IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF
ONTARIO
1871 WESTON ROAD
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE THE PROPERTY
TAKE NOTICE that Council for the
City of Toronto intends to designate the property, including the lands,
buildings and structures thereon known municipally as 1871 Weston Road under
Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.O.18, as
amended, as a property of cultural heritage value or interest.
Reasons for Designation
The property at 1871 Weston Road is worthy
of designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its
cultural heritage value, and meets Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial
criteria prescribed for municipal designation under the criteria of design and
physical, historical and associative, and contextual values.
Description
Located on the east side of Weston Road
just south of Lawrence Avenue in the city's Weston neighbourhood, the property
at 1871 Weston Road, also known as Weston Park Baptist Church, contains a
church building designed in the Modern Gothic style by architect Francis Bruce
Brown and constructed in 1947. The current edifice replaces the congregation's
first permanent place of worship erected at the same location in 1907. In 1962,
Brown and his partner E.F. Ross Brisley added a rear ancillary wing to the
building known as the Christian Education wing. In 1983-1984, the original front
vestibule was removed and replaced with a new, larger entrance wing and the
1947 vestibule facade reconstructed in front. Now celebrating more than 115
years in its current location, Weston Park Baptist Church continues to serve
the Weston community.
The subject property was listed on the
City of Toronto's Heritage Register on March 29, 2023.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
Design and Physical Value
Weston Park Baptist Church has design
value as a representative example of an ecclesiastical building designed in the
Modern Gothic style. Following the turn of the 20th century and a return to
more simplified architectural designs, Modern Gothic styling was popular for
religious and educational buildings. With its monochromatic surfaces, overall
balance, and less ostentatious medieval details including sparse religious
symbolism, the style differs from the more elaborate Gothic Revival designs of
the previous century. Weston Park Baptist Church displays Modern Gothic
elements with the symmetrical organization of the east and west elevations, the
mixture of pointed-arch and flat-headed openings, and the central rose window
in the gable above the entrance porch on the principal (west) elevation.
The interior of the church is also
representative of the Modern Gothic style. This is evident in the vaulted form
of the ceiling with its pointed-arched wooden roof trusses and
tongue-and-groove wooden plank cladding and the leaded stained-glass windows
with their wooden frames.
Historical and Associative Value
The property at 1871 Weston Road has
associative value as the site of Weston Park Baptist Church, an institution of
importance to the Weston community for more than 115 years. Through its social
justice work, the congregation has supported local agencies and people in need
and provided in-house social services as an important community hub.
The church is also linked to the practice
of notable Toronto-born architect Francis Bruce Brown (1899-1983), who
graduated from the University of Toronto architecture program in 1923. Brown
devoted much of his early career to the design of Protestant churches, and
succeeded his father, J. F. Brown, as Architectural Consultant to the Home
Mission and Church Edifice Boards of the Baptist Convention in Ontario and
Quebec and is credited with designs for more than one hundred churches across
Canada from Nova Scotia to Alberta for Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist and
Protestant congregations. While many of his peers had adopted Classical Revival
or Modern styles for the ecclesiastical commissions, Brown remained faithful to
the Modern Gothic, and executed his designs with a convincing scholarly
knowledge of the appropriate form and range of detail required by his Canadian
ecclesiastical clients. Brown served as President of the Royal Architectural
Institute of Canada (RAIC) in 1964-65 and remained active until 1972 when he
retired and handed over his practice to his son, Douglas Brown.
Contextual Value
Constructed in 1947 and dedicated the
following year, Weston Park Baptist Church is visually, historically and
functionally linked to its surroundings where the building has formed part of
the built evolution and growth of the Weston community at this historically
important intersection with Lawrence Avenue for more than 75 years and its
congregation on this property for more than 115 years.
Heritage Attributes
Design and Physical Value - Exterior
The following heritage attributes
contribute to the design and physical value of the 1947 church as
representative of the Modern Gothic style:
1.
The scale, form and
massing of the church on a rectangular plan on a raised foundation
2.
The steeply pitched
gable roof covering the double-height nave of the church
3.
The materials, with the
buff brick cladding, and brick, stone and wood detailing
4.
On the principal (west)
elevation, the main entrance with stained glass rose window centred above and
surmounted with stone detailing including finial depicting three lancets
5.
The reconstructed 1947
vestibule façade with its buff brick construction and stone detailing including
finial depicting a single stone lancet, and rose window (the latter feature is
currently located inside the 1983-1984 vestibule alteration but was originally
located in the transom of the 1947 vestibule façade)
6.
The north and south
elevations of the nave, organized into five symmetrical bays defined by brick
buttresses with stone detailing, plus the complementary sixth bay at the east
end of the building which was seamlessly added in 1962 using the same
materiality and design
7.
The arrangement and type
of fenestration that combines pointed-arched and flat-headed window openings
and wood frames on the main and basement floors, respectively
N.B. the 1962 rear addition and 1983-1984
enlarged main entrance wing (between the reconstructed 1947 vestibule façade
and west elevation of the nave) are not considered heritage attributes
Design and Physical Value – Interior
The following heritage attributes
contribute to the design and physical value of the interior of the 1947 church
as representative of the Modern Gothic style:
8.
The double-height volume
of the church, including the wooden roof truss system and tongue-and-groove
wood plank ceiling
9.
The arrangement and type
of the window openings with their wood frames
10.
The leaded stained-glass
windows (pointed-arched, flat-headed and rose/circular)
Historical and
Associative Value – Liturgical Elements
The following heritage attributes which
contribute to the evolved design and physical value of the Church and
expressing elements of the Baptist faith have been identified as liturgical
elements:
11.
The three cornerstones
(1947, 1961 and 1983)
Contextual Value
The following heritage attribute
contributes to the contextual value of the property at 1871 Weston Road as it
conveys the historical institutional character of the property:
·
The
set-back, placement and orientation of the building on its lot where it fronts
onto Weston Road
Notice of Objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate
Notice of an objection to the Notice of
Intention to Designate the Property may be served on the City Clerk, Attention:
Administrator, Secretariat, City Clerk's Office, Toronto City Hall, 2nd Floor
West, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N2.; Email: hertpb@toronto.ca within thirty days of June 20, 2023, which is July 20, 2023. The notice
of objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property must set out
the reason(s) for the objection and all relevant facts.
Getting Additional Information:
Further information in respect of the Notice of
Intention to Designate the Property is available from the City of Toronto at:
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.PH4.4
Dated at the City of Toronto on June 20, 2023.
John D. Elvidge
for City Clerk