Little Trinity Anglican Church

Little Trinity Anglican Church, formally Trinity East, is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada located at 425 King Street East in the Corktown neighbourhood just east of downtown Toronto, Ontario.

The cornerstone for the Tudor Gothic church was laid on July 20, 1843, and the first services were held February 14, 1844 making it the oldest surviving church building in Toronto. It was the second Anglican church in the city, after St. James' Cathedral. The church is so named to distinguish itself from the later Church of the Holy Trinity. The architect was 25-year-old Henry Bowyer Lane who had recently immigrated from England. The structure is red brick with accents of tan brick and stone. Local craftsmen donated many of the bricks and their labor to construct the church. The 60 ft (18 m) square bell tower has contrasting octagonal buttresses at each of its four corners.

In 1889, the church was enlarged to provide an additional 600 seats for the congregation. This addition was destroyed by fire in early 1961. After 14-months of reconstruction, the congregation returned in March 1962. During this renovation, the floor of the nave was raised 4 ft (1.2 m) to allow for construction of an activity hall on the lower level.^[1]

The spire of Little Trinity Anglican Church on King St, Toronto

The congregation was established July 12, 1842 by working-class families unwilling to pay the high pew prices at St. James', prices that excluded the poor, and so they built a church for all people. Little Trinity has always been a church whose life is rooted in the word of God as presented in the Bible - it is an Evangelical Anglican Church. Little Trinity has a long track record of sending church members overseas to serve developing nations and be a Christian presence. The present congregation is made up of members of all backgrounds from across the Toronto region. There is a strong Sunday School and youth programme whose members come from the many families that find common interests in this faith-based community.

An Ontario Heritage Trust plaque at the site notes that the church is the oldest surviving church in the city.^[2][3]

See also

• List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto
• List of Anglican churches in Toronto

References

• McHugh, Patricia. Toronto Architecture. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1989

External links

• Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Little Trinity Anglican Church.

Coordinates: 43°39′11.5″N 79°21′43″W / 43.653194°N 79.36194°W / 43.653194; -79.36194