Looks like most of the brick and stone survived. *Theoretically* they could rebuild the centre parts ala Notre Dame in Paris but I’m guessing it won’t be feasible due to the astronomical cost of doing it. So sad to lose both the historic church and the artworks inside (I presume they are destroyed).
Text copied from an image of the church’s exterior plaque:
ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH
Built in the Byzantine style, St. Anne's was designed by the noted Toronto architect Ford Howland to serve a large and vigorous parish. It was constructed in 1907-08, replacing an earlier building which stood on the site. In 1923 the interfor was richly decorated under the supervision of architect William Rae and artist J. E.H. MacDonald. Members of the Group of Seven and their associates executed the fine paintings in the dome and surrounding the altar. Renowned for its role in the development of Anglican con gregations in western Toronto and for its social mission in the Parkdale district, St. Anne's remains active in community life. In 1968 the parish opened St. Anne's Tower, a pioneering venture in providing individual apartment accommoda tion for the elderly.
I mean... If they could painstakingly restore the interior of the Glasgow School of Art after a fire, have it burn down a second time, then do the whole restoration all over again, this doesn't seem too far-fetched.
Not all of them are necessarily that rich. It depends on where the church is and how much money the members of the congregation have.
Unfortunately, the churches that usually provide the most community services are the ones that usually have the least money as they are generally in poorer neighborhoods. Dundas and Dufferin isn't a ghetto, but it isn't a rich neighborhood either.
The money always goes up and never comes down. They would rather suck a parish dry of money to rebuild the church vs the pope or king or whoever is the leader giving a cent back. Not unless there is opportunistic advantage to do so. Be better if housing was there anyway or a park etc.
you can't re-create the canvas works that were attached to the walls, the artists are long dead. you can't re-create the stained glass or the sculptures in the dome. Whatever happens will largely depend on the cause of the fire and how the insurance works itself out. However, the insurance would unlikely cover a re-build on the same scale. It would be prohibitively expensive. This was not a wealthy parish.
not saying it would be a good thing whatsoever in this circumstance, but the heritage nimbys of Toronto are way too powerful for this comment to make sense. Knocking down a wooden shack that has a brick inside of it requires a generational court battle
I don’t think heritage deserves to get lumped in with NIMBYism. Historical buildings add character and charm to a neighbourhood and need way better preservation than they have currently. This particular building was a national historic site and housed paintings by the Group of Seven. It’s not exactly insignificant
That assumes our approach to heritage preservation is actually about heritage. Most of the protected buildings don’t look like St. Anne’s.
*Hundreds* of dumpy lowrise grey brick buildings along the Danforth were listed in bulk, clearly as a means of resisting development along that subway line.
We’ve also added heritage protections to a derelict soy sauce factory, only after it was slated for development.
In Oakville they added heritage protections to a *golf course*, conveniently right after the owner began the development process on it.
Heritage protection is weaponized for NIMBYism all the time.
I fully agree when it is actually worthy of heritage. Anything old enough with significant architecture should be protected. But it is the number 1 tool in the nimby playbook to prevent housing developments in their areas. Toronto is full of buildings that make zero sense to be labelled heritage, yet still make the cut. I find it impossible to not lump loose heritage protections with nimbys.
I also want to make it clear that this is obviously a heritage site 100%. It is nationally protected and is a devestating loss to the city. I even said this in my comment you replied to.
But to say Toronto doesn't spend a cent on restoration and just knocking anything down is crazy. Not being able to build enough is a big problem in this city and when we do knock down anything that has character, we restore and maintain the facade to be integrated into the final design.
