Grosvenor Chapel is an

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 ...

church in what is now the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

, in England, built in the 1730s. It inspired many churches in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. It is situated on

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London.'South Audley Street: Introduction', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1980), pp. 290–291. Bri ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

History

The foundation stone of the Grosvenor Chapel was laid on 7 April 1730 by

Sir Richard Grosvenor, 4th Baronet Sir Richard Grosvenor, 4th Baronet (26 June 1689 – 12 July 1732) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1732. He was the brother of Sir Robert Grosvenor, 6th Baronet, an ancestor of the modern day Dukes of W ...

, owner of the surrounding property, who had leased the site for 99 years at a

peppercorn Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diamet ...

rent to a syndicate of four “undertakers” led by Benjamin Timbrell, a prosperous local builder. The new building was completed and ready to use by April 1731. John Wilkes Plaque Grosvenor

Soon after the original 99-year lease ran out in 1829 the chapel was brought within the parochial system as a

Chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...

. The chapel has been the spiritual home to a number of famous people including

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, who later served a ...

Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington Garret Colley Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington (19 July 1735 – 22 May 1781) was an Anglo-Irish politician and composer, as well as the father of several distinguished military commanders and politicians of Great Britain and Ireland. Early life ...

, and his wife (parents to the Duke of Wellington),

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

, U.S. General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

and Bishop

Charles Gore Charles Gore (22 January 1853 – 17 January 1932) was a Church of England bishop, first of Worcester, then Birmingham, and finally of Oxford. He was one of the most influential Anglican theologians of the 19th century, helping reconcile the c ...

. During the Second World War, men and women of the American armed forces were welcomed to the chapel for their Sunday services, as recorded on a tablet outside the west wall, and after the war the congregation regularly included such people as the writer

Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel ''The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiritua ...

and

Sir John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

, Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984.

Building

London , circa 1949 ,Kodachrome by Chalmers Butterfield

The simple classical form of the building, a plain rectangular box with two tiers of arched windows in the side walls, at the east a shallow projection for the communion table and at the west a portico over the pavement and a short spire containing a clock and bell to call the faithful to worship, is derived from recently completed churches such as James Gibbs’ St Martin in the Fields or John James’

. With the aid of these examples and the illustrations in numerous pattern books available at the time, a competent builder like Timbrell, who had worked with Gibbs at St Martin's, could himself have easily produced the design for the chapel without needing to commission an architect. The

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

liturgical style of the chapel was expressed in the building by the introduction of fittings and adornments by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect; one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the de ...

in 1912–1913.

Music

The organ in Grosvenor Chapel was built by Abraham Jordan and installed in 1732 at the expense of

. It was altered twice in the 19th century by Bishop, and rebuilt in 1908 by Ingram. In 1930 J. W. Walker & Sons built a new, two-manual organ incorporating much second-hand pipework both from the old instrument and from elsewhere. This instrument was replaced in 1991 by William Drake, Organ Builder of Buckfastleigh, Devon, who built a new organ in a broadly 18th-century English style. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

. The chapel enjoys a high standard of music with a resident professional group of five singers and an organist. The group is often augmented with other singers and instrumentalists for special occasions including an orchestra for Easter Day. The choir performs a large range of music from Renaissance to the present day. There are regular free lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays at 1:10 pm. File:Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair - East end - geograph.org.uk - 1571702.jpg, East end, Grosvenor Chapel File:Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair - West end - geograph.org.uk - 1571703.jpg, West end, Grosvenor Chapel

Notable clergy

;Curates-in-Charge The senior priest at Grosvenor Chapel was previously known as the

Curate-in-Charge A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

* 1941 to 1943: The Revd Cecil Wood * 1968 to 1979: The Revd John Bernard Gaskell * 1980 to 1992: The Revd Dr Anthony Wendt "Tony" Marks * 1994 to 2008: The Revd Simon Hobbs ;Priests-in-Charge Since 2006, the senior priest at Grosvenor Chapel is the Priest-in-Charge. * 2008 to 2010: The Revd Mark Oakley * 2012 to present: The Revd Dr Richard Fermer

Burials

Richard Lumley, 2nd Earl of Scarbrough Richard Lumley, 2nd Earl of Scarbrough (30 November 1686 – 29 January 1740), of Stansted Park, Sussex and Lumley Castle, County Durham, known as Viscount Lumley from 1710 to 1721, was a British Army officer and Whig politician who sat in th ...

Popular culture

The wedding at the start of the

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

film ''

Love Actually ''Love Actually'' is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television proje ...

'' takes place in the Grosvenor Chapel.

References

External links

*http://www.grosvenorchapel.org.uk
Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosvenor Chapel Church of England church buildings in the City of Westminster 18th-century Church of England church buildings Chapels in London Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed churches in the City of Westminster