A Collectiolt of Tulks Historicul Interest
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A Collectiolt of Tulks :: of Historicul Interest 2010 Publishedby PittsburghHistorical Society P.O.Box 61 120Clarence Street Kingston, ON K7L 4Y6 I I I J ; J The Design, BuildiqS, and Rebuilding t St. Paul'sAnglican Church, Kingston, 1844-1856 I PAT]L CIIRISTIANSON J t the annualEaster vestry meetingof the greatincrease to the populationof St. George'sAnglican Churoh in Kingston which had takenplace within the last I Kingstonheld on 8 April 1844,the threeyears, rendered it absolutelynecessary to Honourable Peter Boyle de Blaquidre, a provide additional Churchaccommodation for younger son of John, Baron Blaquidre of memberswho havenot, and from various J fudkill in Ireland stood to addressthe men of circumstancescannot otherwise find the means substancewho attended. A member of the of PublicWorship in our Communion."rThe Legislative Council of Upper Canadaand then needfor two new churchesin Kingston existed ; of its successorin the United Province of andit wasthe responsibilityof the membersof Canada, he probably spoke on behalf of a St. George'sto take the initiative in erecting goup of Tory members of St. George's, men them. The vestryagreed. I like John Solomon Cartwright (a leading lawyer and landholder), the Honourable John By the 1840s,Anglicans in CanadaWest were Macaulay (a prominent businessman and experiencingstrong competition not only from J fellow member of the Legislative Councils, RomanCatholics, but alsofrom Presbyterians who had received his early formal education and Methodists. Building churchesbecame a from the Reverend John Strachan), and way not only for displayingwealth and status, I Thomas Kirkpatrick (a prominent lawyer and but also for nurturing and expandingthe politician, who was the first mayor of membershipof the Anglicans.2The I Kingston). He moved that funds be raised to cornerstonefor St.Mark's Anglicanchurch, build two'additional Anglican churchesin the Barriefield,was laid on 3 July 1843,less than a greater Kingston area, one on the eastern side yearbefore de Blaquidre'sspeech, and most of I of town and the other "on Lot24 inthe the building was finished by the end of June Western side of the Town." He argued "that 1944.3 I l I i Macaulayoffrcially laying the stone. They had alreadyselected the Toronto architectHenry Bowyer JosephLane to designand overseethe building of St.Paul's Anglican church.6 This churchwould commemoratethe memory of i the "ReverendRobert David, CARTWRTGHT, late AssistantMinister of the Parishof Saint George." Contributionsfrom Cartwright's "friends in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and keland, as well as in this Country,, providedthe bulk ofthe funding. Figure1. Barriefield, St. Mark's Anglican Church I (18434);Photo: Paul Christianson" 2008 The cornerstonefor St. James'Anglican church, Stuartville, was laid on Lot. 24 on28 September 1844 andthe church openedon 24 August 1845.4 Both of these were Gothic revival shrrcturesbuilt of local limestone. (fig. 1and,2) ceremony for laying the "foundation- -lh" I stone" of St. Paul's on the Monday after Easter, 7 April 1846, made this clear: '?fter the usual Morning service for the day had been Figure 2. Kingston, St. James'Anglican Church celebratedin St. George's Church, and the (1344-5),ca 1850;courtesy ofthe AnglicanDiocese of businessof the Annual Vestry Meeting had OntarioArchives, (Kingston, Ontario), St. James'Church I been transacted, the Clergy, the Building (Klngston), fonds. Committee.of the new Church, and the children ofthe Sunday school of St. George's Atthe ceremony, the "Venerable Archdeacon I Parish, walked in processionfrom St. George's of Kingston,assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Church to the burying-ground on Herchmerand Bartlett " officiated, with the Queen-street, *Right in which St. Paul's Church is to ReverendJohn Strachan, D.D. L.L.D., I stand."5 The large building committee of twenty men, Lord Bishopof Toronto"attending, and the gathered from the leading members of St. 'lhe childrenof St.George'sSuqday-school" t George's and chaired by the Honourable John singing the 123'dPsalm. Unlike the Macaulay, played an important role, with cornerstoneceremony at St. James'where t Bishop Strachantook the lea'dingrole, the rflfre son of a Royal Artillery officer, Lane laymenand clergy of St. George'swould I was"bornin 1817,grew up in Devon,and dominatethatat St. Paul's. Already must havereceived considerable architectural "considerableprogress" had already'emade in training in England. Therehe must alsohave carryingup the walls of St.Paul's Church."7 observedchurches from many centuriesand maywell haveworked on someof the early churchesconstructed with financial for worshipslightly overa year support flnenea from the ChurchBuilding Commission.ttHe \-rZlater, St. Paul'shad costf2,500 to build, had masteredthe early historically derived accordingto a correspondenttothe Church style seenin the Commissioners'churches of andwas close enough to completionin 1854to the 1820sand 1830sand brought considerable contemplateconSecratioq when a tragic fire skill when he ernigratedto Canadaaround