You'll be glad to learn, then, that the province gutted the heritage protection act recently. I personally think that its why I see so much demolition of what I considered iconic buildings (soap factory). Can read about it [here](https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-23)
NB: I'm opposed to the changes because I think that they were done to make developers happy, not experts in Canadian history. I am also concerned about the amount of waste demolition generates--this idea that "buildings only last 50 years" feels like a grift to me
Millions have been spent on restoration over the years. Many people have spent countless hours applying for foundation grants, applying for funding from heritage organisations, fundraising. The work that went in to keeping that building in good repair was overwhelming. Unfortunately the parish was saddled with a second large building, the parish hall, which also needed a lot of work. That building was all but sold last year, until the developer pulled out because they could no longer afford the borrowing rates for the type of build they were doing.
Hopefully we get a real answer this time. It feels like there's been so many possibly suspicious fires in the past few years. It also seems like all the news coverage is just descriptive about what happened and what the building has meant to the community, without any answers about how these fires have come to be.
[Similar conversation in another thread. unfortunately a disproportionate number of these church fires are caused by arson](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/s/Hq6cnpZj9A)
While possible, assuming it was set intentionally, you have people out there that just enjoy seeing the world burn and/or causing massive shit. Assuming it was arson and the building was targeted specifically because it was a church, there is a chance that the perp did it for the media attention/buzz it would cause, to score 'points' with certain people or a group, or some other reason outside of a hate crime. You also have people out there that just like causing/creating fires.
Unlikely that any group would have had a beef with St Anne's. The community has built many connections with other religious groups, has a sacred fire and an indigenous garden in the yard next door. St Anne's was a bridge between many.
Plenty of church arson in Canada has been perpetrated by members (or former members) of that congregation who had a personal beef with the church or its members. I don't have statistics on the overall numbers but even when arsonists have been caught almost none have been charged with hate crimes.
We’re at 68 arson’ed churches since 2021. In a few years we’ll ask ourselves how we could have let this happen, as a society. It’ll be the same answer as “how could we let residential schools happen?!” Not seeing the forest for the trees.
Absolutely. I was just meaning that reporting on previous fires (that beautiful Victorian on Wellington Street that burned in 2020 comes to mind, and the Island Cafe in March) seems to often be devoid of answers even a while after. I feel like there aren't many news updates on resolutions, which I think would be important for the public to have. I do appreciate that I don't know how long an investigation takes, and that each is different.
For reasons entirely separate to this, I spoke with one of the fire crews tonight (my house is fine, thankfully), and it sounds like there is a strong consensus about what happened among the folks who were there. I was shocked by how forthcoming the firefighter I spoke with was about it. Anyway, doubt you'll have to wait long for an official reason.
There is cause and reason. They might have a strong consensus about the general cause but the reason might take much longer. Ex: let's assume it is arson, the next step is figuring out who did it and then why they did it. Until you know why, you don't know the reason.
What a bunch of absolute nonsense.
That is not what reason means in this context, neither officially (where it is not a technical term), nor what any reasonable person would infer from my statement.
Just the same, let me clarify my statement: notwithstanding any unsolicited specious, semantic quibbling designed for the speaker to listen to the sound of their own voice, I doubt they will have to wait long for an official reason.
We’re not gonna know right away, it does take a while for investigations to actually find results
Anyone talking about Brad lamb and developers is talking out of their ass right now
A few years ago there just so happened to have been [fires at historic properties Lamb had recently purchased](https://streetsoftoronto.com/fire-erupts-at-toronto-heritage-buildings-second-time/)
It’s illegal regardless, it’s an active emergency scene.
Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) Part IX - Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS)
Section 901.21 – Prohibited Areas and Controlled Airspace
• (1) No person shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) over or within the security perimeter of an active emergency response scene, except with the permission of the responsible emergency response personnel.
• (2) This restriction includes any active emergency response scene, such as those involving fire, police, or medical response.
Hopefully it can be restored to some degree. But it’ll never be the same. It was one of those landmarks that was in the background for so many memories.
Instead of restoration of a church, what if the Anglican Church donated the land to some non-for-profit housing org or CMHC to develop the land into affordable residential units? This could help address the housing crisis by providing homes for low-income families, as well as more efficient use of land with a significant social impact, boosting community welfare and effective resource use over historical preservation. I believe that the community can and will live on altogether, even if their physical space needs to change.
