St. James' Cathedral
The Cathedral is located in downtown Toronto on the northeast corner of King and Church Streets, three blocks east of Yonge St. and the King St. subway. Parking is available at several parking lots in the vicinity.
The present building was opened for services on June 19, 1853. The tower was finished in 1865, and the spire in 1874. The spire, which measures over 100 metres, makes St. James the tallest church in Canada. At one time it was a landmark for ships entering the harbour. The bulding is 200 ft (61 m) long, 84 ft (26 m) high and 98 ft (30 m) wide at the porches. The spire is over 300 ft (almost 100 m) high. The tower portion contains a fully automated clock with four 7 ft (over 2 m) dials. It is connected to a set of ten bells which ring on the quarter hour. The tower also contains a peal of twelve 'change-ringing' bells requiring twelve bell ringers. These are 'Bells of Old York', which were installed in 1997 during the cathedral''s bicentennial year.
ST. JAMES' CATHEDRAL ORGAN is a fine English Romantic / American Classic instrument in beautiful acoustics with a large, colourful antiphonal division on the rear wall of the Cathedral. The organ was built originally in 1888 by the Samuel R. Warren Company of Montréal, Québec, and then expanded and maintained through the first three quarters of the 20th century by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Québec. The solid-state console was built by J.W. Walker of England in 1979. The organ has been maintained by the Alan T. Jackson Co. since 2004. The organ has 87 ranks, 67 speaking stops over four manuals and six divisions, and 5101 pipes.
