Little Trinity Church

Little Trinity Church, on King Street East in what was once the working-class neighbourhood of Corktown, is the oldest surviving church building in Toronto. It was built in 1843, five years before the current St. James Cathedral building went up, designed by architect Henry Bowyer Lane in the Gothic Revival style and built in brick rather than stone. Little Trinity was founded as a "free church," meaning worshippers did not have to pay pew rents — the standard way Anglican churches funded themselves at the time, which effectively excluded poorer residents from full participation.

Enoch Turner and Corktown

The church was built to serve the working-class, largely Irish population of Corktown, a neighbourhood that grew up around the breweries and distilleries clustered near the Don River. Funding came in significant part from Enoch Turner, a local brewer and philanthropist who a few years later also funded the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse next door, one of the earliest free schools in the city — both buildings still stand side by side today. Little Trinity remains an active Anglican parish, one of the last intact clusters of Corktown's early 19th-century built environment.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Little Trinity Church
• Wikipedia — Little Trinity Church