Notice of Intention to Designate

The Corporation of the City of Richmond Hill

Take notice that the Council of the Corporation of the City of Richmond Hill (“Council”) intends to designate the above noted property as a property of cultural heritage value or interest under part IV and pursuant to section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990,c.0.18.

And take notice that the Council of the Corporation of the City of Richmond Hill stated their intention to designate said property under the Ontario Heritage Act on June 25^th, 2025.

A statement explaining the cultural heritage value or interest of the property and a description of the heritage attributes of the property is set out below.

Any person who objects to the above noted Council’s intention to designate shall, within 30 days after the publication of this notice, serve on the Clerk of the City of Richmond Hill, a Notice of Objection setting out the reason for the objection and all relevant facts. The last day to submit the Notice of Objection is August 1^st, 2025.

Service may be made digitally by email to clerks@richmondhill.ca or by delivery personally to the City Clerk or by Regular Mail at the following address:

Additional information about heritage planning at the City of Richmond Hill may be obtained by contacting Heritage Planning City staff by e-mail at heritage@richmondhill.ca. Take note that a Notice of Objection may only be served to the Clerk of the City of Richmond Hill as stated above.

Dated this 2^nd day of July, 2025

Statement of Significance

734 King Road – Temperanceville Methodist Church and Cemetery

The Temperanceville Methodist Church and Cemetery at 734 King Road is recommended for designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act as a property of cultural heritage value or interest, as described in the following Statement of Significance. The subject property has been found to meet Ontario Regulation 9/06 criteria 1, 4, and 9.

Description of Property

The Temperanceville Methodist Church at 734 King Road is a single-storey brick church with a raised fieldstone basement located at the northeast corner of King Road and Bathurst Street, within the historical hamlet of Temperanceville and now within the urban boundary of Richmond Hill.

Design and Physical Value

Dating to 1897, the Temperanceville Methodist Church at 734 King Road has physical value as a representative example of the late-Victorian vernacular “country church” building typology and architectural style, which combines Classically-derived form and symmetry with restrained Gothic Revival detailing. While the subject building’s simple rectangular plan, centered southern entrance, and balanced arrangement of bays and window openings are rooted in the Classical stylistic tradition, its steeply-pitched front-gabled roof, Gothic-arched windows and doors, stained-glass windows, brick buttresses, and red brick cladding with restrained decorative brickwork are hallmarks of late-Victorian Gothic Revival ecclesiastical architecture.

Therefore, the subject property meets O. Reg. 9/06 Criterion 1: The property has design value or physical value because it is a rare, unique, representative or early example of a style, type, expression, material or construction method.

Historical and Associative Value

The Temperanceville Methodist Church at 734 King Road has historical and associative value for its direct links to both the historical Hamlet of Temperanceville and to the Methodist Church that was fundamental to the community’s genesis in the early-19^th century. The crossroads community of Love’s Corners (now Temperanceville) was founded by the Love family at the intersection of Bathurst Street and King Road in the early-19^th century. The Loves were devout Methodists and supporters of the Temperance movement who hosted religious services and gatherings in their home just north of the subject property as early as 1804. John Love granted the subject property to the Wesleyan Methodists in 1835 for the erection of a church and cemetery, and the property has been associated with the Methodist church since this time. Methodism, founded in England by John Wesley in the 1720s, flourished in rural Upper Canada in the early 1800s due to its unique system of itinerant ministers serving multiple smaller congregations within a region or “circuit.” This system resulted in the establishment of many small methodist churches in modest crossroads communities like Temperanceville throughout the 19^th century. While the Methodists built the current church to replace an older building in 1897, the subject property has been a significant nucleus for religious and community life in Love’s Corners/Temperanceville since the 1830s. Today, the Temperanceville church and cemetery stand as rare remnants of the historical crossroads community that once existed at Bathurst Street and King Road.

