Grace Church on-the-Hill

Grace Church, the 15th Anglican Church in the City of Toronto, was established on September 17, 1874. Initially, services were held in a small rented frame building on Elizabeth Street until the original church was built on the south side of Elm Street between Bay and Elizabeth. The cornerstone was laid in 1875, and the church formally opened on January 2, 1876.

Over time, as hospitals, armories, factories, and office buildings occupied the area surrounding the church, and very few members of the congregation lived within the parish boundaries, it was decided that the church should relocate to a new site. After much deliberation in 1911, property in the Hill District, or College Heights as it was originally called, on the northwest corner of Russell Hill Road and Lonsdale Road, was purchased from Lawrence Baldwin. In early December, 1911, the first services were held in Grace Church in the old frame building of Christ Church, Deer Park, which had been purchased for $300 and pulled by horses along Lonsdale from Yonge Street to Russell Hill. The organ, altar, font, and pulpit were transferred from Elm Street. The same font now occupies a prominent spot just inside the main doors of the church and is used regularly for all baptisms.

Baptismal Font, 1875
One of very few works preserved
from the original Grace Church,
located on Elm Street
in downtown Toronto, 1874-1911

The turning of the first sod for the building of a church and rectory, designed by Eden Smith, took place in May, 1912. His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada, officiated at the ceremony. The silver spade that he used to turn the sod is among the treasures held in the parish archives. On December 7, 1912, the cornerstone was laid, together with the cornerstone of Grace Church, Elm Street, and other memorabilia of the time. Here is the cornerstone for Grace Church at its current site.

The rectory was completed and occupied by the rector and his family in the following September, and the opening services of the church were held on December 21, 1913.

In 1923 the construction of the Parish Hall, a large auditorium with gymnasium below, was completed, as well as vestries on the north side of the chancel. It was not until 1938, however, that the original Eden Smith design was completed, with changes that introduced a chapel on the south side. The two-story addition to the west, originally built as the Christian Education Centre in 1955, now houses offices, meeting rooms, and the Child Care Centre.

Part of that wing can be seen on the left-hand side of the picture below right. Renovations to the nave and chancel of the church were undertaken in 1997, enlarging the chancel and adding a crossing Communion table and new choir pews. A number of the original Arts and Crafts pews were kept, with their distinctive crosses on either side.

In the original baptistry area of the church is a Columbarium, a sanctuary for the cremated remains of individuals and families. Constructed in 2001, it comprises 216 marble niches with engraved bronze face plaques, each niche capable of accommodating one or two interments.

The church is built of grey Credit Valley limestone with Indiana limestone trim, and the pews are all oak.