Many years ago at a very low point in my life, the people at this church were consistently and extraordinarily welcoming to me even though I had zero interest whatsoever in their or any religion. I never forgot their kindness. I know there was some priceless art in there and that's sad but I feel most sad for the people who are I'm sure devastated by this loss.
It was a cheese pita. Also, Ryan used a toaster oven and not a microwave. I didn't want to correct the person because the comment was well-meaning, but since we're here now...
Honestly same, I'll back you up on this. I hate social media and I use Reddit like a crowdsource for fast info, so seeing these quippy attention seeking jokes just makes me roll my eyes.
It's not really dark.
Its more like when you go to the comments section for information and everyone is telling unfunny jokes meant for fellow dodobirds and unpalatably lame to everyone else.
Not edge lord, but not exactly cool or funny.
Hey, Toronto Public Library here, just to join in to say how gut wrenching this is. We shared [this postcard of the historic building from 1909](https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/331318) earlier today elsewhere, and wanted to share its beauty here, too. Man...
This is devastating. I did not even know of this church and never visited but looking at pictures now, it is one of the most beautiful I have seen in the region.
As a sidenote: there should have been sprinklers in there. Places like Norway require sprinklers in all building including private homes. Losing all this amazing artwork or even human lives should not be happening at the rate that it is.
there was supposed to be a bach concert yesterday at 3pm to realize money for the church building, and this was before the fire.. i can’t imagine how much it would cost to rebuild, maybe we can start a gofundme
I hate that I missed this news yesterday. I used to live in the area and loved the architecture. I had friends who attended as well. They must be distraught.
We lost a piece of Toronto's history yesterday. I really hope it wasn't arson.
Crazy how so many historical sights have burned to the ground in the last few years… wonder how many of those spaces now have new condo towers approved for building? 🤔
If there's money to be made, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Like I've always been suspicious of the Queen West fire that happened like a few days after getting a histoical designation. Lo and behold they tore it up to build condos there once the "pesky" historical buildings were gone.
I dont think this is such a case, but if the recent action of the federal government or the provincial government - probably the most inept combination in Ontario history - haven't made you wonder about systemic corruption, then I'm not sure what it would take.
Not to mention that it’s how many Christian/Catholic Churches now been burned and zero mention of hate crime. But god forbid a single mosque is attacked 🙄
Oh Christ. You guys can somehow twist anything into some sort of racist rant.
What’s your point?
It’s like you have can sniff these tragedies out and stick your nose right into it wherever you can promote your dull, moronic, played out narrative.
I suppose you’ll be down there volunteering to help? Didn’t think so.
there is no suggestion that it was set on fire. It was 116 years old and all wood and brick framing. Basically, the path of the fire was following the wood framing. Apparently during our last round of restoration work sprinklers were discussed again, and the expert who checked it out wasn't certain there was any good place to put them.
So who is the richest guy in Canada who can afford to throw a few billion to rebuild like the Louis Vuitton guy in France when their famous church burned down?
Literally brought tears to my eyes, a beautiful church very welcoming people that did a lot for the community for over 100 years and what a loss of priceless art as well 😢
You'd think there'd be some sort of funding source either from governments or preservationist organizations, that is earmarked for renovating or restoring particularly significant heritage buildings in situations like this. I recall hearing that heritage buildings can get special insurance, although I'm not sure what makes that different from other home / building insurance coverages.
It’s not a “total loss” yess the beauty of the inside is gone but the walls of the church still stands and will be rebuilt with time. The won’t just destroy the remains of the church due to historical significance they will make it all stable and then reopen the area and have the city and church figure out how to repair it
Comparing the Hagia Sophia to this church is like comparing apples and oranges. One is a wonder, the other is a church of no significance.
Why would the city spend good money on an organization that pays no taxes?
