Trinity College, Toronto - Buildings and Environs

Buildings and Environs

Trinity College is centrally located on Hoskin Avenue within the University of Toronto, directly north of Wycliffe College and to the west of Queen's Park. The southern wing of main building, with its cornerstone laid by Bishop James Fielding Sweeny, was completed in 1925 by Darling and Pearson, the architectural firm that also designed the university's Convocation Hall and Varsity Arena. The predominant Jacobethan architectural style is particularly apparent in the roofline and the stone towers, while Tudor Revival is featured in the Angel's Roost tower. Architects George and Moorhouse oversaw a major expansion of the college in 1941, immediately prior to war-time restrictions on building materials. The expansion comprises the west academic wing, containing many of the college's public rooms, and the east residence wing. The college's north wing was built in 1961 by architects Somerville, McMurrich and Oxley, thereby completely enclosing the college quadrangle.

Strachan Hall is the largest component of the western wing, serving as the central dining hall for students residing in the main building, and the venue of all regular formal High Table dinners, now regularly held on Friday evenings. Adorning the walls of the Strachan Hall are portraits of important figures in the history of the college. The largest portraits, which hang from the north wall, are of Bishop Strachan and George Whitaker, the college's first provost from 1852 to 1880. Hanging on the front wall prominently behind the High Table is a large mediaeval tapestry, believed to have been woven in Flanders in the fourteenth century to depict the coming of the Queen of Sheba to the court of King Solomon.

Near Strachan Hall in the western wing, the Junior Common Room is used by student organisations including the Trinity College Literary Institute whose coat of arms adorns the mantle, and the Trinity College James Bond Society. It is a place of socializing by undergraduate, meetings and informal studying. A large portrait of C. Allan Ashley, a professor of the college, hangs to the left of the entrance.

The Trinity quadrangle has long been a focal point of student life at the college. The site was once home to the largest outdoor Shakespeare festival in the country. In the summer of 2007, the quadrangle was renovated with funds from an anonymous donor. The quadrangle design features footpaths and patterns based on the Greek letter Chi, representing Christ, writ large in intricate flagstones.

The Trinity College Chapel was built with funds donated by Gerald Larkin, who headed the Salada Tea Company from 1922 to 1957. It was designed in the modified perpendicular Gothic style by renowned English architect Giles Gilbert Scott, who was responsible for the Liverpool Cathedral and the ubiquitous red telephone boxes seen throughout Britain. The chapel extends 100 feet (30 m) to the reredos and is 47 feet (14 m) high at the vault bosses. Using only stone, brick and cement, Italian stonemasons employed ancient building methods; the only steel in the construction is in the hidden girders supporting the slate roof, with the exterior walls being sandstone.

In the Chapel a number of bronze memorial plaques honour alumni who died during the First World War: Lieutenant Paul Brooks Clarke (class of 1918) of the 124th who was killed in action near Zonnebeke October 28, 1917; Robert Alexander Rankine Campbell, Henry Stuart Hayes, Gordon MC Michael Matheson, Reginald Prinsep Wilkins; Captain Charles Edward Courselles Jones, Royal Warwishire Regiment KIA July 4, 1916. John Materly (class of 1913) On the wall outside the entrance to the Chapel, a memorial Triptych illuminated manuscript in three frames is an Honour Roll erected by Trinity College in 1942 which is dedicated to approximately 1000 men and women of Trinity College who served and those who died while serving their country; An artist, Jack McNie, completed the lettering by hand.

St. Hilda's College was built in 1938 at its present site west of the main building and the chapel. It used to be a women-only residence until 2005,and has since been turned into a mixed residence. George and Moorhouse built St. Hilda's College in the Georgian style that was heavily favoured at the time, albeit with some embellishments, particularly the rounding of pediments.