St. James Cathedral

St. James Cathedral, at King and Church Streets, is home to the oldest congregation in Toronto, dating back to 1797, when the Church of England established a parish for the young town of York. The parish's first wood-frame building went up in 1807, but the site has seen more than one church destroyed by fire, most consequentially in the Great Fire of Toronto on April 7, 1849, which tore through a large section of the downtown core. The congregation responded by commissioning a new building from architect Frederic Cumberland; construction began in 1850 and the Gothic Revival church went up in stages, with its tall spire not completed until 1874.

Seat of the Anglican Diocese

St. James was designated a cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, reflecting its status as the diocese's founding and most prominent parish. Because its building was rebuilt after the 1849 fire, it is not the oldest surviving church structure in Toronto — that distinction belongs to Little Trinity Church — but St. James remains the oldest continuously operating congregation in the city.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — St. James Cathedral
• Wikipedia — St. James Cathedral, Toronto