Metropolitan United Church

Metropolitan United Church sits on a full city block at Queen Street East and Church Street, surrounded by a large green space that gives it a churchyard scale unusual for downtown Toronto. It was built in the early 1870s as a Methodist church, designed by architect Henry Langley in the Gothic Revival style, and quickly became known as the "Cathedral of Methodism" — at the time it was the largest Methodist church in Canada. A major fire in 1928 gutted the interior of the original structure, destroying its roof and furnishings while leaving the outer stone walls standing; the congregation rebuilt within Langley's original walls, reopening in 1929.

From Methodist flagship to United Church

Metropolitan's identity changed again in 1925, when the Methodist Church, the Congregational Union and most of the Presbyterian Church in Canada merged to form the United Church of Canada, now the country's largest Protestant denomination. Metropolitan became a United Church congregation almost overnight, and its scale and large pipe organ have made it a regular venue for concerts and civic events well beyond its own congregation ever since.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — United Church of Canada
• Wikipedia — Metropolitan United Church (Toronto)

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