Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Church of All Nations

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2011

This 1986 Toronto Historical Board plaque, located just inside the glass front doors at 425 Queen Street West, just east of Spadina Avenue, has this to say:

Coordinates: 43.648870 -79.395251

This site was originally part of lands owned in the late 1830s by John Henry Dunn, Receiver-General of Upper Canada. It was purchased in the 1840s by the Methodists to build a small chapel and replaced in 1856 by a larger Gothic-style brick church. By 1900 it had been enlarged to house the biggest Methodist congregation in Toronto. As the area changed to industrial in the 1920s, the church became vacant. In 1927-28, the United Church of Canada enlarged the building and established the Church of All Nations, where services were held in many languages. An international fair was held here annually between 1929 and 1957, an early expression of Toronto's multi-cultural heritage. The Hungarian United Church was the last occupant until 1984 when the building was sold and demolished for commercial development.

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

> Posted June 26, 2011
Hi, just a bit of info re. the plaque. I saw the plaque on Friday 24th June 2011. It is actually located just inside the glass door of 425 Queen Street West. The building looks very similar to that shown but is in fact on the opposite side of the road. The manager of Steve's guitar shop has been there since 1974 and remembers the church before its demolition. My mother was christened there in 1928, that was my interest in the building. Hope you find this useful.
Peter Field [Editor's Response: Thanks very much. I've now added the plaque.]

> Posted January 10, 2010
For a photo, the best place to search would be the United Church of Canada Archives. I agree with the second author because I remember the church as well. At at least its façade, because it was a rather plain brick building built right next to the sidewalk. Incidentally, if you are ever in the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood there is another church hidden behind a modern façade on Spadina south of Queen. If you wander down the alley, you can still make out its roofline.

> Posted August 8, 2008
This is the wrong location for this church. The correct location is further east, on the south side of Queen east of Spadina. I grew up in the neighbourhood and can tell you that the building in that photo was built before 1984.

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