second
floor, a Sunday School room with a capacity of 500 seats.
The building opened for services in December, 1875. The size of its weekly prayer meetings, with
400 to 500 participants, attracted local attention. According to J. R. Robertson, writing in
1903, there is no church in Canada or the United States that can secure, in proportion to its
membership, an attendance so large as this at its regular prayer meeting (Landmarks, 424). In
1894, Augustus
Stephen Vogt (1861-1926), organist and choirmaster at Jarvis Street Baptist Church, formed the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, using the church choir as the nucleus of a choral group whose
membership soared to 100 voices. The Mendelssohn Choir was based at the church until the
completion of Massey Hall.
Following a disastrous fire in 1938, Jarvis Street Baptist Church was substantially altered by
architects Horwood and White, successors to the firm responsible for the original designs.
Architectural Description:
Jarvis Street Baptist Church is designed with Gothic Revival features, the most popular style for
churches in the late 19th century. The style evolved in mid-19th century England, largely
influenced by the publication of The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture by the
architect and theorist A. W. Pugin. His book advocated the renewal of the Gothic style of the
English Middle Ages, specifically the Decorated English style of the 14th century. Ideal
compositions featured natural materials, buttresses, steeply-pitched roofs, gables, and pointed-
arch window openings. The movement was further influenced by the writings of English art critic
John Ruskin, who espoused the application of colour in architectural design. By the mid-19th
century, Gothic Revival designs combined medieval prototypes with increasingly complicated floor
plans and asymmetrical compositions. The style was introduced to Toronto in 1858 with the
construction of the Chapel of St. James-the-Less in St. James' Cemetery by architects Cumberland
and Storm. Its design, which included the relocation of the tower from the end wall of the nave
to a side elevation, influenced the next generation of churches.
Jarvis Street Baptist Church is constructed of mottled brownstone and trimmed with Ohio sandstone
and granite. Measuring 80 by 90 feet (24 by 27 metres), the church is almost square in plan and
incorporates a similarly-shaped auditorium. The building is covered by a steeply-pitched gable
roof, originally clad with ornamental slate shingles and trimmed with iron cresting. Cross-gables
project from the north, west and south faces of the roof. The tower with its metal-clad spire is
canted on a diagonal at the southwest corner of the plan, overlooking the intersection of Jarvis
and Gerrard Streets. This element is balanced on the northwest corner by a hip-roofed projection,
similarly angled.
The tower remains the focal point of the composition, with its buttressed walls, quoins, narrow
lancet windows, pointed-arch openings with trefoil motifs and louvres, and stone corbels. The
octagonal broach spire displays pinnacles, lucarnes, crockets and iron cresting. A gabled
frontispiece at the base of the tower has label stops decorated with gargoyles. A compound
compressed-arch portal contains double wood entrance doors (added in 1939) and a transom with
quartrefoil and trefoil motifs. The entrance is flanked by polished granite columns with stiff-
leaf capitals. A similarly-detailed entrance is found on the northwest corner of the building.
The motifs introduced on the tower are repeated on the west wall facing Jarvis Street, where a
monumental pointed arch window opening with quatrefoil tracery is placed above paired gabled
frontispieces with entrances. On either side, lancet openings are found. A name band marks the
south end of this wall. On the south (Gerrard Street) and north facades, two cross-gables each
display a monumental pointed arch window and multiple lancet openings. On the south wall, between
the cross-gables, an entrance repeats the detailing found on the tower entry. The east end of the
church has a three-sided apse, which is partially concealed by a 2-storey brick-clad addition
(this addition is not included in the Reasons for Designation).
Important interior elements are the nearly-square auditorium, rising 45 feet (13.5 metres) to a
groined plaster ceiling with a monumental skylight in the shape of a stained-glass rose window.
The horseshoe-shaped gallery is supported on iron piers.
