St. Anne's Anglican Church (St. Annes, ?s, ?)

[junctionist]

Absolutely terrible news. I hope they do a through investigation and have sufficient documentation for both the structure and the art for a restoration.

AoD

This being Canada, a fire like this one almost always means the end of the structure, its design, and its art forever. Still, if there was a good case to go the European "Notre Dame Cathedral" route, it would here with this National Historic Site of Canada and the mural work of the Group of Seven that was inside.

We're not a country that's likely to be invaded and our important buildings destroyed by enemy fire like in Europe, but fires happen. It's amazing how many of our best buildings have been destroyed not by negligent real estate speculators but by fire, as can be seen in @AlexBozikovic and Raymond Biesinger's 305 Lost Buildings of Canada.

Heritage building reconstruction needs to part of our vocabulary as a nation for our nationhood to flourish.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This being Canada, a fire like this one almost always means the end of the structure, its design, and its art forever. Still, if there was a good case to go the European "Notre Dame Cathedral" route, it would here with this National Historic Site of Canada and the mural work of the Group of Seven that was inside.

We're not a country that's likely to be invaded and our important buildings destroyed by enemy fire like in Europe, but fires happen. It's amazing how many of our best buildings have been destroyed not by negligent real estate speculators but by fire, as can be seen in @AlexBozikovic and Raymond Biesinger's 305 Lost Buildings of Canada.

Heritage building reconstruction needs to part of our vocabulary as a nation for our nationhood to flourish.

Oh I am sure we will find it so important that we will summon the collective will to put up a historical plaque while dignitaries look on.

AoD

 

[67Cup]

St.Anne’s has apparently made itself available for concerts and other public events for many years and my musical connections tell me the acoustics were very good. I went to.a concert in the church shortly before COVID. It was a magnificent structure. Aside from the decorative art executed by, among others, several members of the Group of Seven, it was apparently one of the few examples of Byzantine church architecture in the city. This was a sad loss indeed.

 

[PL1]

St.Anne’s has apparently made itself available for concerts and other public events for many years and my musical connections tell me the acoustics were very good. I went to.a concert in the church shortly before COVID. It was a magnificent structure. Aside from the decorative art executed by, among others, several members of the Group of Seven, it was apparently one of the few examples of Byzantine church architecture in the city. This was a sad loss indeed.

I attended a concert by the Toronto Children's Chorus there several years back (2009-10 ish) when my son sang with them, and can confirm it sounded amazing! As someone raised in the Greek Orthodox church, I was struck how similar (yet not) to Orthodox iconography the art was. Beautiful for sure, but different that what is in Eastern Orthodox churches. The loss of this art and space is a huge loss

 

[67Cup]

Here’s a virtual tour of the church:

 

[jje1000]

This being Canada, a fire like this one almost always means the end of the structure, its design, and its art forever. Still, if there was a good case to go the European "Notre Dame Cathedral" route, it would here with this National Historic Site of Canada and the mural work of the Group of Seven that was inside.

[…]

Heritage building reconstruction needs to part of our vocabulary as a nation for our nationhood to flourish.

IMO, there are two crises here- one- that the church does not have enough money to rebuild the structure on its own, and two- that while the basic outline of the church is restored, the murals are not.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Oh I am sure we will find it so important that we will summon the collective will to put up a historical plaque while dignitaries look on.

AoD

I gotta feeling you mean just the plaque that makes everyone believe they're showing respect and nothing else here... /sigh

 

[christiesplits]

I'm very disappointed I never got to tour the church. I wonder if they will retain the front facade, which appears to be still standing?

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...anyways, it was an awful loss culturally, historically and socially. We should all be both sorry and saddened to see it go. I know I am.

 

[Amare]

This is just so incredibly sad and a tremendous loss. The provincial and federal governments really need to step up here an contribute to a full rebuild of this historical gem that we unfortunately lost.

 

[Northern Light]

@AlexBozikovic has a good piece up on St. Anne's, its importance and its history in today's Globe:

Loss of historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto ‘catastrophe for Canadian architecture’

Social and demographic changes have left many Canadian heritage sites and churches underused and in poor condition, while government funding for their maintenance is scarce

www.theglobeandmail.com

I recommend it.

******

Lamentations done..........on to reconstruction; this time with a fire suppression system, please.

 

[adma]

The most distressing spectacle is that of endless jaded social media comments along the lines of "here come the condos". i.e. presupposing this is some kind of "there goes that Brad Lamb again" circumstance...

 

[Edward Skira]

I attended a concert by the Toronto Children's Chorus there several years back (2009-10 ish) when my son sang with them, and can confirm it sounded amazing! As someone raised in the Greek Orthodox church, I was struck how similar (yet not) to Orthodox iconography the art was. Beautiful for sure, but different that what is in Eastern Orthodox churches. The loss of this art and space is a huge loss

My daughter performed here with the Toronto Children's Chorus (a few years after your son) many times. It was beautiful. A real shame.

 

[Northern Light]

Just spotted this aerial pic of the damage on social. Credit appears below photo:

Any fuzziness above is on me, as I enlarged this a bit.

 

[DavidCapizzano]