Where works of art by Canada’s iconic Group of Seven once hung remains only arched wooden beams, a charred web above the ruins inside the church’s historic stone walls.
Staring up at what remains of the Byzantine Revival-style church, which was a National Historic Site and designated heritage building, Don Beyers, who has been a reverend at St. Anne’s for the past three years, tells the Star he’s thought many times in the days since the fire if there’s anything he could have done — maybe if he’d shown up earlier that Sunday morning, something would have been different. He said Toronto Fire Services has assured him, there’s nothing he could have done.
Murals inside the dome of St. Anne’s Anglican Church have been lost.
The interior of St. Anne’s Anglican Church before the fire, featuring murals painted by members of the Group of Seven, in Toronto.