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Toronto Cathedral/Church Preservation and Maintenance - Is Tourism the Answer?

If only! And it might be unwise to promote churches in general as must-see tourist sites when not all of them are architecturally stunning, full of exquisite stained glass, reliquary, wood carvings and murals ... or even particularly interesting. We mustn't oversell them as aesthetic attractions when they're not. But some of the buildings that are go unnoticed and unheralded, and that's a shame. And if they're practical, working churches for the various communities they serve - meals and shelter for the homeless for instance - those things may not be compatible with tourism, in which case they become even more "hidden gems", off the beaten track for locals and visitors alike.
 
... and some of them, such as this one on Hazelton Avenue - which hasn't functioned as a church for about a century, and can be rented out for performances - have been recycled as private institutions:

Heliconian Hall, a charming historic building
The Toronto Heliconian Club meets in a charming historic building at 35 Hazelton Avenue in the Yorkville area of the city. It dates from 1875 when Yorkville was a rural village on the outskirts of Toronto. Originally a church and then the headquarters of a painters' union, the building was bought by the club in 1923 for $8,000 and named Heliconian Hall. Its architecture is Carpenter's Gothic with a simple board and batten exterior, and with the embellishment of a Victorian rose window and carved rafters in a high vaulted ceiling. Its good acoustical properties are a boon to this day to the club's musicians. Heliconian Hall, is one of the few church buildings of this style in southern Ontario. It was designated a Toronto historic site in 1990 and a National Historic Site in 2008.

Photo from androiduk's wonderful My Toronto thread:

androiduk said:
Hazelton Ave.

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Urban Shocker said:
If only! And it might be unwise to promote churches in general as must-see tourist sites when not all of them are architecturally stunning, full of exquisite stained glass, reliquary, wood carvings and murals ... or even particularly interesting. We mustn't oversell them as aesthetic attractions when they're not. But some of the buildings that are go unnoticed and unheralded, and that's a shame. And if they're practical, working churches for the various communities they serve - meals and shelter for the homeless for instance - those things may not be compatible with tourism, in which case they become even more "hidden gems", off the beaten track for locals and visitors alike.
Click to expand...

Well, obviously there's plenty of churches that no tourists would be interested in visiting, but many of these Plain Janes are ideal sites for increased performances and exhibits and organization meetings and charity fundraisers and homeless shelters and all that jazz. To keep all these churches alive as centres of communities it'll just take more of everything in society - more financial support for culture and the arts, more people donating their time to charities and organizations, more drunks looking to join AA, etc. Serve the community at night, save your soul during the day.

Of course, it's entirely possible that religion makes a big comeback and the churches become too busy with church matters to open themselves up as community centres or tourist traps.

Something to consider is that Catholic churches typically have quite large parishes/congregations, as do Hindu temples and mosques and others, so in some ways the 'question' posed in the thread title is limited to Christian Churches...Anglican and Presbyterian and Lutheran authorities would have the final say over whether or not their buildings should be turned into tourist attractions.
 
( and my friend Daphne, who sings with the Toronto Choral Society, informs me that they're doing Bach's Christmas Oratorio on December 16th at 7:30 p.m. at Eastminster United, 310 Danforth Avenue - thought I'd put in a good word for them ... )
 
Unfortunately my figure is a guess, but if anything I suspect it's on the low side. If there are 100 old churches/religious buildings requiring $3M in restoration, and 500 churches/religious buildings requiring $0.5M, that's about half a billion dollars. Although the quantity might be too high, the values of the repairs is probably much more.
 
DSC said:
Rather to my surprise there appears to be no separate thread for the major renovation project at the St Michael's [Roman] Catholic Cathedral. There are several videos outlining what is planned and what has already happened. See: http://www.stmichaelscathedral.com/restoration-videos/
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Thanks! Didn't realize that St. Mike's got a dig-down project of its' own!

An older story from the Post:

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/0...torontos-time-battered-st-michaels-cathedral/

AoD
 
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Cabbagetown's Sr. Peter's Anglican church will need restoration and likely a dig out. It's a great place, very welcoming of all peoples http://www.stpetercarlton.ca/

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I can only speak on the Anglican experience, but one of the issues in Canada is that each church must financially stand alone. This means the churches in Rosedale and other wealthy areas are in great shape even with only a few blue haired matrons to fund the place, while the busy downtown churches with their often growing yet poorer congregations are falling apart.

In NYC and elsewhere in the USA the Episcopalian Church (their post-1776 term for Anglicans) the smaller churches in poorer areas are considered satellites of the larger, more affulent churches and cathedrals. This way the church organization can better conduct outreach into poorer and more desperate areas of the city, all the while ensuring their local churches do not fall down from neglect.
 

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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Thanks! Didn't realize that St. Mike's got a dig-down project of its' own!

An older story from the Post:

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/0...torontos-time-battered-st-michaels-cathedral/

AoD
Click to expand...

This project seems to be drawing to a close as St Michael's are advertising an open house on December 8 and 9th to show off the new inside (with a mass at noon). They are still working on the east gable wall and the very eastern section of the new roof and will, I assume, also tidy up the little chapel that fronts onto Church Street.
 
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