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Northeast corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Sts.
Looking east on Gerrard St. is the old Jarvis Baptist Church.
Shot this afternoon while strolling with my two year-old granddaughter.

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The side facing Jarvis Street.

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That's my grandaughter's stroller on the left.

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Judy and Pat must vividly remember the intricate details of this ceiling.

Ohhhhhh Mario Thank you so very much.  

Great photos!  Judy, you and Pat went to this beautiful church as children?  I've never been in a church building like this. 

This used to be sung every Sunday Night!

154. All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
Text: Edward Perronet; alt. by John Rippon
Music: Oliver Holden
Tune: CORONATION, Meter: CM

1.   All hail the power of Jesus' name! 
   Let angels prostrate fall;
   bring forth the royal diadem,
   and crown him Lord of all. 
   Bring forth the royal diadem,
   and crown him Lord of all. 

2.   Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
   ye ransomed from the fall,
   hail him who saves you by his grace,
   and crown him Lord of all.
   Hail him who saves you by his grace,
   and crown him Lord of all.

3.   Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget
   the wormwood and the gall,
   go spread your trophies at his feet,
   and crown him Lord of all. 
   Go spread your trophies at his feet,
   and crown him Lord of all. 

4.   Let every kindred, every tribe
   on this terrestrial ball,
   to him all majesty ascribe,
   and crown him Lord of all. 
   To him all majesty ascribe,
   and crown him Lord of all. 

5.   Crown him, ye martyrs of your God,
   who from his altar call;
   extol the Stem of Jesse's Rod,
   and crown him Lord of all. 
   Extol the Stem of Jesse's Rod,
   and crown him Lord of all. 

6.   O that with yonder sacred throng
   we at his feet may fall! 
   We'll join the everlasting song,
   and crown him Lord of all. 
   We'll join the everlasting song,
   and crown him Lord of all. 

What a wonderful old church!  Judy and Pat, Mario's pictures must open a lot of memories for you both.

All I can say is .... WOW!!!  I remember sitting on those wooden pews too!

Mom's (JudyB) sitting here beside me still in tears seeing the pics!

I am really delighted that I was able to post these photos as per Judy's request. I just hope I did not get too creative. I deleted those distracting streetcar cables crisscrossing the magnificent facade of old Jarvis Church. I wanted to show more of the church as Judy remembers it.

Again Mario thank you.  I used to sit on the left side of the choir loft usually the front row, but often the second row for the cantata.  Mario you were in the balcony for that picture?  (The front of the church inside.)

That shot is from the ground, but I did go up the balcony. There are actually more shots from the balcony, as well as street shots from different angles. I will e-mail them to you.

Thank you!

Mario, this is wonderful to see.  We started going to this church shortly after Judy was born and so it's been Judy's childhood church.  I was nearly 10 when we started to attend.  I was married in this auditorium and I used to sing in the choir as well. 

In 1953, Dr. T. T. Shields baptized my brother and I upon profession of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and what an honour that was! 

This was and still is a beacon of truth and light in the downtown area of Toronto.  Long may it be.

Mario, I hope you put more photos in here that we can view of the church.  To the left of the building is the Toronto Baptist Seminary.  Did you get any shots of it?  That's where I met my late husband in 1960.

I did not realize how attached you and Judy are to this beautiful old church. I am deeply moved and regret that I overlooked the Baptist Seminary. I will be in Downtown Toronto again on Thursday to babysit Leia, my two year old granddaughter. If the the weather is nice, we will be strolling eastbound from Dundas and Bay to Jarvis and Gerrard to take a few shots of the Seminary.

I actually almost gave up on the hope of shooting the church interior. All the front doors on both streets were fenced in and padlocked. I tried the side entrance, but that one was also locked. I stood there for a moment (with my granddaughter on the stroller) and the door opened before I could even knock. This incident surely reminds me of what Jesus said: "Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened for you."

A young man opened the door: he was on his way out. I told him of Judy's request and he was delighted to welcome me in. I found out later on that he had just graduated from the Baptist Seminary next door.

Here are some more shots of the Jarvis Church.

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This is the corner shot with the distracting TTC streetcar cables. In other words: 'The honest shot.'

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Showing the side of the church from Gerrard St. (looking east.)

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Church interior, opposite the altar.

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Left side interior, looking up.

What a wonderful old church and great pictures of it.  So interesting to read about the memories Pat and Judy have.

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Right half of interior, looking up.

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The Welcome Sign

Thank you so very, very much.

The doors didn't used to be padlocked but this has been a necessity in later years due to the area where the church is located with the homeless folks around the area looking for a refuge to sleep in.  Alan Gardens just behind the church is just a terrible place in the dark hours of the night so they need to keep the doors locked.  The door off the parking lot (between the Seminary and the Church) usually is open during the day as there are folks working in the Church office.

Your shot of the building on Gerrard looking from the South-West corner, shows a lighter red brick addition.  This is where they built in the 1930's many of the Sunday School rooms but more importantly, Greenway Chapel is there.  Greenway Chapel seats about 500 people and when I was a teenager, Prayer Meeting was Saturday night!  And Greenway Chapel was filled to capacity with people praying for the Sunday morning services.

In Greenway Chapel is another pipe organ completely built by Mr. Penny (long gone now to glory) and it's the one I had organ lessons on.  The one in the main auditorium is now replaced but the pipes are all the same original pipes completely built by Mr. Penny.  The organ presently in use replace the one built by him and this was done in about 1992.

We used to have over 25 buses every Sunday and we had a team go down (of which I was one) to go into Regent Park picking up children for Sunday School.  We needed to dress many of them as their parents lay on the floors completely inebriated.  If we couldn't find clothes, there was a cupboard at the church where we could supply the necessary items for the wee kids.

What memories!  

QuoteShowing the side of the church from Gerrard St. (looking east.)

When I was a child that street, Gerrard was lined with school buses on a Sunday morning.  These buses were filled with children.  The balcony was filled with children on a Sunday morning.  They would file in with their Sunday School teachers and sit through the Sunday morning service, sometimes lasting an hour and a half.  That would be after Sunday school  starting at 9:45.  The Junior high and Senior High youth would would be in the lower auditorium.  Par correct me if I am wrong but I believe there were up to 1200 children in Sunday School those days.

As a High School student the youth group would go out to the areas surrounding the church inviting children and their parents to church on Sunday. 


Oh Mario memories!

I love reading about your fond memories of the church. You two are very fortunate. You can come and visit this place anytime and it would be there. The chapel that I cherish in my childhood is on the other side of the globe, across the Pacific, near the shore of South China Sea. It may not even be there after all these years. The last time I saw it was about 38 years ago. But I wrote about it in one of my articles " Angels Within."

You may read about it on my blog: Just click on the link below,
http://photographersforchrist.blogspot.com/2009/06/angels-within.html