Religious building.

Details of Site Location: The northeast corner of College Street and Spadina Avenue.

Boundary History: The corner lot was large and bounded on two sides by the streets.

Current Use of Property: A commercial building that has undergone periodic transformations.

Historical Description: Spadina Avenue was laid out on lands first owned by Peter Russell and inherited by Phoebe and Maria Willcocks. Phoebe was the wife of Dr. William Warren Baldwin, who designed the street for his wife’s pleasure as a grand Parisian boulevard with gardens in its centre, a circle filled with flowers and shrubs, and double rows of chestnut trees along both sides. It was the widest street in the city, an important influence on this church’s name. Spadina Avenue was given to the city as a gift by the Baldwin family on condition that it not be changed. The church congregation had been founded in 1870 as a mission of the Methodist New Connexion Church on Temper-ance Street. They acquired the Spadina property and built a temporary church there out of wood. In 1887, the congregation chose to build a permanent church on the site that would be as impressive as the Bond Street Congregational Church, which had been designed by E.J. Lennox. They hired Lennox,  who created a larger church, able to seat 2,000 people. His characteristic Romanesque Revival style on a square plan, in red brick, was made more impressive by three towers and light-coloured stone details. The building has been classified as the equal of Lennox’s design for the City Hall. During the 1890s, the congregation prospered and expanded. However, the city was permitting changes to Spadina, and the congregation began to move out to the suburbs. The building was closed in 1926. When it was demolished in 1930, Toronto lost a masterpiece.

Relative Importance: Dramatic changes have taken place along Spadina Avenue, and it is important that people in the area today be given some idea of what preceded them. Like Sherbourne and Jarvis, Spadina has fallen on hard times, and it is important to assist the local community from closing in on itself by giving them some idea of what buildings were in place earlier.

Planning Implications: A major plaque will help all residents of the city to recognize that the city belongs to all, past, present and future, and that history is a continuum. It is not enough to merely discard the old: change should be introduced with respect. Just as future generations can learn to respect what is here today, present generations can learn to respect all that went before. A plaque will help to achieve this understanding. There are no other implications for planning or for archaeological concern at this site.

Reference Sources and Acknowledgements: Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch; Community History Project; Grange Historical Society.