burnedthe roof and interior, leaving only the 1840.By 1841,Lane was living andworking walls standing.t The newspaperaccount in the in Cobourg where he designeda new front and Kingston Daily Newsfrom three daysafter the tower for St. Peter'sAnglican church. By fire reportedthat the fire "destroyedthis noble 1842,he hadmoved to Torontowhere he structure,leaving nothing but the blackened designedand built three influential Anglican walls."e Threemonths later, the Churchnoted, churches,Little Trinity (1843-4),St. George of the original St. Paul's that: "The walls are the Martyr (1844-5),and Holy Trimty (1846- the only portion of it remaining,except the 7), all in brick. In addition,he addeda new Gothic Revival tower and transeptsto St. font, the books,and someof the furniture of Mark's Anglican churchin Niagara-on-the- minor value."l0A charredtimber alsoexists in Lakein 1845).12 the tower. (fig. 3) Figure3. Kingstoq,St. Paul'sAnglican Church: charred beaminside tower; Photo:Paul Christianson2010- This evidence suggests that the existing walls of the tower and the front and side walls of the nave are largely the remains ofthe St. Paul's designedby Lane. However, since no photographs,drawings, or even detailed Figure4. Toronto,Little TrinityAnglican Church descriptions ofthe St. Paul's church designed (r 844-5). by Lane have survived, our knowledge of its http:/turww.flickr.com/nhotos/ettml/21 3665601 1/in/se appearancemust derive from a comparison of t-7215760A457339777t the existing fabric of the rebuilt church with other churches designed by the same architect in the 1840s Little Trinity and Holy Trinity were designed in Perpendicularstyles and St Georgethe Marlyr in EarlyEnglish. (ftg- 4,5,6, andT) Figure 5. Toronto, St. Georgethe Marfit Anglican Church(l8aa-5); engravingby F.C. Lowe in William Henry Smith, Smith's Catndian Gazetteer(Toronto. 1846), between pp. 192-3. Figure7. Toronto,Holy Trinity AnglicanChurch Figure6. Niagara-on-the-LakgSt. Mark's Anglican Church:pholograph by R. Bobalq2009: $8a6-7); http:/irtwrv.yorku. calrs gc/tlolyTrinit)'. htnrl http:/i2.bp.bloospot.com/ Q2L1 ON LbTHc/SwH2EJ K 6ba|/AAAAAAAAEsUL2ZTai 1T5WMs1 600/St.Mark rlahe original St. Paul's was a somewhat %27s+Bvron+StJPG I. broader structure than the other Anglican churches built in the Kingston area in the 1840s,some fifty feet wide by seventy-five feet six inches long.l3 With its western tower and entrances,five Early English windows on each side of the nave, two lancets in the we'st fagade and probably three lancets in the east I fagadeofthe nave, substantialbuttresses, and solid shape,St. Paul's had many of the { elements of the Gothic Revival churches recently built in Barriefield and Stuartville and I of the much larger St. George the Martyr in Toronto, which was then nearing completion. I (fig. 8) The stonework at St. Paul's in general did not use the relatively small stoneslaid in On the basis of the reputation that he had irregular courseswith larger stonesadded for begun to establish,Lane was commissioned to emphasisemployed in the walls of St. Mark's build a striking stone church on the site of the and St. James', howeveq and his design Lower Burial Ground in Kinsston. differed in other ways, as well. t0 Figure8. Kingston,St. Paul's AnglicanChurch in the 1870s; photographby Richard W. Barrow in the collectionof Jennifer McKendry,courtesy of Jennifer McKendry ane designedcomplex walls starting with Tt- I-rthree coursesof largeblocks of ashlar, cappedby a narrower, horizontal moulding in to smooth stone that acted as a plinth course. (fig. 9) The ashlar courseswith their moulding form a visible foundation for both the walls and buttressesof the nave and tower. The walls aboveconsist of somewhatsmaller, but still large, carefully worked, rectangularblocks of stone laid in relatively uniform courses.(fig. 10) The ashlar provides a contrast with the less finished rectangular stonesof the fabric. Figure9. Kingston,St. Paul's Anglicaq northfaEade of The whole ensembleof the exterior side walls thenave; Paul Christianson , 2009 of the nave-the sturdy buttresses,the ashlar basewith its horizontal plinth course,the regular stonework, the smooth horizontal stone moulding at the same level as from drip stones (along the side) and gablets (at the ends) that mark the secondnarrowing of the buttresses, and the tall lancets-provides a noticeably attractivecomposition with a varied texture. (fig. 11) At St. George the Martyr, Lane placed gablets (which were not yet commonly used in CanadaWest) on the secondnarrowing of the buttresseson the front and sides of the nave and also used horizontal mouldings on the plinth course andjust below the windows on the sidesof the nave. (fig. i2) Figure10. Kingston, St. Paul'sAnglican; detail of stoneworkon north fagadeofthe nave;Paul Christianson, 2009. 11 A t St. Paul's, Lane repeatedseveral other -ftpatterns that he had usedat St. George the Mart5n and Little Trinity. A complex ensemble marks the west fagade, with a vertical thrust coming from the tower and its tall double butffesses (with gablets on the top ofthe second section) and the pair of lancets and pilaster in the level ofthe tower above the central door.