The Temperanceville Methodist Church at 734 King Road also has historical and associative value for its direct associations with the United Church of Canada. Like other United Churches across the country, the Temperanceville United Church was formed because of a union between Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, and General Council of Local Union Churches in 1925 to bring together the churches’ ministry and missionary work in Canada and abroad. As a result of the union, church congregations combined and grew, and the church’s doctrines evolved. The Temperanceville church has housed a United Church congregation since 1925, and continues to function as a significant religious and social gathering space for the local community.

Therefore, the subject property meets O. Reg. 9/06 Criterion 4: The property has historical value or associative value because it has direct associations with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization or institution that is significant to a community.

Contextual Value

The Temperanceville Methodist Church has contextual value as a local landmark in the historical hamlet of Temperanceville, which was established as “Love’s Corners” around the intersection of King Road and Bathurst Street in the early 1800s. The church is sited in a prominent and highly visible location at the northeast corner of King Road and Bathurst Street, where it has served as a nucleus and marker for the local community for over 125 years. The church is regarded as a local landmark due to its distinct historical character, longstanding role as a religious and community gathering place, and prominent scale and location at the ‘four corners’ of King Road and Bathurst Street.

Therefore, the subject property meets O. Reg. 9/06 Criterion 9: The property has contextual value because it is a landmark.

Heritage Attributes

Design and Physical Value

Heritage attributes contributing to the value of the property as a late-Victorian vernacular “country church” building typology and architectural style are:

Exterior Attributes

• The scale, form and massing of the one-storey building with raised basement and rectangular plan;
• The steeply-pitched front-gable roof with boxed eaves;
• The red brick cladding laid in common bond and the fieldstone foundation with false pointing;
• The symmetrical three-bay arrangement of doors and windows on all elevations;
• The red brick and stone detailing, including:
  • A five-course projecting plinth above the foundation;
  • Gothic window arches on first-storey windows comprised of a row of stretcher bricks topped by a row of header bricks;
  • Radiating segmental arches on basement windows;
  • A Gothic door arch on the south elevation comprised of a row of stretcher bricks, a row of dogtooth bricks, and a row of header bricks;
  • Stepped buttresses with fieldstone bases; and
  • Sandstone buttress bases on the south elevation inscribed with “METHODIST” (west block) and “1897” (east block);
• The windows and doors, including:
  • Gothic-arched first-storey window openings with wood lugsills and historical wood window units, where extant;
  • Segmental-arched basement window openings;
  • The tripartite Gothic-arched stained-glass window on the north elevation [*note that while the existing stained glass appears to have been added after the 1990s, the presence of stained glass in this window is original to the church’s design and is considered a heritage attribute];
  • The principal Gothic-arched doorway on the south elevation; and
  • The rear segmental-arched doorway on the north elevation;
• The large circular opening in the south gable, bordered by stretcher bricks; and
• The single-stack brick chimney with a projecting plinth, and corbelled cap on the eastern slope of the roof.

Interior Attributes

• The gothic-arched chancel behind the altar at the north end of the church, trimmed with decorative wood molding, and featuring a raised platform and tripartite stained-glass window.

Historical and Associative Value

Heritage attributes that contribute to the value of the property for its associations with the historical hamlet of Love’s Corners/Temperanceville, and the Methodist and United Churches are:

• The property’s scale, siting and orientation at the northeast corner of King Road and Bathurst Street;
• The building’s late-Victorian vernacular “country church” style and building typology;
• The gothic-arched chancel behind the altar at the north end of the church, trimmed with decorative wood molding, and featuring a raised platform and tripartite stained-glass window;
• The datestone from the 1854 Wesleyan Church located in the church’s southern entry vestibule;
• The commemorative plaque containing the names of those buried in the original Love’s Corners Methodist Burial Ground; and
• The grave markers at the southeast corner of the property [*note that the location/position of these grave markers is not original and is not considered a heritage attribute].

Contextual Value

Heritage attributes contributing to the contextual value of the property for being a landmark are:

• The property’s scale, siting and orientation at the northeast corner of King Road and Bathurst Street; and
• The building’s late-Victorian vernacular “country church” style and building typology.

Note: the church’s 1970s one-storey rear (north) concrete block addition is not considered to possess heritage attributes.