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Gothic traditions in Ontario churches

Brockville’s Court House Square offers an excellent example of non-conformist Gothic in an urban setting

"“The revival of Gothic architecture in the early 19th-century found a champion in the English architect and theorist, Augustus Welby Pugin. Pugin . . . was passionate about Gothic, and believed it was the only appropriate style for churches.”"

By

Candace Iron and Malcolm Thurlby

Buildings and architecture

Published Date:10 Sep 2009

Photo: Brockville’s Court House Square offers an excellent example of non-conformist Gothic in an urban setting

The importance of worship in 19th-century Ontario can be measured by the church buildings erected in the province during that time. Invariably, Ontario denominations turned to the Gothic revival style, as its forms, which represented the cultural values and heritage of their society, could be adapted to meet their specific religious needs.

The revival of Gothic architecture in the early 19th-century found a champion in the English architect and theorist, Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52). Pugin, a convert to Catholicism, was passionate about Gothic, and believed it was the only appropriate style for churches. Gothic was Christian, whereas the Classical tradition was associated with pagan gods. Pugin’s publications, like The True Principles of Pointed Architecture (1841), argued for a careful study of medieval Gothic buildings to ensure an accurate revival of the style and constructional techniques of the Middle Ages. His influence can be seen in St. Michael’s Cathedral, Toronto (1845), where the flat east front with a large pointed and traceried window is based on York Minster. Aside from Sacred Heart in Paris, Ontario (1857), where Pugin’s principles are followed assiduously, Catholic churches in the province until the late 1870s follow Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, but with imitative lath-and-plaster vaults for the nave and aisles. The Irish-trained architect Joseph Connolly (1840-1904) established Pugin’s principles at Our Lady Immaculate, Guelph, and on a smaller scale at St. Carthagh’s, Tweed, which is based on 13th-century Irish monastic churches.

Pugin’s views were shared by many of his Anglican contemporaries. In 1839, some Cambridge undergraduates founded the Camden Society – renamed the Ecclesiological Society in 1846. The Ecclesiologists studied medieval churches and their furnishings with a view to the “restoration of mutilated Architectural remains” and the revival of ritualistic worship in a Gothic setting. Between 1841 and 1868, their views were expressed in a quarterly journal and in pamphlets like A Few Words to Church Builders. The Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture was also founded in 1839. The influence of these movements spread rapidly through the English-speaking world. In 1849, the call for the design for St. James’s Anglican Cathedral, Toronto, specified the use of the Gothic style. St. James’s features details based on Salisbury Cathedral and an open-timber roof of English Gothic origin. This design was quite different from earlier attempts at Gothic revival in Ontario, like Old St. Thomas Anglican, St. Thomas (1822), in which pointed windows and doorways pierce the unarticulated walls of a box-like rectangular plan.

The 13th-century church of St. Michael’s, Long Stanton, was advocated by the Ecclesiologists as a model for small Anglican churches throughout the world, calling for a nave with a south porch and smaller chancel to the east, entered through a pointed arch and raised by steps above the nave; a steeply pointed, open-timber roof; and a vestry to the side of the chancel. Examples in Ontario include: St. Paul’s, Glanford, by Frank Wills; St. John the Baptist, Lyn, by Thomas Fuller; and St. Stephen’s-in-the-Fields, Toronto, rebuilt by Henry Langley. Wooden versions of the design exist at Turkey Point and Brooklin. William Hay’s All Saints, Niagara Falls, adds a tower to the basic design, and at Grace Anglican, Brantford, Hay used cast-iron columns for the nave arcades, which was followed by Henry Langley in St. George’s, Guelph.

The Gothic style was also taken up by Ontario’s non-conformists with the publication of F.J. Jobson’s Chapel and School Architecture (London, 1850), which advocated the adaptation of the Gothic Revival style to the traditions of Wesleyan worship. The central aisle, a key aspect of Anglican Gothic, was eliminated, and the focal point of the church interior became the pulpit, stressing the importance of “the word” in non-conformist worship. The style quickly spread to Presbyterians, Baptists and Congregationalists, all of which adopted the Gothic Revival style, but in a less strict manner than the Anglicans had. Their version is best seen in St. Paul’s Presbyterian, Hamilton (1854), where medieval details on a short and wide plan allow for a gallery around three sides of the interior to facilitate focus on “the word.” This style was refined with amphitheatre seating, first seen in Ontario at Jarvis Street Baptist, Toronto (1875), by Langley and Burke, a church in which exterior monumentality is enhanced with towers and spires.