St. Peter upon Cornhill - City of London (London) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Inconspicuous and hidden among 19th century buildings, but by early medieval founding one of the oldest London' churches - it is Baroque Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill located on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street in the City of London.

It is widely held that there has been a Christian place of worship on the site of St Peter upon Cornhill since 179 AD when Lucius, the first Christian King of Britain, founded it as the first church in London and the chief church of his kingdom. The current Baroque structure is of Christopher Wren design, built in 1677-1684 at the site of older Gothic church (ca 1400) destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. Surviving the Blitz unscathed, it is one of only thirteen unspoilt Wren London' churches.

The eastern church's frontage to Gracechurch Street is a grand stone-faced composition, with five arched windows between Ionic pilasters above a high stylobate. The pilasters support an entablature; above that is a blank attic storey, then a gable with one arched window flanked by two round ones. The north and south sides are stuccoed and much simpler in style. Unusually, shallow 19th-century shops have survived towards Cornhill, squeezed between the church and the pavement. The tower is of brick, its leaded cupola topped with a small spire, which is in turn surmounted by a weather vane in the shape of St. Peter’s key. The interior is aisled, with square arcade piers[ resting on the medieval pier foundations. The nave is barrel vaulted, while the aisles have transverse barrel vaults. Unusually for a Wren church, there is a screen marking the division between nave and chancel. This was installed at the insistence of the rector at the time of rebuilding, William Beveridge. [wiki]