Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)

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St. James' Cathedral

St. James' Cathedral in 1923

The Cathedral Church of St James in Toronto, Ontario, is the oldest congregation in the city. Established in 1797, the current structure was completed in 1844 and was one of the largest buildings in the city. The church 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. The church is listed as an Ontario Heritage Property and a National Historic Site and is the episcopal seat of the Anglican Church of Canada's Diocese of Toronto.

At 305 feet (92.9 m), the cathedral's spire makes it the second tallest church in Canada, after Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. It was designed by Fredrick Cumberland and is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture. It opened for services on June 19, 1853, and the clocktower was finished in 1874, with the clock being installed a year later. The total length of the cathedral is 198 feet, with a maximum width of 98 feet.

The cathedral's tower clock 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." [1] The tower also houses a full peal of 12 change-ringing bells, the largest such peal in North America, The Bells of Old York.

At the turn of the 20th century, St James' Cathedral was the tallest building in Toronto, and was often the first thing immigrants noticed when they stepped off the train at old Union Station.

Royal St. George's College, on Howland Avenue, is the church's choir school and is open to boys in grades 3 through 12. The school houses the Chapel of St Alban the Martyr.

The clergy of the Cathedral are:

The Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson, Bishop of Toronto
The Very Rev. Dr Douglas A. Stoute, Rector, Dean of Toronto
The Rev. Canon David Brinton, OGS, Vicar
The Rev. Erin Dewhirst, Assistant Curate
The Rev. Fr David Donkin, Chaplain to Royal St. George's College

[edit] Recent History

To raise money to help pay for rising costs of maintaining the church, part of the grounds were planned to be sold to a condo developer. Part of the land was to been part of the original cemetery, and the developers planned to move the tombs as to clear the land. Public outcry ensued and a deal was made to sell off a parking lot to the north west of the church for the Spire condo development.