1913 – St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Toronto, Canada

Architect: E.J. Lennox

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Replacing an earlier church that had been outgrown. Measuring two hundred and twenty feet in length, one hundred and forty in width, and ninety-seven in height, at the time of its completion it was the largest church in Canada, with the exception of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Montreal. Although planned with no galleries, the seating capacity was approximately twenty-five hundred. Internally the height of the transepts and the chancel are equal to the nave. Externally the original plans called for an imposing tower over the northeast entrance, but this was scrapped due to financial reasons.

The construction of the nave is in the form of stone columns with Gothic arches, springing from the same, above which is a clere-story, filled in with groups of stone-traceried windows. The chancel, forty-six feet wide and for-ty-eight long, conforms in design with that of the nave, the colunms and arches being emphasized by cut-stone shafts and moulded lancet arches. Further emi)hasis is given to the chancel by an ambulatory formed around it, a feature generally pertaining to large cathedrals, but practically unknown in Canada. Extending along both sides of the nave are side aisles arched over to the main walls opposite each column.


The interior is characterized by great light and space, a cluster of pillars separating the nave from the aisles, and the choir from the ambulatory. The arches in the choir are more pointed than those in the nave, and the mouldings are richer. The windows in the nave and transept clerestory are in threes, with traceried and cusped heads; in the choir they are in twos with deeper recessing and richer tracery. The corbels in the nave and transept are of stone angel heads, while in the spandrils of the choir angels are carved in various attitudes.
Construction, February 1915

Published March 15, 2026

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