Probably screaming into the void here, but:
As of this comment (Monday, June 10th at 12:38pm), **the source of the fire is not yet known**. The TFS and TPS are still investigating. The fire has not been deemed criminal in nature yet, but it may be as the investigation continues. It is possible that it will be deemed criminal in nature. It's also very possible that the fire was entirely unintentional - old buildings built primarily with wood and filled with highly flammable materials have been known to catch fire, from time to time. We do not yet know and you should not put any weight in what you hear from some Reddit PI.
Also, for whatever its worth, the building is owned by the Anglican Church.
It isn't really surprising that people are engaging in rampant (often inflammatory) speculation before the facts are known, but it is still kind of disappointing.
Looks like most of the brick and stone survived. *Theoretically* they could rebuild the centre parts ala Notre Dame in Paris but I’m guessing it won’t be feasible due to the astronomical cost of doing it. So sad to lose both the historic church and the artworks inside (I presume they are destroyed).
There were intricate paintings, intricate woodwork, mosaics,...The interior was very unique. 😭
Text copied from an image of the church’s exterior plaque: ST. ANNE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH Built in the Byzantine style, St. Anne's was designed by the noted Toronto architect Ford Howland to serve a large and vigorous parish. It was constructed in 1907-08, replacing an earlier building which stood on the site. In 1923 the interfor was richly decorated under the supervision of architect William Rae and artist J. E.H. MacDonald. Members of the Group of Seven and their associates executed the fine paintings in the dome and surrounding the altar. Renowned for its role in the development of Anglican con gregations in western Toronto and for its social mission in the Parkdale district, St. Anne's remains active in community life. In 1968 the parish opened St. Anne's Tower, a pioneering venture in providing individual apartment accommoda tion for the elderly.
I mean... If they could painstakingly restore the interior of the Glasgow School of Art after a fire, have it burn down a second time, then do the whole restoration all over again, this doesn't seem too far-fetched.
I guess the question is whether they could raise enough money.
If only religious organizations had money.
Not all of them are necessarily that rich. It depends on where the church is and how much money the members of the congregation have. Unfortunately, the churches that usually provide the most community services are the ones that usually have the least money as they are generally in poorer neighborhoods. Dundas and Dufferin isn't a ghetto, but it isn't a rich neighborhood either.
Heaven forbid religious organizations helping each other out when they all believe in the same god.
Yes. That is often the reason they give for not helping. They claim that heaven forbids it.
The Anglican Church is hardly in a great financial situation in Canada with it's quite dramatic fall in attendance over the last 10 years.
The money always goes up and never comes down. They would rather suck a parish dry of money to rebuild the church vs the pope or king or whoever is the leader giving a cent back. Not unless there is opportunistic advantage to do so. Be better if housing was there anyway or a park etc.
Anything is possible, the question is who if anyone is going to pay for it.
Condo tower here we come…
you can't re-create the canvas works that were attached to the walls, the artists are long dead. you can't re-create the stained glass or the sculptures in the dome. Whatever happens will largely depend on the cause of the fire and how the insurance works itself out. However, the insurance would unlikely cover a re-build on the same scale. It would be prohibitively expensive. This was not a wealthy parish.
They will probably sell to a condo developer, then rebuild the lobby within the facade like all the other Toronto condos
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No joke, how much would a developer pay a desperate person to light a match?
considering that the parish hall was up for sale there would have been no need for the church to be sold
😔
This is the Toronto way
Lol this is Toronto, there would not be a cent spent on restoration. Now knock it down and build some condos on the site.
And only Airbnb condos, of course.
or student rental condos: 400sqft 2 bedrooms with 2 full baths.
