Saint John’s interior circa 1890s — Ottawa Centre Deanery

Safekeeping a Photograph

Here we are inside Saint John’s Church, Ottawa, built in 1860 as a chapel of ease for the parish of Christ Church, Ottawa at the corner of Sussex and George streets, facing north. It was taken over by Bishop John Travers Lewis in the 1870s and later enlarged as the Bishop’s Chapel in the late Victorian period.

Its site was expropriated by the federal government, but the church happened to burn down in 1912. Consequently, the congregation of Saint John’s Church amalgamated and moved in with Grace Church at the corner of Elgin and Somerset streets, where they have been ever since.

We see the interior of the Bishop’s Chapel here as photographed by William James Topley in the 1890s. The Diocesan Archives acquired a copy of this image from the Topley collection at Library and Archives Canada years ago, but in 2019 as preparations began to renovate and restore 71 Bronson Avenue, an original sepia print of this photograph was discovered in a basement safe and brought by Sanjay Grover to the Archives for safekeeping.

Alas, no photograph seems to survive of the interior of this house of worship as originally built in 1860. We are standing in a later section built circa the 1890s looking north into the original part of the church. We can only guess as to the original 1860 layout. All pews in 1860, as here, may have faced north, with the altar and liturgical centre on the north wall, with the huge pointed window in the east wall bathing the interior with light. Sound confusing?  Yes, but at the mother church on Sparks Street, after all, the altar was on the south wall, and the liturgical west window was on the north wall.

Or maybe not. Perhaps the Chapel of Ease already was following Tractarian ideas by placing the chancel and sanctuary on the east wall, forcing members during the service to face the blinding light coming in the huge east window. Evidence that Tractarian notions were beginning to take hold here is evident in all the exposed beams and boards of the timber ceiling.

What is remarkable about this photograph is how visually striking everything appears, aided perhaps by the photographer’s flash and numerous electric lights. Our initial impression is one of bold contrasts, an impression created by the bold diagonals of the ceiling beams, the arrangement of boards in the ceiling in diamond formation, the striking band of trefoils on the upper walls, the bold band of stencils both below the band of trefoils and above the wainscotting, and the gilded words above the chancel window “Praise God in His Holiness.”

There is more than that to take in here. The eye goes on to note the pointed arches of the pew ends, the gleaming altar rail, the windows with a combination of stained and leaded glass to permit a maximum amount of light to enter the house of worship, the carved wooden panels on three sides in the chancel with painted insert panels, the prominent pulpit on the left side with the font in front of it across from the lectern on the right in front of the choir pews, with a large organ behind them, and perhaps a small choir vestry tucked in behind the large organ pipes. The hymn boards on each side echo the main reredos of the altar. The placing of the altar as we see it here may have been due to there being two entrances to the church on the west wall, one for people coming in from Mackenzie Avenue, and the other leading in from Sussex Street.

The Diocesan Archives collects parish registers, vestry reports, service registers, minutes of groups and committees, financial documents, property records (including cemeteries and architectural plans), insurance policies, letters, pew bulletins, photographs and paintings, scrapbooks, parish newsletters and unusual documents.