Find your way around the Knox College building via this floor plan; click to enlarge the image.
The current Knox College building on King’s College Circle was erected in 1915. This is the sixth building that has housed the College since it began in 1844.
Built of Credit Valley grey stone with Indiana Limestone trimmings, Knox College is one of North America’s finest examples of Collegiate Gothic architecture. Architects Chapman & McGiffin fashioned it after Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Now more than a hundred years later, the College’s unique architectural features offer visitors a quiet oasis in the middle of a busy city. In 1983, Toronto’s Historical Board designated Knox College a heritage site.
Knox College is part of the Toronto School of Theology, a consortium of seven Christian colleges that are all federated with the University of Toronto.
Prior to St. George Street, Knox College was at One Spadina Crescent. A pressing need for additional library space, as well as extensive repairs to the Spadina building, spurred the construction of the current building on St. George Street.
As you enter Knox from King’s College Circle, you notice the vaulted ceilings, pillars, and a carved stone gallery connecting symmetrical staircases.
On the right is Caven Library, and on the left the Chapel. The architects designed the building this way to emphasize that, as a seminary, the College is equally a place of learning and worship.
Caven Library is named after William Caven, Knox’s second principal (1873-1904). It has more than 80,000 volumes, including a rare book collection housed at the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Library. Caven Library’s areas of strength include Presbyterianism, biblical studies, Reformed history and theology, liberation theologies, preaching, Christian education, and more recently, counselling, spiritual care, and psychotherapy. Integrated into University of Toronto’s online catalogue, students from around the world can search its resources.
The McKay Educational Resource Centre is a special collection of resources related to Christian Education, faith formation, and congregational life. At the core of the collection are the historical curricula which were part of the library of Ewart College before its amalgamation with Knox College in 1991. This collection is also continually being expanded and enriched by current resources that reflect ongoing developments in Christian Education and faith formation for all ages – including practical resources for worship planning, preaching, Bible study, and pastoral care, and resources on contemporary issues of interest to faith communities.
The Library houses portraits of the Knox College principals and a plaque dedicated to Ewart College and its principals.
Gothic and unadorned in style, the Chapel is used for worship services by Knox and the broader University communities. Weddings and other special events take place here regularly.
The Chapel’s windows are made of rare Norman slab glass. This amber-hued glass was made by Powell’s of Whitefriars in the UK using a technique that blows glass into square moulds. The squares of glass are very thick in the centre and thinner at the edges, creating unique optics.
The Chapel is wheelchair accessible by a lift. The main Chapel also houses the Ewart Chapel and two organs. Built in the North German Baroque style, the Wolff Organ was installed in the choir loft at the back of the Chapel in 1991. One of only a few such organs in North America, Knox’s Wolff Organ remains a favourite of Toronto’s music community. The additions of the lift and the Wolff Organ were made possible through generous donations.
The Board Room’s wood carvings and stonework are fine examples of the talent of the skilled craftsmen who built the College. With its stone relief of the Covenanter flag over the fireplace, this room shows the strong identification of the College’s founders with Canadian Presbyterianism’s Scottish roots. A secret door in the corner used to lead to the residence. There is a story that faculty would meet in this room to determine which students would pass and fail. During one of these meetings, students were piled up on the residence side of the door to eavesdrop – when the door gave way, sending them tumbling into the room. The door has now been soundproof and nailed shut.
Much of Knox’s history is displayed on its walls. Paintings of past principals and professors hang in the Board Room and Caven Library. Pictures of Knox’s graduating classes dating back to the 1870s hang in hallways between the Board Room and Classrooms.
The Cloister connects the academic wing of the College with the Knox Residence, creating a quiet oasis in the middle of a busy campus.
Beginning in 2023, the University of Toronto purchased the iconic Knox College properties. Under the terms of the sale, the University of Toronto is leasing back to Knox College the academic wing (on King’s College Circle) for the continuing operation of a theological school for The Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) for 40 years. The University of Toronto now operates the Knox Residence.