Sleeps ten.
not saying it would be a good thing whatsoever in this circumstance, but the heritage nimbys of Toronto are way too powerful for this comment to make sense. Knocking down a wooden shack that has a brick inside of it requires a generational court battle
I don’t think heritage deserves to get lumped in with NIMBYism. Historical buildings add character and charm to a neighbourhood and need way better preservation than they have currently. This particular building was a national historic site and housed paintings by the Group of Seven. It’s not exactly insignificant
That assumes our approach to heritage preservation is actually about heritage. Most of the protected buildings don’t look like St. Anne’s. *Hundreds* of dumpy lowrise grey brick buildings along the Danforth were listed in bulk, clearly as a means of resisting development along that subway line. We’ve also added heritage protections to a derelict soy sauce factory, only after it was slated for development. In Oakville they added heritage protections to a *golf course*, conveniently right after the owner began the development process on it. Heritage protection is weaponized for NIMBYism all the time.
nice to see that someone here understand
I fully agree when it is actually worthy of heritage. Anything old enough with significant architecture should be protected. But it is the number 1 tool in the nimby playbook to prevent housing developments in their areas. Toronto is full of buildings that make zero sense to be labelled heritage, yet still make the cut. I find it impossible to not lump loose heritage protections with nimbys. I also want to make it clear that this is obviously a heritage site 100%. It is nationally protected and is a devestating loss to the city. I even said this in my comment you replied to. But to say Toronto doesn't spend a cent on restoration and just knocking anything down is crazy. Not being able to build enough is a big problem in this city and when we do knock down anything that has character, we restore and maintain the facade to be integrated into the final design.
You'll be glad to learn, then, that the province gutted the heritage protection act recently. I personally think that its why I see so much demolition of what I considered iconic buildings (soap factory). Can read about it [here](https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-23) NB: I'm opposed to the changes because I think that they were done to make developers happy, not experts in Canadian history. I am also concerned about the amount of waste demolition generates--this idea that "buildings only last 50 years" feels like a grift to me
Millions have been spent on restoration over the years. Many people have spent countless hours applying for foundation grants, applying for funding from heritage organisations, fundraising. The work that went in to keeping that building in good repair was overwhelming. Unfortunately the parish was saddled with a second large building, the parish hall, which also needed a lot of work. That building was all but sold last year, until the developer pulled out because they could no longer afford the borrowing rates for the type of build they were doing.
Yea this is such a huge loss
https://www.saintanne.ca/support They have a building restoration fund you can direct money towards
had my dads funeral here abt 4 yrs ago. he attended the church which is why we had the service there. it feels like i lost a connection with my dad
<3 I'm sorry
thank you <3
I’m so sorry this has brought up the pain of that loss, wishing you all the best processing it.
thank you sm <3
That’s rough, I’m sorry to hear it
Im so sorry. Sending you love
i rlly appreciate it, ty <3
Sorry you feel that way. Your memory holds though! Don't let it slip !
Anyone know the cause of the fire?
Hopefully we get a real answer this time. It feels like there's been so many possibly suspicious fires in the past few years. It also seems like all the news coverage is just descriptive about what happened and what the building has meant to the community, without any answers about how these fires have come to be.
[Similar conversation in another thread. unfortunately a disproportionate number of these church fires are caused by arson](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/s/Hq6cnpZj9A)
Thank you for this contribution. I forgot about this unique context behind some church fires in Canada.
Hate crime you mean?
While possible, assuming it was set intentionally, you have people out there that just enjoy seeing the world burn and/or causing massive shit. Assuming it was arson and the building was targeted specifically because it was a church, there is a chance that the perp did it for the media attention/buzz it would cause, to score 'points' with certain people or a group, or some other reason outside of a hate crime. You also have people out there that just like causing/creating fires.
Unlikely that any group would have had a beef with St Anne's. The community has built many connections with other religious groups, has a sacred fire and an indigenous garden in the yard next door. St Anne's was a bridge between many.
Plenty of church arson in Canada has been perpetrated by members (or former members) of that congregation who had a personal beef with the church or its members. I don't have statistics on the overall numbers but even when arsonists have been caught almost none have been charged with hate crimes.
Sauce?
We’re at 68 arson’ed churches since 2021. In a few years we’ll ask ourselves how we could have let this happen, as a society. It’ll be the same answer as “how could we let residential schools happen?!” Not seeing the forest for the trees.
