When the church was built, in 1854, it was known as the Catholic Apostolic Church, Gordon Square. The church is located about 500m south of Euston railway station.
The church's website tells us:
The vast ecclesiastical building on the south-west side of Gordon Square stretching into Byng Place is focal point for the movement called the “Catholic Apostolic Church”, a Victorian movement founded in 1833 by Edward Irving (1792-1834) who was originally the Presbyterian Minister of their Regent Square church. They looked for and prepared for (very grandly as it turned out) the Second Coming of the Lord. The leaders (called eventually “apostles”) sought to establish a place for the Lord to make His appearance and to gather the chosen elect. So imminent was this conclusion of the world order that their plea was urgent, full of fervour and (as it turned out) lacking in continuing ministerial care. The last of the “apostles” died in 1901 and the last of their ordained ministry died in 1973. Members continue to exist and there are adherents to the Catholic Apostolic principles in America, Germany and Scandinavia with a considerable appeal among the reformed churches where they can enjoy “full catholic privileges” - for such is the ethos of their worship - without having to submit to the authority of Roman Catholicism.
The magnificent edifice of the Church of Christ the King (given that title during the time that the London University Chaplaincy occupied the premises) remains as a tribute to the depth of their conviction: a church wholly set up ready and waiting to greet the Lord. It was designed by J. Raphael Brandon and received the patronage, in particular, of Henry Drummond (1786-1860), the wealthy evangelical banker who went on to be an MP. It stands as a fine (the finest?) example of the Gothic Revival style: though the building was not completed: as it lacks two bays at its west end and the proposed spire that would have soared above the lantern crossing. Brandon gave as his gift to the church a scale model of the spire in the form of the tabernacle that sits enthroned on the high altar.
Sir John Betjeman had much to say about the building and the need for preserving it intact and spoke enthusiastically of its proportions, including the additional chapel that is situated behind the high altar – a separate chapel where the English people could come and pray for their conversion into the Catholic Apostolic way and be numbered among the Elect. Mistakenly he referred to it as the “Apostles” chapel (it has twenty four carved stone niches around its sides) and in the time of the University’s occupancy it was renamed the “Lady Chapel”.
This finely proportioned English Chapel (in particular) with its painted, vaulted ceiling supported by angels playing a variety of musical instruments has taken on a new lease of life with its continual use by “Forward in Faith” since they moved to the site from Westminster in 2003. A weekday priestly presence is provided with a Mass being said each weekday to accompany the work of this “traditionalist” Anglican organization which has its offices and meeting rooms in the crypt and basement of the building. A range of activities goes on for a whole variety of catholic Anglican groups and from time to time the main church is hired by “Forward in Faith” to bring together its members for celebrations of our catholic life and heritage. Uplifting to know that, once again, the church is put to its proper use and the splendid vistas of this liturgical space resound, as in the past, with the joys of catholic, sacramental worship.
The only other time the main church is open to the public is for a monthly organ recital (the first Friday of each month at 1.10pm) in order that the fine Walker instrument is kept in good working order. Many people wonder at the grandeur of this liturgical space tucked within the confines of the university buildings and Gordon Square. The eye is drawn upward and the curious will find their way into the lobby area next to the Cloisters. Delve further and the English Chapel opens up as a gem of architectural delight. Then the vista from this small chapel is tantalizing of the glories that lay beyond. At least, very occasionally, should opportunity permit, the church can be experienced in all its Gothic Revival glory, with only the mind’s eye imagining the richness of the liturgy that used to go on within its hallowed walls.
The church is a Grade I listed building whose entry at the Historic England website reads:
Formerly known as: Catholic Apostolic Church GORDON SQUARE.
Church, now the Church of England Chaplaincy to the University of London. c1851-4. By JR Brandon. Bath stone ashlar with tiled roofs.
PLAN/STYLE: cruciform plan, with central tower, in Early English style on a cathedral scale. 5-bay aisled nave with full triforium and clerestory, 3-bay sanctuary with side aisles and 3-bay Lady Chapel.
EXTERIOR: gabled entrance porch, at east end, with angle buttresses, moulded, pointed arch entrance above which a 2-light and oculus plate tracery window; linked to the Lady Chapel with octagonal turret and 2-light room. Entrance on the north side of the church approached by a cloister walk from the porch. East facade of Lady Chapel with arcaded lancet windows, above which a small rose window and gable. Gabled and pinnacled buttresses. Gabled east facade of nave with 3 large lancets, above which 5 smaller lancets. Octagonal corner turrets with gabled niches and terminating in spires with gablets. South facade with paired lancets to Lady Chapel separated by gabled buttresses; parapet, 2 roof dormers and lantern. 2-light, plate tracery aisle windows with quatrefoils. Paired pointed clerestory windows, those in the sanctuary being single. Pinnacled buttresses and corbelled parapets. Gabled transept with octagonal turrets at angles terminating with gablets and spires. Tripartite lancets at ground and 1st storey level with rose window above. Tower base with mostly blind arcading. West end unfinished in brick apart from entrance in stone. 3 lancets.
INTERIOR: nave has timber hammer beam roof with angels and central bosses of snowflake design; double-arcaded triforium. Roll moulded crossing arches on clustered columns. C19 south transept rose window, by Archibald Nicholson, with dove in centre surrounded by musician angels and cherubim and seraphim. In the lancets below Christ in Majesty with ranks of saints, apostles and angels and earth below. Sanctuary roof rib-vaulted in stone with foliated bosses. Brass sanctuary lamp by Pugin. Screen behind high alter with open traceried window to Lady Chapel. The Lady Chapel, formerly the English Chapel, with richly painted timber roof and stone angel corbels. Deeply cut stone sedilia around the chapel. C20 glass.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached cast-iron railings with foliated finials and brick and stone walls to areas.
HISTORICAL NOTE: built as the headquarters of the Catholic Apostolic Church of the Irvingites, but only 5 of the 7 projected nave bays were completed; the west wall was a temporary one. The uncompleted crossing tower was designed to have a spire 300 feet high. When the last Catholic Apostolic priest died in 1963 the church became part of the Anglican University Chaplaincy, becoming the sole place of worship in 1968.