Sydenham Street Methodist Church
| Sydenham Street United Church | |
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1910 Postcard of the church
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| Basic information | |
| Location | 82 Sydenham Street Kingston, Ontario K7L 3H4 |
| Geographic coordinates | 44°13′48″N 76°29′18″W / 44.229872°N 76.488408°WCoordinates: 44°13′48″N 76°29′18″W / 44.229872°N 76.488408°W |
| Affiliation | United Church of Canada |
| Municipality | Kingston |
| State | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Year consecrated | 1852 |
| Website | sydenhamstreet |
Sydenham Street United Church, formerly Sydenham Street Methodist Church, is a church in Kingston, Ontario, Canada that dates to 1852. It was originally a Methodist church, but since 1925 has belonged to the United Church of Canada.
The church has its origins in the New Methodist Chapel, a small frame building built in 1811 in the village of Kingston at the corner of Wellington and Johnson streets. Another small frame chapel was built in 1816–17 by British Wesleyans on the southeast corner of Bay and Bagot streets, and was enlarged in 1835. The two congregations combined when the various branches of Methodism were unified. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson (1803–1882) was their resident minister at the time of Lord Sydenham’s death.
John Counter (1799–1862) , a prominent Kingston businessman and first mayor of the city of Kingston, was a strong supporter of the Wesleyan Methodists. He donated the property for the Sydenham Street Church. The land had formerly been used as the circus grounds. The building was designed by the architect William Coverdale. John Counter laid the cornerstone on 17 April 1851. The Reverend Samuel Dwight Rice was transferred from Mount Elgin to Kingston, and helped manage the construction project. Counter served on the church's management committee.
The 1852 church was a stone building 60 by 90 feet (18 by 27 m), with a seating capacity of between 1,000 and 1,200. The cost was about CAN$28,000. Improvements were made later costing CAN$6,000, and the church was reopened on 14 July 1878. Further improvements were made in 1887, when Power and Son of Kingston were responsible for widening the church. The stone building is "plain Gothic" in style. It has tall and narrow windows decorated with tracery. Pairs of lancet openings fill the belfry stage of the tower. The tower has many pinnacles, which used to end in leafy finials, since lost. They punctuate the intricate battlements that surround the narrow spire.
Soon after the church opened the Methodist evangelist James Caughey spent four months in Kingston. Hundreds of people came to hear him speak at the Sydenham Street Methodist Church, and it is said that he was directly responsible for almost four hundred conversions or experiences of sanctification. He preached his last sermon at the church on 13 March 1853. In 1860 the Methodists held their conference in Kingston at the church. The doctor, educator, and civil servant Michael Lavell (1825–1901) was a member of the congregation.Samuel Dwight Chown (1853–1933), later head of the Methodist Church when the United Church was formed, was converted at the Sydenham Street Church in 1868 soon after his father had died. Chown was converted at revival services held in the church, a normal feature of Methodism at the time.
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