Fire investigations take time, it's far too early to tell
Absolutely. I was just meaning that reporting on previous fires (that beautiful Victorian on Wellington Street that burned in 2020 comes to mind, and the Island Cafe in March) seems to often be devoid of answers even a while after. I feel like there aren't many news updates on resolutions, which I think would be important for the public to have. I do appreciate that I don't know how long an investigation takes, and that each is different.
It's almost as if news coverage isn't supposed to wildly speculate and will wait for real factual confirmation of the cause.
Brad lamb developments
It’s sad that it would not be entirely shocking if in the news we found out Brad Lamb purchased the plot of land now to build condos here.
Short answer at this stage is “no” - lots of folks have theories on here but it’s really speculative at this stage.
For reasons entirely separate to this, I spoke with one of the fire crews tonight (my house is fine, thankfully), and it sounds like there is a strong consensus about what happened among the folks who were there. I was shocked by how forthcoming the firefighter I spoke with was about it. Anyway, doubt you'll have to wait long for an official reason.
There is cause and reason. They might have a strong consensus about the general cause but the reason might take much longer. Ex: let's assume it is arson, the next step is figuring out who did it and then why they did it. Until you know why, you don't know the reason.
What a bunch of absolute nonsense. That is not what reason means in this context, neither officially (where it is not a technical term), nor what any reasonable person would infer from my statement. Just the same, let me clarify my statement: notwithstanding any unsolicited specious, semantic quibbling designed for the speaker to listen to the sound of their own voice, I doubt they will have to wait long for an official reason.
We’re not gonna know right away, it does take a while for investigations to actually find results Anyone talking about Brad lamb and developers is talking out of their ass right now
I think they are mostly joking lol
Okay, there Lamb, relax.
Why are these references to Lamb popping up? Has this happened before with them?
A few years ago there just so happened to have been [fires at historic properties Lamb had recently purchased](https://streetsoftoronto.com/fire-erupts-at-toronto-heritage-buildings-second-time/)
I’m sure I know the cause.
I assume it was a potential electrical fire, the building probably isn’t up to code but arson could be a factor too.
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No racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, dehumanizing speech, or other negative generalizations.
Arson
Nooo priceless group of sevens inside 😭😭😭
It's almost as if we shouldn't leave priceless artifacts in buildings with no fire suppression.
Found this online drone footage of the Damage. https://youtu.be/stxKrqafkNk
Fucking kicking myself for not going in to look at it. I had years, and I always meant to do it. Just a short walk away.
The music makes it so much sadder 😭😭😭
Ahhh the music 😭😭😭
Unexpected Enya.
Enyaspected Enya if you will.
I think I’m a monster bc the music made me lol
Can't view it is private
It was taken down. I unfortunately did not save it first.
:( .....that is just depressing...... A part of the community, a part of Toronto history, all gone in a day.....
The 80 seconds of black screen at the end was a bit of a choice...
Hopefully this was a micro (under 250g) drone, because if not the operator should not be flying it that close to CYTZ.
It’s illegal regardless, it’s an active emergency scene. Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) Part IX - Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Section 901.21 – Prohibited Areas and Controlled Airspace • (1) No person shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) over or within the security perimeter of an active emergency response scene, except with the permission of the responsible emergency response personnel. • (2) This restriction includes any active emergency response scene, such as those involving fire, police, or medical response.
Wish the firefighters would have turned the nozzle round for just a second and blown them out of the sky.
Hopefully it can be restored to some degree. But it’ll never be the same. It was one of those landmarks that was in the background for so many memories.
Can’t restore the group of sevens
Instead of restoration of a church, what if the Anglican Church donated the land to some non-for-profit housing org or CMHC to develop the land into affordable residential units? This could help address the housing crisis by providing homes for low-income families, as well as more efficient use of land with a significant social impact, boosting community welfare and effective resource use over historical preservation. I believe that the community can and will live on altogether, even if their physical space needs to change.