Context:
Jarvis Street Baptist Church occupies a prominent location on the northeast corner of Jarvis
Street and Gerrard Street East. Its neighbour to the north, built as the Samuel Platt House in
1849-1850, is now occupied by the Toronto Baptist Seminary. Further north, at the southeast
corner of Jarvis and Carlton Streets, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was completed in 1878 to
the designs of architects Langley, Langley and Burke. East of the church, the remainder of the
block bounded by Jarvis, Gerrard, Sherbourne and Carlton Streets is filled by Allan Gardens. All
of the above-noted properties are included on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage
Properties.
On the opposite side of Jarvis Street, between Gerrard and Carlton Streets, the semi-detached
house form buildings at No. 280 (1891), No. 288-290 (1890) and No. 314 (1865) and the Frontenac
Arms Hotel (1930) at No. 300 are also listed on the Inventory of Heritage Properties.
Summary:
The property at 130 Gerrard Street East is identified for architectural and historical reasons.
Jarvis Street Baptist Church was completed in 1875 for the successor to the first Baptist
congregation in Toronto and as the flagship Baptist church in Ontario. It was designed by the
important Toronto architectural firm of Langley, Langley and Burke, the foremost practitioners of
ecclesiastical architecture in the Province during the late 19th century. Its Gothic Revival
styling is highlighted by a canted corner tower, mottled brownstone cladding, and a profusion of
pointed-arch openings and decorative stone trim. Located on the northeast corner of Jarvis and
Gerrard Streets, Jarvis Street Baptist Church is a prominent neighbourhood landmark.
Sources Consulted:
Assessment Rolls. City of Toronto. 1874 ff.
Carr, Angela. Toronto Architect Edmund Burke. McGill-Queen's University, 1995.
Caulfield, John. The Growth of the industrial city and inner Toronto s vanished church
buildings . Urban History Review (March 1995), 3-19.
Choirmaster's dream led to musical fame for Toronto (Toronto Star, 31 December 1976).
City of Toronto Directories. 1874 ff.
MacRae, Marion, and Anthony Adamson. Hallowed Walls. Church Architecture in Upper Canada. Clarke
Irwin, 1975.
McHugh, Patricia. Toronto Architecture. A City Guide. 2nd ed. McClelland and Stewart, 1989.
Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto. Vol. 5. J. R. Robertson, 1903.
Thompson, Austin Seton. Jarvis Street. Personal Library Publishers, 1980.
Toronto was the first home of McMaster University (Toronto Star, 6 January 1979).
Kathryn Anderson
October 1996
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Attachment I
Short Statement of Reasons for Designation
Jarvis Street Baptist Church
130 Gerrard Street East
The property at 130 Gerrard Street East is designated for architectural and historical reasons.
Jarvis Street Baptist Church was built in 1874-1875 for the successor to the first Baptist
congregation in Toronto (formed in 1829). Designed by the important Toronto architectural firm of
Langley, Langley and Burke, its construction was largely funded by Senator William McMaster, the
prominent Toronto merchant and Baptist philanthropist.
Designed in the Gothic Revival style, Jarvis Street Baptist Church features a nearly-square plan
covered by a steeply-pitched gable roof with cross-gables. Clad with mottled brownstone and
trimmed with Ohio sandstone and granite, the focal point of the design is the canted tower and
spire at the southwest corner of the building. The buttresses, quoins, lancet windows, pointed-
arch window openings with tracery, and the gabled frontispieces with entrance portals and stone
trim, are found on the south, west and north facades of the building. Important interior features
are the U-shaped auditorium, with a horseshoe-shaped gallery supported on columns and a plaster
ceiling with a stained-glass skylight.
Located on the northeast corner of Jarvis Street and Gerrard Street East, Jarvis Street Baptist
Church is an important neighbourhood landmark. The church was the first home of the Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir, founded by A. S. Vogt, organist and choirmaster at Jarvis Street Baptist
Church. The building is an important example of Gothic Revival styling as interpreted by the
foremost designers of churches in late-19th century Ontario.
SCHEDULE C TO BY-LAW No. 281-1999
Schedule C on file
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Please note that council and committee documents are provided electronically for information only and do not retain the exact structure of the original versions. For example, charts, images and tables may be difficult to read. As such, readers should verify information before acting on it. All council documents are available from the City Clerk's office. Please e-mail clerk@toronto.ca. |
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