Church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe (City of London) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

Baroque church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, situated in London' Queen Victoria Street, is one (...and the last built) of many churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren after Great Fire of London in 1666.

Church of St. Andrew was built in 1695 at the site of by a fire destroyed medieval church consecrated to the same saint and firstly mentioned in 1170 but founded considerably earlier. The original church was during the 13th century a part of an ancient royal residence. In 1361, Edward III moved his Royal Wardrobe (a storehouse for Royal accoutrements, housing arms and clothing among other personal items of the Crown) from the Tower of London to just north of the church. It was from this association that the church acquired its unique name. The church, again heavily damaged during WWII by German bombs, was rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1961. Nowadays serves St. Andrew again as a parish church of local Church of England parish.

Existing Wren's St. Andrew's church is situated on St. Andrew's Hill overlooking Queen Victoria Street. It is a simple structure (22.8 m L × 18 m W × 9 m H) with a square tower, constructed from red bricks with Portland stone dressings. Facade has two rows of windows, with grand rounded arches above, and smaller segmental arched windows below. The church has two aisles divided from central nave by arcaded bays supported by piers. The original interior fittings were mostly destroyed during the WWII, and many of the church's features were acquired from other destroyed London churches. William Shakespeare was a member of this parish for about 15 years while he was working at the Blackfriars Theatre nearby, and later he bought a house within the parish, in Ireland Yard. In his honour, a memorial was erected in the church.