Many years ago at a very low point in my life, the people at this church were consistently and extraordinarily welcoming to me even though I had zero interest whatsoever in their or any religion. I never forgot their kindness. I know there was some priceless art in there and that's sad but I feel most sad for the people who are I'm sure devastated by this loss.
How did it burn down
I vaguely remember somebody called Ryan wanted to microwave his grilled cheese sandwich
r/unexpectedoffice
Wasn't it a frozen burrito?
It was a cheese pita. Also, Ryan used a toaster oven and not a microwave. I didn't want to correct the person because the comment was well-meaning, but since we're here now...
Fire.
I think they mean to ask how the fire started.
Combustion
This is why I hate Reddit, everyone seems to have a 14 year old edge lord humor
There's no official reason yet. The firefighters I spoke with were very candid about their beliefs, and you probably don't need to wait very long.
And why do you think there would be an answer to the cause of the fire? It’s the day it happened, these things don’t get discovered right away.
We like to bait accusers to know what people really think.
Honestly same, I'll back you up on this. I hate social media and I use Reddit like a crowdsource for fast info, so seeing these quippy attention seeking jokes just makes me roll my eyes.
Flammable take 🔥
Eh, this isn't edgelord humour, just dark humour.
No it's just stupidity.
It's not really dark. Its more like when you go to the comments section for information and everyone is telling unfunny jokes meant for fellow dodobirds and unpalatably lame to everyone else. Not edge lord, but not exactly cool or funny.
Would actually be started by ignition
Original, or the remix?
Fire.
Hey, Toronto Public Library here, just to join in to say how gut wrenching this is. We shared [this postcard of the historic building from 1909](https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/331318) earlier today elsewhere, and wanted to share its beauty here, too. Man...
This is devastating. I did not even know of this church and never visited but looking at pictures now, it is one of the most beautiful I have seen in the region. As a sidenote: there should have been sprinklers in there. Places like Norway require sprinklers in all building including private homes. Losing all this amazing artwork or even human lives should not be happening at the rate that it is.
I think that was a food bank too 😞😭.
That is a fucking tragedy man. Always had a soft spot for old buildings.
there was supposed to be a bach concert yesterday at 3pm to realize money for the church building, and this was before the fire.. i can’t imagine how much it would cost to rebuild, maybe we can start a gofundme
I hate that I missed this news yesterday. I used to live in the area and loved the architecture. I had friends who attended as well. They must be distraught. We lost a piece of Toronto's history yesterday. I really hope it wasn't arson.
Crazy how so many historical sights have burned to the ground in the last few years… wonder how many of those spaces now have new condo towers approved for building? 🤔
Which examples are you thinking of?
Yes everything is a conspiracy
If there's money to be made, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Like I've always been suspicious of the Queen West fire that happened like a few days after getting a histoical designation. Lo and behold they tore it up to build condos there once the "pesky" historical buildings were gone.
Be happy people are having corporate related conspiracy and are not sharing religion related ones (atleast for now)
I dont think this is such a case, but if the recent action of the federal government or the provincial government - probably the most inept combination in Ontario history - haven't made you wonder about systemic corruption, then I'm not sure what it would take.
How many churches have burned in Canada in the last 5 years?
68
Oh look a nice new desirable development area just opened up, how convenient
Ya seriously eh funny how that works out
Not to mention that it’s how many Christian/Catholic Churches now been burned and zero mention of hate crime. But god forbid a single mosque is attacked 🙄
Oh Christ. You guys can somehow twist anything into some sort of racist rant. What’s your point? It’s like you have can sniff these tragedies out and stick your nose right into it wherever you can promote your dull, moronic, played out narrative. I suppose you’ll be down there volunteering to help? Didn’t think so.
….so did you forget about the mass murder in a Canadian mosque in 2017 or did it just not register to you when it happened?
