St George's Cathedral is an Antiochian Orthodox church in Albany Street, St Pancras, in the London Borough of Camden. Built to the designs of James Pennethorne, it was consecrated as an Anglican place of worship called Christ Church in 1837. It became an Orthodox cathedral in 1989.

Description

The building, designed by

James Pennethorne Sir James Pennethorne (4 June 1801 – 1 September 1871) was a British architect and planner, particularly associated with buildings and parks in central London. Life Early years Pennethorne was born in Worcester, and travelled to London in 1 ...

, stands on the corner of Redhill Street (formerly Edward Street) and Albany Street. It is not strictly orientated, its ceremonial east end, with the altar, facing slightly west of north. It is rectangular in plan, and built of brick with stucco and stone dressings, its four corners emphasised by wide tower-like features, projecting slightly beyond the main lines of the walls. The architecture is broadly classical in style. A deep stucco

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

runs around the whole building, with a simple brick parapet above it. The windows are round-headed. There is a tower above the entrance, topped by an octagonal spire. The steeple is unusually small in comparison with the main body of the church.

History

Anglican church

It was built as an Anglican church to serve the largely working class district of

Cumberland Market Cumberland Market was a London market between Regent's Park and Euston railway station. It was built in the early 19th century and was London's hay and straw market for a hundred years until the late 1920s. An arm of the Regent's Canal was bui ...

. Consecrated on 13 July 1837, it established itself firmly within the high church

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

. Its first incumbent,

William Dodsworth William Dodsworth (1798–1861) was an English cleric of the Church of England, a Tractarian who became a Roman Catholic lay writer. Life Dodsworth received his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was admitted in October 1815. He gra ...

, previously of the

Margaret Street Chapel All Saints, Margaret Street, is a Grade I listed Anglo-Catholic church in London. The church was designed by the architect William Butterfield and built between 1850 and 1859. It has been hailed as Butterfield's masterpiece and a pioneering b ...

, resigned on his conversion to Roman Catholicism. On the recommendation of the painter William Collins R.A, a copy of Raphael's ''Transfiguration'' by

Thomas Brigstocke Thomas Brigstocke (1809 – 11 March 1881) was a Welsh portrait painter. He studied art in London, and then spent eight years in Italy before returning to England. In the 1840s he visited Egypt, where he painted portraits of Mohammed Ali Pasha and ...

was purchased as an

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

. Alterations were made to the church between 1839 and 1843 by the architect R.C. Carpenter, and further changes, including the installation of an elaborate inlaid marble floor, were made in 1867 by William Butterfield. Christ Church was frequented by Christina Rossetti who lived in Albany Street for a couple of years. Her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti produced a stained-glass window depicting the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...

for the church (a second version is elsewhere). A school grew up on Redhill Street near the church, called Christ Church Primary School. On 26 January 1950 the funeral service of

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

, was held at the church, as it was near to both Middlesex Hospital where he died and BBC

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

, where he worked. In 1974, the Albany Consort, an

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

group, was founded at the church. The church was designated a Grade II* listed building on 10 June 1954.

Orthodox cathedral

In 1989 Christ Church ceased to be a place of

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

worship and became St George's Cathedral. With St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate in the City of London it is one of two Antiochan churches in London. A new roof was built in 2000.

References

Sources