Religious institution.

Details of Site Location: The northeast corner of Agnes (now Dundas Street) and Teraulay (now Bay Street).

Boundary History: The lot was 70′ by 100′.

Current Use of Property: The Atrium complex of shopping mall and offices.

Historical Description: A sect of Bible Christians led by the Reverend J.J. Rice formed a congregation in 1870. The next year, the lot at the northeast corner of Agnes and Teraulay was purchased for $3,000 and a little wooden tabernacle (church building) was erected for $617. In 1882 the congregation voted to join the Methodist Church, and the little wooden building was moved north one block to Edward Street, where it was used as a Sunday school while plans were laid for the new church. The wooden building later served as a house. A “white brick” Gothic church was built in 1873 and cost over $23,000. Its south side or front, facing Agnes Street, featured double doors with Gothic arches over them, two pairs of lancet stained glass windows over the doors, and three short spires reaching above the roof. On each of the two long sides there were five double lancet windows. The building seated 1,250 people. Inside the double doors was a small vestibule with two sets of stairs leading to the audience chamber. A gallery, reached by a winding staircase and supported by pillars and iron brackets, ran around the entire room. The ceiling was bowed. Pews in the church were made of stained pine. Set well in from the north end was the pulpit, behind which stairs led up to the choir. The minister’s vestry was also behind the pulpit. Two furnaces and two stoves heated the building.

Relative Importance: The existence of this church is related to the residential area it once served. This area of houses later became the city’s first artists’ colony, then called Greenwich Village. The residents and artists were driven out as redevelopment began and Bay Street was straightened, widened, and extended. Long before the church and first houses were built, the area was farmland and market gardens with squatters’ shacks.

Planning Implications: Visitors to the west end of the Atrium would enjoy some insight into the corner’s history, through either a plaque or small exhibit.

Reference Sources: Miles’ Atlas (1878); John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.