An aerial image of the church can be seen at the Virtual
Globetrotting website.
The church's website [visit
link] tells us:
"Welcome to All Souls, the only surviving church built
by renowned regency architect, John Nash. It is one of the “Waterloo Churches”
built to express the nation’s thanksgiving to God for victory over Napoleon in
1815, and was erected in 1822-24.
John Nash & All Souls:
In the early 19th century,
new churches were needed to serve the rapidly growing population of St
Marylebone. John Nash was working on his Regent Street scheme (leading from
Piccadilly Circus to Regents Park), and the site for All Souls fitted in
splendidly, giving scope for a landmark building to close the vista from Oxford
Circus and swing his new road round to join the existing Portland
Place.
All Souls is built of Bath stone and is simply an
ornate, but ordinary, galleried hall, or a wide nave with no transepts. It is
entered through a rotunda surrounded by a portico with Ionic columns, whose
capitals are made of artificial Coade stone. The winged cherubs’ heads are
unusual and based on a design by Michelangelo. The unique spire consists of 17
concave sides encircled by Corinthian columns. Originally, a stone balustrade
ran all round the roof, but after part fell onto the pavement early in the 20th
century, most was removed and only the part on the rotunda remains
today.
There is no east window; instead, the interior is
dominated by the painting ‘Ecce Homo’ (‘Behold the Man’), which depicts Jesus
Christ during his trial before Pontius Pilate (as related in John 18:28-40). It
was painted by Richard Westall (later drawing master to the young Princess
Victoria) and probably presented to All Souls by King George IV. Nash was
responsible for the church’s interior, though most of his designs were lost,
apart from the mahogany case housing the central body of the gallery organ. Over
the years, the instrument has been replaced and remodelled and the case
extended, fitted with new gilded front pipes.
Nash’s design was greeted in some quarters with
derision. The combination of Gothic spire and classical rotunda was criticized,
and the distinctive tower and spire was castigated in the House of Commons as “a
mass of deformity”, “resembling an extinguisher on a flat candlestick”. The
infamous cartoonist George Cruikshank, even depicted Nash impaled on his
spire.
All Souls was completed in 1824 and consecrated on 25
November. It seated 1500 people in high boxed pews and there was just one
service each Sunday. No doubt in part because of the up and coming nature of
Marylebone, the church rapidly became fashionable, and full.
Crown Connections:
All Souls has always had strong
connections to the Crown and these remain today. The Prince Regent (as he then
was) first bought the land on which the church was built, selected his favourite
architect to build it, donated the picture which is the focal point of the
interior, and provided the patronage of the living - and in fact, the Rector
today is still appointed by the Crown. This explains the Royal Coat of Arms
which is mounted on the gallery at the back of the church, though they are not
those of the current monarch, but George IV (as the Regent became) War Damage.
On 8th December 1940 a land-mine exploded in Portland Place, bringing down much
of All Souls’ ceiling. The top 30 feet of the spire had to be taken down, the
damaged organ was dismantled and stored, the Westall painting was boarded up,
and services transferred to the nearby St Peter’s Church, Vere Street. (Services
were also held on the platforms of Oxford Circus Underground station, while it
was in use as an air raid shelter.)
Post-war restoration took several years. The dark green
1924 decor gave way to paler green and gold, and the spire was rebuilt in Bath
stone and capped with a bronze cone. The congregation gratefully returned in
April 1951.
The 1975/6 Building Project:
The growth in the
congregation of All Souls underlined the need for a church hall. Suggested
solutions even included bombing the church again! However, in 1972 a check on
the foundations revealed a depth of 13 feet. (In building the original church,
waterlogged ground had been encountered, leading to an increased depth for the
foundations and the construction of the inverted arches now revealed in the
Waldegrave Hall.) This unexpected depth meant that a new basement became a
viable possibility, and architect Robert Potter prepared a scheme to provide a
new hall, kitchen, dining room and toilets, and a control room for the BBC’s
Daily Service (at that time broadcast from the church).
Services (and as many of the congregation as could be
crammed in) were again transferred to St Peter’s, Vere St, and work started in
May 1975, with the excavation of 6000 cubic yards of earth. The problem of
vibration from the Bakerloo and Victoria lines was solved by mounting the new
floors on rubber pads. Robert Potter also raised the floor of the church by 18
inches, redesigned the chancel to incorporate a semicircular area on a hydraulic
lift, designed new lighting, and replaced the pews with chairs. Sculptor
Geoffrey Clarke designed and made the new pulpit, font and communion table, in
bronzed aluminium. The renovated and enhanced building was opened on 2nd
November 1976, on time and free of debt.
All Souls Today:
For most of its history, All Souls
has been an active, evangelical church, simple in worship, committed to the
Bible and energetic in witness to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Today the
building welcomes over 2500 people from over 65 different nationalities each
Sunday, (at 4 services: 8.00, 9.30, 11.30am and 6.30pm). It is in constant use
for different midweek events as well. Further details are available in the
rotunda and welcome desk.
You have seen the building empty today. Please do return
and see it as it was designed to be, full of worshippers and resounding to the
glory of God. You would be most welcome!"
The church is Grade I listed and the entry at the English
Heritage website [visit
link:] tells us:
"Church. 1822-24 by John Nash, restored after war
damage. Bath stone; hipped slate roof to church proper. Rectangular body with
the south west end circular portico, tower and peristyle encircled spire as the
distinguishing feature of this neoclassical hybrid design, ingeniously both
closing the vista and acting as the pivotal focus for the change in direction of
Nash's Via Triumphalis between Langham Place and Portland Place. The circular
portico raised on a flight of steps has giant Ionic columns carrying entablature
and balustraded parapet; the circular tower with architraved and corniced
entrance at its foot rises above the portico to the open Corinthian columned
peristyle screening the base of the 12-sided stone spire. The body of the church
(extending off the side lines to the north east) is in plain ashlar on 2 storeys
with 6-window sides, square headed in lower register and semicircular arched
above; plinth, plat band and sill band, crowning cornice and blocking course.
Interior has gallery on chamfered piers,above which rise Corinthian columns
carrying flat ceiling with enriched cove; circular vestibule in base of tower.
Copy of bust of Nash by Behnes in portico."