St James's Church, Piccadilly - London, England, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 30.510 W 000° 08.208
30U E 698687 N 5710261
Like many churches in London, St James's Church, Piccadilly also serves as a concert hall...but not many have hosted groups as well-known as R.E.M.
Waymark Code: WMKF0V
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/03/2014
Views: 9
Wikipedia (
visit link) page for this historic church has this brief paragraph about the church as a concert venue:
"Concerts
Concerts are regularly held in the church. Concerts have included performances by popular contemporary musicians such as REM, the folk musician Laura Marling as part of her "church tour", as well as the collegiate Indian-American music group Penn Masala."
and adds:
"St James’s Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, UK. It was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren.
The church is built of red brick with Portland stone dressings. The church’s interior has galleries on three sides supported by square pillars, and the nave has a barrel vault supported by Corinthian columns. The carved marble font and limewood reredos are both notable examples of the work of Grinling Gibbons.
History
Interior circa 1806
St James's Church interior at present
In 1662, Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, was granted land for residential development on what was then the outskirts of London. He set aside land for the building of a parish church and churchyard on the south side of what is now Piccadilly. Christopher Wren was appointed the architect in 1672 and the church was consecrated on 13 July 1684 by Henry Compton, the Bishop of London. In 1685 the parish of St James was created for the church.
Samuel Clarke was rector from 1709 to 1729 and was one of the leading intellectual figures of eighteenth-century Britain. William Blake was baptised at the church in 1757. Leopold Stokowski was choirmaster from 1902 until 1905 when he left for a similar position in New York.
The church was severely damaged by enemy action in 1940, during the Second World War. Works of restoration were carried out by the architect Sir Albert Richardson. The church’s website carries a detailed history."