St. Anne Anglican Church, Byzantine Revival church in Brockton Village, Toronto, Canada.
St. Anne's Anglican Church was a Byzantine Revival church of concrete and brick, cruciform in plan, with a central dome 21 metres high, two domed bell towers, a half-domed chancel and arched transepts. Its interior held murals painted in 1923 by J. E. H. MacDonald, Frederick Varley, Franklin Carmichael and other artists, and Byzantine mosaics added in the 1960s. The building and its artworks were largely destroyed by fire on 9 June 2024.
The building opened in 1908 following a design competition won by architect William Ford Howland, who brought Byzantine architectural traditions to Toronto. It was later recognized as a national historic site of Canada for its architectural and cultural value.
In 1923 Canon Lawrence Skey commissioned the interior decoration, led by J. E. H. MacDonald with Frederick Varley and Franklin Carmichael, all Group of Seven members known for landscapes. They produced more than a dozen murals and large paintings of Old and New Testament scenes, and sculptors Frances Loring and Florence Wyle made medallions and reliefs of the four apostles. The fire of June 9, 2024 largely destroyed these works.
The church stood at Gladstone Avenue and Dufferin Street in Brockton Village. After the June 9, 2024 fire the building and its interior artworks were declared completely destroyed, so there is no interior to visit; check the parish's current information before travelling. The site is protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement.
The fire that destroyed the church on June 9, 2024, was initially not thought to have been set deliberately, but in November 2025 Toronto Police said the blaze was being treated as a suspected arson. The four-alarm fire broke out around 8:00 a.m. and was knocked down by 9:30 a.m., with no injuries reported.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,640 contributors worldwide.