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Sacred space: the final frontier
For one weekend, feel at ease stepping foot into one of the city's many holy places
May 19, 2008 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Every Torontonian inhabits a different city. Depending on where we live, work, shop and play, and how we relate to our surroundings, each one of us creates our own Toronto.
This is why the real importance of Doors Open may be its ability to bring us all a little closer together, to expand the common understanding that transforms mere physical proximity into something approaching citizenship and shared identity.
And in a city like ours – made up largely of immigrants and newcomers – it's easy to feel like a stranger. We spend so much time on the outside looking in that even the most privileged among us might be forgiven for feeling left out.
But for one weekend in May, we have carte blanche to enter many of those places we would normally be reluctant to go. This will be especially true this year, given that the theme is "Sacred Spaces, Sacred Circles."
Let's be honest: Most of us are uncomfortable with the idea of entering buildings that are sacred to various religions, perhaps even our own. So the chance to visit churches, synagogues, mosques and temples will be a welcome one for many Torontonians.
Even non-believers will find these buildings worth a visit; they include some of the most remarkable new structures in the city.
The most spectacular example has to be the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, which opened last July. Located on the east side on Highway 427 just north of Finch Ave., this white stone building is unique in the city – and the country.
Comprised of more than 26,000 pieces of stone carved in India and assembled here like some giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, it is a building conceived as a metaphor for the universe. Look around and you'll see stars, suns and a whole pantheon of gods.
The Hindu temple's location, a dreary suburban site in the northwest corner of the city, makes the temple all the more remarkable. It addresses the area with such sincerity that it puts the rest of the stuff that lines the highway to shame. Most Torontonians may not value this part of the city, but these people do.
By contrast, the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church on Kennedy Rd. south of Steeles Ave. speaks a thoroughly modern architectural language. Designed by Toronto's Teeple Architects, this striking titanium-clad structure also provides a dramatic foil to the anonymity of the suburban condition found on every side.
Inside, the building is divided into two sections, one dedicated to religious purposes, the other for social uses. The main space – the sanctuary – seats a healthy 1,750 people. Minimalist in its detailing and decoration, this well-lit space could almost be mistaken for a concert hall. The front area feels more like a stage than an altar, and the padded benches have none of the deliberate hardness many might associate with going to church.
The other side of the building, which includes a full-sized gymnasium, offices and meeting rooms, adds a social dimension to the complex. Indeed, though it's called a church, Teeple's building might be better considered a hybrid structure, very 21st-century in its mix of uses as well as its design. Little wonder it won a Governor General's architectural award this month.
Another recent arrival on the suburban skyline is the Islamic Foundation of Toronto at 441 Nugget Ave. (off Markham Rd. north of Sheppard Ave.). With its copper-clad minaret and expansive interior spaces, this is the religious building as landmark, the designated centre of a community, physical as well as emotional.
Also brand new is Congregation Darchei Noam, at Sheppard Ave. W. east of Wilson Heights Blvd., a Reconstructionist synagogue built out of what was a mid-20th-century synagogue. Designed by Quadrangle Architects, this is a building that mixes a number of up-to-date environmental features with traditional elements such as the Jerusalem stone on the exterior. Throughout, the emphasis is on natural light and flexible spaces that can be used for worship or more secular purposes such as classrooms.
Again, the synagogue seeks to meet community needs in addition to the sacred. Not surprisingly, this has emerged as the new template for religious architecture, no matter what the religion. Not only that, but many of these buildings are clearly also meant to announce the arrival of a particular community into the larger context. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is the Mandir and its highway site. It is a billboard, a declaration in architecture. Here we are, it says, and we're here to stay.
Of course, there was a time when Toronto was known as the City of Churches. Its other name was Toronto the Good, and it comes from a time when every street corner was the site of either a church or a bank. Though the architecture of churches varied, there can be no doubt that in its heart of hearts, Toronto was a Gothic city. Again and again, we built churches in the Gothic style, which in the 19th century spoke of Englishness, Anglicanism and high moral purpose. It was associated with earlier times when European civilization was somehow more honest, upstanding and closer to God.
Examples abound; everything from St. James' Cathedral to the Church of the Holy Trinity, both of which are included in this year's Doors Open. One of the most interesting examples, however, is the Chapel of St. James-the-less, located off the beaten track in St. James Cemetery. Built in 1860, and designed by Cumberland and Storm, one of the city's most prominent architectural firms in the 1800s, this is an especially impressive exercise in Gothicism and a National Historic Site.
Though not as fussy and fully embellished as some examples, the chapel is distinguished instead by its robust, pared-down aesthetic. Few buildings in Toronto are anywhere as picturesque as this one, which sits on a small hill near the entrance to the cemetery.
It also serves as a reminder of the quality of architecture and workmanship in 19th-century Toronto. Back then, there was a generally agreed-upon sense of what a church should look like; it would include a pitched roof, stone faces and a tower reaching up overhead.
Our great-grandfathers wouldn't have recognized the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church as a church. To them, it would have seemed like something from a different world.
Even God, it seems, must keep up with the times.
