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The Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario, Sunrise: photo by Jian Zhan, 9 August 2011
All conclusions were foregone before all beginnings
came. A kid on a skate board rolling down a nearly empty street makes
a noise like rolling thunder, or perhaps it is actual thunder rumbling
off toward the south, from the direction of Lake Ontario. A dark wing
of cloud pauses to genuflect at the Cathedral of the Transfiguration
before moving off toward Box Grove.
Laneway entrance, Cathedraltown, Markham, Ontario: photo by Cbcwilson, 25 September 2011
Streetscape, Cathedraltown, Markham, Ontario: photo by Cbcwilson, 25 September 2011
Night view of Cathedraltown neighborhood and theme cathedral in the background, Markham, Ontario: photo by Cbcwilson, 22 July 2011
Cathedraltown, near the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario: photo by SorinNechita, 12 August 2006
View of the new Cathedraltown, with Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario: photo by SorinNechita, 12 August 2006
Cathedraltown townhouses, Markham, Ontario: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
Cathedraltownhouses, from up close, Markham, Ontario.This was taken from through my windshield, to avoid hassle from the security guards. "Reminiscent of classical European towns"? "A special place with timeless charm"? Yeah, right; whatever... BTW, in addition to this new housing development to the north of the cathedral (and the one also north of it which I drove through), there is another new one going in just south of the cathedral, too. And there are new ones across the road. This cathedral in the middle of nowhere, is rapidly being surrounded by suburban development: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
Catholic Cathedral of the Transfiguration sign, against the locked fence surrounding the church, Markham, Ontario: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
Billboard for Cathedraltown townhouses, Markham, Ontario. (What the developers are planning for these suburbs they're constructing): photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
Cathedraltown, Markham, Ontario: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
The cathedral, and the artificial lake, Markham, Ontario. I drove down an unassumed road south from Elgin Mills Road, which didn't have a "no trespassing" sign, only an "unassumed road" warning sign, to get a shot of the cathedral from this angle. That road started in a new housing development there, which had a different name, but it actually took me right into Cathedraltown. As I came to a T-intersection, and turned left, I saw a parked car with two occupants in it idling at the intersection. When I got out of my car to take this and the other shot of this church, a man and a woman got out of the car, and watched me, looking like they were going to approach me. (Again, there were no signs to indicated I had trespassed onto private property, even if the roads themselves were unassumed.) But I quickly returned to my car after grabbing my shots, and the security guards got back in theirs: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
The Catholic Church of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario. A Slovak, Byzantine-rite Catholic church; however, this church is surrounded by a locked fence, and isn't used for regular worship: photo by Will S., 16 February 2009
When the Pope consecrated this beauty, he didn’t know what it would be used for. One of the coolest locations [in John Carpenter's 1995 horror film The Mouth of Madness] is “The Black Church,” apparently located in the middle of nowhere. If you’ve ever gone up the 404 you’ve no doubt seen the Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Woodbine, north of Major Mac. Built in the 1980s by a Slovakian developer, its interior has been a neverending construction job. You can still get shots that look more or less like this, but it is gradually getting surrounded by a new “new urbanism-style” community called Cathedraltown: still from The Mouth of Madness and caption via Reel Toronto, 2 December 2008
The massive Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration, started in 1984, is still unfinished. It sits, closed and lonely, near Highway 404: photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star, 26 June 2011
The Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario: photo by SorinNechita, 12 August 2006
Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Markham, Ontario: photo by Timothy Corbin, 17 August 2012