herr2ck: Past the Castle Walls

August 2025.

To me, St. James United Church has the best Gothic Revival exterior of the churches I visited in Montreal. However, said facade was completely obscured for a sizable chunk of the church’s lifetime by a commercial building placed in front to assist in upkeep costs. The end result was this sort of Blade Runner-esque density, accentuated by the anachronistic architecture yet more modern storefronts. Today, St. James United is as visible today as when it was built.

St. James United Church is located at 463 Rue Sainte-Catherine West in downtown Montreal, Quebec. It is bordered by Rue Saint-Alexandre to the north, Rue City Councillors to the south, Rue Sainte-Catherine and 20th-century commercial buildings to the east, and Rue Mayor to the west.

History

St. James United was built by Montreal’s former Methodist congregation, which began in 1803 with seven members. The church’s website only states this is the congregation’s fourth church and that its third was located on Rue Saint-James (hence the name). However, I found a source that Wikipedia cites that goes into more detail:

At first, the Methodists used the St. Gabriel Street Presbyterian Church, which the Presbyterians allowed other congregations to worship inside. Their first purpose-built chapel was on Rue Saint-Joseph (now Rue Saint-Sulpice) and was immediately behind Notre-Dame Basilica. They moved out in 1819, and the church was later the Joseph Street Exchange and the first Montreal Public Library.

In 1821, a Neoclassical church with Doric ornamentation was completed, which was located at the corner of Rue Saint-James (now Rue Saint-Jacques) and Rue Francis-Xavier, a few blocks north of the first chapel. It cost 3,200 pounds to build, minus the porch, which was gifted by Daniel Fisher.

The 1845 church, since demolished. (Vieux-Montreal)

The third St. James church was built in 1845, also on Rue Saint-Jacques. The site is occupied by the Canadian Bank of Commerce Building today. It had a capacity of 2,000 people, and it held notable events such as a visit by Harriet Beecher Stowe and a memorial for president Abraham Lincoln.

Although the third St. James Church was already a massive building, the congregation decided to move to its current site in the 1880s. The Religious Heritage website speculates that the commercialization of Rue Saint-Jacques, the residential area of Montreal moving northwest, and “keeping up with the Anglicans” (Christ Church Cathedral is only a couple blocks west) contributed to this decision. The third church’s last service was June 3, 1888. It was demolished and replaced by the Temple Building a year later.

The nave in 1892. (St. James United website)

St. James United was designed by Montreal architect Alexander Francis Dunlop in an eclectic Victorian interpretation of the Gothic Revival style. The interior layout uses the Akron plan, a common layout in American churches but less so in Canada. Its construction took place between 1887 and 1889, the cornerstone being laid in June 1887 by the last surviving member of the original board of trustees, and the church opened in June 1889. When St. James United opened, it could seat 2,000 people, making it the largest Methodist church in Canada at the time. The church’s organ dates to 1891, and it was rebuilt in 1938 by Casavant Freres. An early modification was a World War I memorial stained-glass window designed by Charles William Kelsey.

The Gothic Revival building that obscured the church, c. 2000s. (Vanishing Montreal)

In 1925, the United Church of Canada was formed, which was the result of a union of Canadian Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians. The church subsequently received its “United” suffix, and today the congregation is the largest Protestant denomination in Canada. However, despite this, St. James United was struggling financially. It was proposed that the inner-city church even be moved by a Cleveland company, which obviously never came to fruition. In 1927, a Gothic Revival commercial building known as the Mercantile Building was built in front of the principal facade, which was intended to be a temporary measure to recoup financial losses. The church was entered via a tall pointed arch, with a neon sign advertising its presence. The rest of the building was a bare Commercial style design.

St. James United was designated immovable cultural heritage by Quebec in 1980, and it became a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996. Much of the 1927 building was demolished in 2005 as part of a renovation project sponsored by Montreal and Quebec’s government, though two bays still stand to the north and three to the south. The site is used as a public park today, albeit a small one.

Photos

I really love the richness of St. James United’s exterior. It has all the eclecticism of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. Notre-Dame is tall, but it’s too sober.

The reddish stone that makes up much of the facade is Credit Valley sandstone, while the accents are Chaleur Bay sandstone. The exterior is inspired by French Gothic architecture, which can be seen in its height, circular rose window, and asymmetrical towers.

Let’s start with the south tower, standing 141 feet high, which seems to be buttressed with some janky ratchet strap-meets-2x4s:

The steeple has this kind of openwork steel construction to it:

I absolutely love it when Victorian architecture embraces new materials while refusing to let go of decorative traditions of the past.

The 200-foot north tower was freer of people and bracing, so I have a better view of it:

Note the wide variety of window sizes here. From skinny lancet windows to the rich, wide window on the second story, these towers have a picturesque variety of window openings.

The finely hewn stone tracery of medieval Gothic cathedrals is of course beautiful, but I love this iron tracery a lot:

Also note the rough bond of the stone and how the transition between smooth and rusticated masonry is jagged--this is another deliberately picturesque quality and would not have existed in medieval Gothic architecture.

Zoomed in on the crown:

The steeple here seems to be more orthodox, but it is also executed in iron. Note the various pinnacles and the little gables atop the buttresses, two common Gothic ornamental features. This tower’s subtle telescoping draws the eye upwards.

I really, really love this central module.

The giant rose window is awesome (more on that in a bit). A large pointed arch separates the more ornamented portions from the remainder of the central module, which is mostly undecorated besides its parapet.

This triple portal is common of Gothic architecture, though here there is a large height difference:

Note the large iron and glass tympanum above the front door, which takes the place of sculpture on a more orthodox Gothic church. A pointed wimperg surrounds the central entrance.

I also really love this band of rich ornamentation above the portals:

It’s tough to make out all the details due to the crazy filigree, but it depicts various animals among oak leaves and acorns, such as squirrels, birds, wolves, rabbits, and owls.

The text above the door is similarly difficult. I can make out “The Lord is in His holy temple,” but the last word looks like “mampla” due to the weird font.

Rose window time! This may be my favorite rose window I have seen thus far. I just adore the dark ironwork contrasting with the bright stone surrounding it:

Gothic architecture is perceived as moody and dark today, but it was actually meant to achieve a sense of lightness, both through its structure and height as well as the sunlight through stained-glass windows. The dark tracery here creates the opposite effect, however.

As I write this I am noticing light patches in the tracery, and it may actually be sooty stone. Given that this church was built in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, that would track.

Another nice photo looking up, with the sun glinting off the stained glass:

Last thing before we go inside--one of the smaller portals and its doors:

In my Notre-Dame Basilica post, I noticed a trend with Montreal’s Gothic Revival architecture: the churches with sober exteriors have splendid interiors. However, the opposite case seems to be true for St. James United. The stained glass and height are great features, but there is just too much white plaster and paint:

This church employs the Akron plan, meaning the aisles are surmounted by a balcony level of seating for a larger capacity. I think the electrolier at center is original, and the gingerbread lining the groin vault there is pretty cool. However, the rest lacks any sort of painting or woodwork.

The roof is supported by trusses, so the vaults end in midair with these little flourishes. There’s a term for it that I’m forgetting.