The Arts and Crafts Movement at St Thomas's Anglican Church

Discover the Architectural and Historical Treasures of St. Thomas’s Anglican Church

Join professor and historian, Dr. Carl Benn, for a private tour of St Thomas’s Anglican Church, one of the city’s most interesting Arts and Crafts buildings. Designed in 1892–93 by parishioner and renowned Toronto architect, Eden Smith, the building was intended to be a temporary structure until the parish could afford a larger stone building. However, this structure has now served the community for more than 125 years. Its Pre-Raphaelite First War memorial and baptistery from 1922 has been described as “the most beautiful small room in Toronto.” Beyond architecture, the church is graced with Arts and Crafts furnishings created by prominent Canadian and British designers. St. Thomas’s houses several architectural treasures, including historical stained-glass windows and a stunning reredos behind the high altar, featuring hand-carved statues of nine saints associated with the parish’s role in the Anglican Church in Toronto. Our tour will consist of an exploration of the building and furnishings, followed by a reception in the parish hall to examine some of the congregation’s beautiful vestments and superb silver treasures. The tour has been scheduled to fall between the main Sunday choral Eucharist at 11:00 a.m. and choral Evensong at 5:00 p.m. either of which CSDA Members are welcome to attend.

Dr. Carl Benn has been a history professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) since 2008, with a particular focus on museum history, curatorship, heritage management, material culture, and archaeology. Prior to this, he worked in the museum field for 34 years, where he fulfilled senior curatorial and managerial duties, restored historical properties, curated exhibits, and produced other public resources. Dr. Benn has published extensively, including six history books, the most recent being A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812: John Norton – Teyoninhokarawen. His current book project is a history of the creation of the Royal Ontario Museum.

A portion of proceeds from this event will be donated to the church.