St. Anne's Church marks a year since final service in 'gem of a building' lost to fire
The destroyed Toronto west-end church housed early art by Group of Seven members and was designated a national historic site. Rev. Don Beyers says his parish will commemorate the loss at this Sunday’s service, as it looks to rebuild.
One year ago, though he didn't know it at the time, Rev. Don Beyers led the final service ever held inside what is now one of Toronto's lost treasures.
Beyers is parish priest at the historic St. Anne's Anglican Church, which was lost in a fire last June.
On Sunday, Beyers will be leading service at the church's Parish Hall. And it was as he was preparing the leaflet for the service that he realized how hard it will be.
"Sunday will be emotional for many of us and for myself included," he said in an interview. "I will feel sadness as we stand in front of the old church and look at the ruins."
This Sunday, to mark the anniversary of the final service in that building, his congregation will hold a short commemoration in front of its ruins.
"It's sort of like what you would do with a person if they died," Beyers said, describing it as a way to grieve together. "Sunday will be a chance, mainly, to honour the building, honour it for its service to us for all those years."
The commemoration following the regular service will include songs, prayers and a chance to lay flowers at the base of the ruins of the old church, which burned down on June 9.
The cause of the fire is still unknown nearly a year later. The Office of the Fire Marshal's investigation remains ongoing and a final report is yet to be completed, spokesperson Sean Driscoll said in an email. Toronto police said last year they didn't consider the fire suspicious.
The building, built between 1907 and 1908 in the city's Little Portugal neighbourhood, housed early works by members of the Group of Seven and was designated a national historic site for the "remarkable" cycle of paintings and sculptures that decorated its interior. One parishioner told CBC News after the fire last year it was like "being inside a jewel box."
Many of the pieces were lost in the fire. Those that were saved, though damaged, are being restored. Alicia Coutts, director of Toronto Art Restoration, said in an email that they have been successfully cleaned and work should be completed in the fall.
Beyers says next Sunday, one day before the anniversary of the fire, the church will turn its attention to what's been saved and what's still ahead.
"That Sunday is going to be a celebration of the next chapter of St. Anne's and will not be focused on grieving," he said. "We take serious this whole idea of new life, and so how do we embody that?"
Partly by planning to rebuild, Beyers says. The church has been holding talks with members of the congregation, neighbours in the community and groups affiliated with St. Anne's to discuss the design of a new church on the old site.
Beyers says a local architect has been involved for months now and he hopes early drawings will be ready by the summer.
He says whatever the final design, it will be smaller than the original, holding about 400 compared to 800. The church will try to incorporate as many elements of the original building as possible — including the restored artwork and the old high altar — but Beyers says it won't be a copy.
"It was a gem of a building. You couldn't really replicate it," he said.
'Utterly grand' Toronto church destroyed by fire, says parish priest
Along with architectural changes, he says he hopes to commission new Canadian artists to replace some of the lost artwork with pieces that "reflect the rich diversity of Canada."
"The Group of Seven, their artwork, very much represented Canada at that time," Beyers said. "Now we'd like to have something that would reflect Canada of our time and of future generations as well."
Even once designs are decided upon, Beyers says it will still be years before a replacement is built. The church has about $8 million left of insurance money after the cleanup and restoration work, Beyers says, so St. Anne's will also have to fundraise and rely on private donations to pay to complete the project.
In the meantime, he says the church will continue to hold programming in the Parish Hall next to the ruins of the old church.
Beyers says he's grateful his congregation still has a home. As sad as the last year has been, he says "it hasn't all been grief," and the loss of the old church has in some ways brought his parishioners closer together.
"When that's stripped away, I think people really do turn to each other for care, for support, and to uplift each other," he said. "It's allowed them a chance to maybe get to know each other more personally."
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Ethan Lang is a reporter for CBC Toronto. Ethan has also worked in Whitehorse, where he covered the Yukon Legislative Assembly, and Halifax, where he wrote on housing and forestry for the Halifax Examiner.
