The Gothic Revival design by Frederick William Cumberland and Thomas Ridout placed first, followed by the submissions of John Ostell and Kivas Tully respectively.

Inside the cornerstone was placed a sealed bottle containing a Scobie's 1851 almanac, reports and documents of the Church Society, and a collection of coins.

[12] To raise money to help pay for the rising costs of maintaining the cathedral, part of the grounds were planned to be sold to a condominium developer.

A public outcry ensued, and a deal was made to sell off a parking lot to the northwest of the cathedral for the SP!RE condominium development.

Every part of a Gothic cathedral is directly related to a "core dimension" which is used as an effort to achieve harmony and organic unity within the building where everything is linked rationally and proportionally, creating a coherent whole.

Every element in the cathedral—including the stained glass windows, the pointed arches, high ceilings, the pinnacles, even the flying buttresses[citation needed]—allow as much light as possible to flood the interior.

The Gothic style means an aesthetically unified whole, but the combination of different architectural elements such as the ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and pointed arches allows for generous illumination of the interior space with natural light.

Tower walls are reinforced with square and octagonal buttresses that taper abruptly with generous weatherings at transitional points and terminate in pinnacles, some with slender colonettes abutting chamfered edges, with ribbed, stepped, or gable caps.

These buttresses are accented by heavy weatherings in lighter coloured stone (creating visual contrast while drawing attention to the points of stress on the building), and topped with pinnacles, thus emphasizing their massiveness, structural function, and verticality.

These horizontal bands balance the composition against the verticality of the exterior tower and pinnacles, and the interior pointed arches of the nave arcade, creating a sense of stability and repose.

"[13] At the turn of the 20th century, St James' Cathedral was still the tallest building in Toronto, and was often the first thing immigrants noticed when they stepped off the train at the old Union Station.

Over the principal entrance, a carved organ cover rises over a royal coat of arms, while Minton tile-work lies underfoot.

[15] A high-pitched roof of heavy timber, crowned with enriched ribs and carved bosses creates a sense of shelter to the nave.

The exposed rafters of the roof of the nave are articulated structural elements, and broad tie-beams and decorative cornices accent the joints.

Glazing bars of windows in sash of varying widths are reminiscent of Gothic tracery, creating divisions in the stained glass.