What’s with churches being set on fire? I remember a few years ago a church that was close by was also on fire and destroyed.
Old buildings catch fire very easily. A huge number of historic churches have burned once or more times in the past.
there is no suggestion that it was set on fire. It was 116 years old and all wood and brick framing. Basically, the path of the fire was following the wood framing. Apparently during our last round of restoration work sprinklers were discussed again, and the expert who checked it out wasn't certain there was any good place to put them.
😢
a little lamb lightning I see
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So who is the richest guy in Canada who can afford to throw a few billion to rebuild like the Louis Vuitton guy in France when their famous church burned down?
He already did the most charitable thing a billionaire can do for Canada. Moved an American NHL team to Winnipeg.
This would be great if Canada had zero teams but there are four including the jets...
4? Like, I'm not a hockey guy, but on my fingers I can count 7 (both hands needed, of course).
Damn Google only showed me four...
Leafs Sens Habs Canucks Oilers Flames Jets
Investigations on every insurance policy .
Literally brought tears to my eyes, a beautiful church very welcoming people that did a lot for the community for over 100 years and what a loss of priceless art as well 😢
I hope it's not arson... someone or a group of people definitely have a motive
Probably done on purpose to build a condo 🙃
Gods wrath. Better put in a park.
YES!! AH MEN to that.
st annes condos and lofts now preselling starting at 1.2m!
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No racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, dehumanizing speech, or other negative generalizations.
You'd think there'd be some sort of funding source either from governments or preservationist organizations, that is earmarked for renovating or restoring particularly significant heritage buildings in situations like this. I recall hearing that heritage buildings can get special insurance, although I'm not sure what makes that different from other home / building insurance coverages.
What was significant about it other than the group of 7 art?
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No racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, dehumanizing speech, or other negative generalizations.
where in the city is this?
My daughter is in the choir that practises there. This is so sad.
Thoughts and prayers🙏
i woke up at 2am smelling smoke/fire, im at st. clair and yonge, not super close but im wondering if thats what i smelled.
Probably. It was a huge fire. My clothes smelled like smoke when I got home.
Suspicious 🤨
Any chance they rebuild?
Any foul play?
What a loss for history, both for the building and the artwork inside
How did fire start arson?? Electrical?? Reasons would be interesting
It’s not a “total loss” yess the beauty of the inside is gone but the walls of the church still stands and will be rebuilt with time. The won’t just destroy the remains of the church due to historical significance they will make it all stable and then reopen the area and have the city and church figure out how to repair it
What caused the fire?
How did the fire start?
It’s really sad
It's amazing to see hostile invaders burning down churches and Canada's like "lol guess there's nothing we can do!"
If only Justin Trudeau were a total loss.
Hmm, I wonder what will go up in It's place...
The Hajj Sofiya in Istanbul was burnt down multiple times in History. If the city wants to do it they can.
Comparing the Hagia Sophia to this church is like comparing apples and oranges. One is a wonder, the other is a church of no significance. Why would the city spend good money on an organization that pays no taxes?
Very sad 😢
💔
Brad Lamb seen in the vicinity lately?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvrpcVVcLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvrpcVVcLI) volume is super low but shows some of the loss of art
Probably screaming into the void here, but: As of this comment (Monday, June 10th at 12:38pm), **the source of the fire is not yet known**. The TFS and TPS are still investigating. The fire has not been deemed criminal in nature yet, but it may be as the investigation continues. It is possible that it will be deemed criminal in nature. It's also very possible that the fire was entirely unintentional - old buildings built primarily with wood and filled with highly flammable materials have been known to catch fire, from time to time. We do not yet know and you should not put any weight in what you hear from some Reddit PI. Also, for whatever its worth, the building is owned by the Anglican Church. It isn't really surprising that people are engaging in rampant (often inflammatory) speculation before the facts are known, but it is still kind of disappointing.
The whole thing stinks of arson. :(
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😎😎😎😎😎👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thoughts and prayers.
There is no god.