St. Matthew's Anglican Church is a church in

Riverdale, Toronto Riverdale is a large neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by the Don River Valley to the west, Danforth Avenue and Greektown to the north, Jones Avenue, the CN/ GO tracks, Leslieville to the east, and Lake Shore Boulevard ...

, located at 135 First Avenue. It has been listed on the Ontario Heritage Register, pursuant to the ''

Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage ...

'', since October 27, 2009. It was designed by Strickland & Symons, a partnership between Walter Reginald Strickland and William L. Symons.

Construction

Plans to develop the church began in 1887 and plans to complete it were approved in April 1889. A portion of the property was gifted to the congregation, and another sold at a low price. Construction finished in 1889. It opened for services on Easter 1890. The total cost to build St. Matthew's was about CA$20,000, or approximately .

Design

As of 1904, shortly after St. Matthew's was constructed, its roof was open-timbered with six principal

rafters A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as steel beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck, roof covering and ...

, fitted with tracing and curved braces, with the rafters exposed. The

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

was finished in pressed brick and oak

panelling Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...

, while the walls were finished in colour, with arched ceiling ribbed into panels. The walls of the church were made of red brick, with brown Credit Valley stone, with Ohio stone dressings. The screen separating the choir from the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was made of carved oak in the later Gothic style and the central arch was ornamented by a cross, which was slightly out of proportion in height to the size of the screen. An issue of the '' Dominion Churchman'' published on August 22, 1889, stated that the church's interior would be finished in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

, while the window and door trimmings and dados would be of brick. The sanctuary would be finished in pressed brick,

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...

, and

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

in Portage Entry stone, while the walls and ceilings of the sanctuary above the brickwork would be decorated in colour and bronze. Carpentry was done by Davidson & Kelly, the brickwork by John Smith, the stone work by Yorke of Front Street, the glazing by McCauslands, and the gas fittings by Keith & Fitzsimmons.

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External links

* * {{Commons category-inline 1889 in Ontario Matthew's Matthew's