OUR MISSION IS TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE SPACE
FOR ORGANISATIONS AND ACTIVITIES WHICH HAVE
A POSITIVE IMPACT ON OUR SOCIETY

our STORY

St. James the Apostle Anglican Church was inaugurated on this site in 1864, when the area was still largely farmland. It became a focal point of a thriving and dynamic new neighbourhood, the Golden Square Mile, which would gradually develop into the west side of downtown Montréal, also known as Peter-McGill.

At the height of Montréal’s golden age at the turn of the 19th/20th century, 80% of Canada’s wealth was controlled by people living in this neighbourhood, and St. James’ congregation and beautiful architecture was a reflection of that wealth.In the second half of the 20th century, the neighbourhood experienced a growing array of social issues and entered into a slow decline, and St. James declined along with it. The church would eventually suspend its regular operations in 2015. 

A year later, St. James was re-opened with a new team, a new way of doing things, and a new name: St. Jax. The new name is reminiscent of “Jacques” which is the French word for “James”. The church remained an Anglican church and part of the Anglican Diocese of Montréal, but it was far from a conventional church.

Part of the new way of thinking was to revive an older idea of a church’s role in society, which is to provide for the temporal needs of the community, but to do so in a radically open and inclusive manner.

To accomplish this task, the Centre St. Jax was created in 2019 to manage the ‘secular side’ of the operation as an autonomous administrative division within St. Jax Church. Meanwhile, major capital investments were made to turn the Sanctuary into a professional-class, multi-functional activity space, and the Centre partnered with Cirque le Monastère who would produce circus performances in the space as well as manage its usage by other groups.

Centre St. Jax adopted a “Robin Hood Policy” for its new activity space, hosting high-end activities at market-rate prices in order to provide deep discounts to activities that are having a positive impact on society, but could otherwise never dream of affording such a space.

In 2024 the Centre St. Jax was renamed Espace Jax.