Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Saskatoon)

 cathedral, church, anglicanism

Although Saskatoon was founded in 1883, St. John’s, its first Anglican parish, was not established until 1902 owing to the substantially Methodist and to a lesser extent Presbyterian character of the early settlement, it having been founded as a temperance colony. The first St. John’s church, a wooden frame building, was erected in 1903.

The present brick, Tyndall stone and terra cotta structure was raised in 1912-17, in an unornamented neo-Gothic style. Its chief distinguishing characteristic is a rood screen at the chancel steps. The rood screen, pulpit, lectern, and high altar are made of Carrara ware (Doulton white terra cotta resembling Italian Carrera marble). The cornerstone was laid in 1912 by the Governor General of Canada, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. The building’s foundation is made of fieldstone (which includes granite, gabbro, diorite, gneiss, schist and dolomite).

St. John’s was designated a pro-cathedral in 1924 while Saskatoon remained part of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan with its cathedral in Prince Albert. In 1932 the Diocese of Saskatoon was created and St. John’s became its cathedral. The cathedral had only a small reed organ and piano by way of musical instruments until 1956 when a three-manual Hill, Norman and Beard organ was built; it was replaced by a two-manual Casavant Frères organ in 1981-1982.

Designed by the local architectural firm of Thompson, Daniel and Colthurst, it is modeled on the work of J.S. (William) Crowther of Manchester, and bears a resemblance to St. Benedict Church, Ardwick built in 1880. Its complex massing, 44.2 meter conical tower, fenestrations and diamond-patterned shingling are reflective of the Gothic Revival style, as is its detailing: gargoyles, fruit-and-vine terracotta trim around arched doorways and diamond shingling. Its building materials are both English and western Canadian, a blend of Alberta Redcliff brick, British Columbia timber, Saskatchewan granite fieldstone, fossilized Tyndal Stone, with terracotta and Carrara ware provided by Doulton of Staffordshire.

The interior of the Cathedral features a vaulted ceiling, stained glass triad, a Rood Screen and inscribed pillars, and has seen little alteration. A steeple clock planned as part of the original construction was added in 2003 in celebration of the founding of the earliest Anglican parish in the city.