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Christ Church, Spitalfields – Nicholas Hawksmoor's architectural masterpiece – has been gloriously restored. Only one thing spoils it, says Giles Worsley

The restoration of Christ Church, Spitalfields, which will be unveiled today, is a triumph. It may have taken more than a quarter of a century to complete and needed the largest grant ever given by the Heritage Lottery Fund to a church - £5.9 million - but the result is worth every penny. Only now can we fully understand the masterpiece of the man who has a good claim to be Britain's greatest architect, Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Red Mason, the architect, and the Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields have worked since 1977 to put the church back to rights. The portico and spire have been made safe, the roof strengthened, the original fenestration put back and the stairs to the south door recreated. Now the interior has been restored with the return of the galleries, stairs and paint scheme and the insertion of a new reredos behind the altar.

For those used to the thin, pallid post-war restorations of bomb-damaged City churches, this meticulously accurate restoration is a revelation.

Only one thing jars. At the Heritage Lottery Fund's insistence, the Victorian stained-glass in the east window has been kept, a decision that disastrously compromises Hawksmoor's original vision.

This window takes the form of a Serliana, also known as a Venetian or Palladian window, that is, it is made up of three parts with a central arched opening flanked by side lights with flat tops.

This is not the neutral frame the Victorians (and the HLF) assumed. For classical architects like Hawksmoor, the Serlian window, with its imperial Roman overtones, was a specific symbol of monarchy. This fact is fundamental to understanding the symbolism that underpins Christ Church, and in particular its bizarre, and so far unexplained, Serlian portico framing the entrance.

Christ Church was one of the "Fifty New Churches" (only about a dozen were actually built) ordered by an Act of Parliament in 1711. These churches were built on an unprecedented scale to inspire awe not just for God but for the Crown.

The Serlian window was one of a series of symbols of sovereignty - including porticoes, royal statues and the royal arms - that were repeatedly used in the churches to emphasise the message of royal authority. It is this that explains Christ Church's Serlian portico, a motif that has bemused generations of architectural historians.

Never afraid to experiment with bold forms, Hawksmoor has taken what is usually a window and blown it up to a massive scale to use as a portico, not out of perversity but as a thundering badge of royal authority.

Leaving later stained glass in the east window reduces the clarity of light, means that it is impossible to read a second external Serlian window, as originally intended, and shatters the essential integrity of Hawksmoor's design.

Approached under the great Serlian west portico, seen framed beneath the royal arms, the blaze of white light in the Serlian east window was the culminating symbol of divinely appointed monarchy around which Hawksmoor designed the church. It is a decision that should be looked at again now work is complete.

 Christ Church Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. On Commercial Street in the East End and in today's Central London it is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on its western border facing the City of London, it was one of the first (and arguably one of the finest) of the so-called "Commissioners' Churches" built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, which had been established by an Act of Parliament in 1711.

The purpose of the Commission was to acquire sites and build fifty new churches to serve London's new settlements. This parish was carved out of the circa 1 square mile (2.6 km2) medieval Stepney parish for an area then dominated by Huguenots (French Protestants and other 'dissenters' who owed no allegiance to the Church of England and thus to the King) as a show of Anglican authority. Some Huguenots used it for baptisms, marriages and burials but not for everyday worship, preferring their own chapels (their chapels were severely plain compared with the bombastic English Baroque style of Christ Church) though increasingly they assimilated into English life and Anglican worship – which was in the eighteenth century relatively plain.

The Commissioners for the new churches including Christopher Wren, Thomas Archer and John Vanbrugh appointed two surveyors, one of whom was Nicholas Hawksmoor. Only twelve of the planned fifty churches were built, of which six were designed by Hawksmoor.

By 1960 Christ Church was nearly derelict and services were held in the Church Hall (an ex Huguenot Chapel in Hanbury Street) as the roof of Christ Church itself was declared unsafe. The Hawksmoor Committee staved off the threat of wholesale demolition of the empty building—proposed by the then Bishop of Stepney, Trevor Huddleston—and ensured that the roof was rebuilt with funds from the sale of the bombed out shell of St John's, Smith Square, now a concert hall. A rehabilitation centre for homeless alcoholic men was housed in part of the crypt from the 1960s until 2000 when it relocated to purpose built accommodation above ground. In 1976 the Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields, an independent charity, was formed to raise money and project manage the restoration of this Grade I listed building so it could be brought back into use. Church services returned to the partially restored building in 1987 and the restoration of the building was finally complete in 2004, enabling a wide range of uses to run alongside its primary function as a place of worship.

As part of the restoration process, the burial vaults beneath the church had to be cleared. Instead of hiring a commercial undertaker for this job, the Friends of Christ Church raised funds for the employment of an archaeological team, who excavated nearly 1,000 interments between 1984 and 1986. Of these, about 390 were identifiable from coffin name plates. Archaeologists and physical anthropologists took this opportunity to study Victorian mortuary practices and anthropology, including health and causes of death of the local population. The project was written up as a two-volume landmark study.

The portico at the west end was repaired and cleaned in 1986, when Ewan Christian's re-arrangement of the aisle windows was also replaced by a recreation of the originals, scrupulously researched. The 202 ft tower and spire were consolidated and cleaned in 1997. The south façade was cleaned and repaired in 1999 revealing the striking whiteness and beauty of the Portland stone and the delicate detailing, both so quickly obscured by weather and city pollution. At the same time Hawksmoor's magnificent double flight of steps on the south side, which was removed in the nineteenth century, was rebuilt. In addition, the gate piers of the Rectory yard were repaired and the large iron gates restored. Regency style railings to the churchyard, removed in World War II, were replaced. The north and east façades were repaired and cleaned in 1999–2000. The restoration of the interior, begun in 2000 and completed in 2004, restored the fabric of the church; removed the nineteenth- and twentieth-century alterations; reinstated the original arrangement of galleries following archaeology to establish their original pattern; and has recaptured the proportions, light and clarity of Hawksmoor's original design.

In 2015 the Crypt was also restored, restoring much of Hawksmoor's original walls as well as providing a café area. This is accessible via a ramp to make disabled access possible and encourage use by the local community. In February 2016 the restoration of the Crypt was shortlisted in the RICS Awards 2016, London in the 'Building conservation' category.

Thus, after years of neglect, the church was restored to its pre-1850 condition, working from the original building documents where possible, a process that stretched over more than 25 years. The restoration revealed the most complex and sumptuous of Hawksmoor's interiors in London. Key players in the restoration were Andrew D "Red" Mason (Project Architect and building historian from 1976 to 2004), Revd. Eddy Stride (Rector), Eric Elstob (Chair of The Friends of Christ Church and benefactor), Howard Kenward, Derek Stride and Hosten Garroway (Wardens), The Hon Simon Sainsbury (benefactor), English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. "Red" Mason worked from 1972 to 2000 with the architects Whitfield Partners, and from 2000 with Purcell Miller Tritton.