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The Church Army Chapel at Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, Greater London, designed by project architect E.T. Spashett for Austin Vernon & Partners, opened in 1965 by Princess Alexandra and consecrated by Michael Ramsey, is a locally listed building of outstanding architectural significance, and is notable for originally having had the tallest sectional aluminium
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...
of its time, and for being one of the earliest 20th-century chapels of modern design to have been conceived with a central altar. It is now part of
Blackheath High School Blackheath High School is a private day school for girls in Blackheath Village in southeast London, England. It was founded in 1880 as part of the Girls' Day School Trust; the Senior School occupied a purpose-built site in Wemyss Road for ov ...
.


Local listing description

At Greenwich Council building conservation department it is locally listed as a building of outstanding architectural significance, under the name of the Wilson Carlile Training College Chapel at 27 Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, London, by architect E.T. Spashett. It is described as: "An interesting modern building of unusual design featuring a striking gull wing upper roof swept to ground level on one side; grey brick with tall, narrow window lights". Local listings have no reference number. By the time Greenwich Council planning department assessed it in the 1980s, the spire was down and lying alongside the building. The building could not be upgraded to national status by The
Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...
, representing
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
in April 1999, as the spire was gone so the massiveness of the roof structure could no longer be understood by the assessors who were puzzled to find it "overscaled". When opened complete with spire in 1965, the ''South East London Mercury'' described the chapel as "a showpiece of modern architecture and building technique".


Design

The
Church Army The Church Army is an evangelistic organisation and mission community founded in 1882 in association with the Church of England and now operating internationally in many parts of the Anglican Communion. History The Church Army was founded in ...
does not normally have a chapel as it does
outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...
work, but in the 1960s an exception was made for its headquarters at Blackheath, possibly as the chapel could be considered part of the training college.


Spire

The concept for the building is embodied in the spire, which was a very tall, slim, hollow aluminium cone at least twice the height of the building again, chosen for its lightness and strength as proved in the aeroplane construction industry – the architect being ex-
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
. It was made up of a series of overlapping hollow sections decreasing in size up to the final cone-section at the top, like a Victorian hand-held brass telescope, but with the overlaps of the expanding sections reversed. A small cross-piece through the top cone section doubled as the hilt of a sword, representing the Church Army in the context of such
Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
expressions as "good soldier of Christ". The cross-shaped top was also reminiscent of the capping-crosses of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
spires like the one on
Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...
(see image, below). A slightly similar type of aluminium spire had been added to the top of the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is a , Art Deco skyscraper in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, it is the tallest brick building in the world wit ...
in 1929, allegedly as a surprise in that it created, temporarily, New York City's tallest building. St. Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow has a controversial "
Crown of Thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or ) was placed on the head of Jesus during the Passion of Jesus, events leading up to his crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion. It was one of the Arma Christi, instruments of the Passion, e ...
" aluminium spire of sectional construction, erected in 1964. The spire had a flanged base, mounted on a round plate, then a rectangular plate.


Building

In the official programme for the 1965 opening the building is described as follows:
"The chapel is of special interest: it has been planned to suit modern conceptions of worship, with the faithful gathered round the communion table and the celebrant normally facing the people. Its shell roof is in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid, and is constructed of three thin skins of timber laid in different directions, glued and spiked, being supported entirely by its two buttresses. The slit windows which run from floor to roof are separated by concrete pillars faced outside with a white mosaic tile finish and inside with white leather-cloth. The furnishings and doors are of American black walnut and the floor is a grey-green terrazzo."
The columns between the windows do not appear to meet the roof when viewed from below: this gives a floating-roof effect. Although the tops of the white brick walls on the east and west elevations are fixed to the roof to stabilise it, the floating-roof effect is continued with a top row of dark blue engineering bricks with dark pointing. Viewed from below, this row can look like a gap between wall and roof. This row is clearly shown in a photograph in the ''Blackheath Reporter''.


Roof

One inspiration for the building was
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
and his Modular Man proportions and saddle roofs. By 1963 when the building was at the design stage it was known that the prefabricated shell-roof version, constructed of thin, cast, reinforced concrete, was subject to being lifted bodily from buildings by high winds and that some shapes such as this one could create a drainage problem. Drainage could compromise the smooth appearance with guttering and pipes, or it could encourage chronic leakage over time if holes had to be made in the structure. The metal-covered timber roof suffered damage from thieves in 2008, and it was re-covered using a new system. The roof is a saddle roof, meaning that it is in the shape of a
hyperbolic paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar property of symmetry. Every pla ...
, and thus the curved shape can be constructed with straight beams; a previous example was a 1956
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
house.


Interior

The
cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...
-shaped blue glass window on the east side was intended to double as a symbolic sword-shape, like the original spire. This is because the first inspiration for the building was ''The Vigil'' by John Pettie, 1884. In the painting, a
squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...
holds his
vigil A vigil, from the Latin meaning 'wakefulness' ( Greek: , or ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word has become generalized in this sense and means 'eve' (as in "on t ...
by praying overnight before his knighting
ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...
, hoping that he and his equipment might be purified beforehand. As the design of the spire was inspired by the vertical position of the squire's sword, which symbolises the cross, so the natural lighting inside the chapel is inspired by this painting. In ''The Vigil'', the dawn light falls from the east window above the altar onto the squire and his sword, and the purification is symbolised by the glow of the white surplice. A shadow below the squire's arm crosses a crease in the surplice, giving the effect of a shadowy cross on his torso. In the Blackheath chapel, a blue celestial light is designed to fall in the shape of a cross or sword across the central altar of the
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
-shaped interior from the east side. The tall, rectangular windows of the building were inspired by the gallery of shadowy pillars in the background of the painting. There is a theory that medieval pillars and fan vaulting had some connection with the appearance of an avenue of trees.


History


Opening

The foundation stone was laid in March 1964. The chapel was part of the Church Army Wilson Carlile Training College designed by the same architect, and was opened by Princess Alexandra at 2.45 pm on 6 May 1965, the opening being commemorated on a marble stone in a cloakroom off the entrance lobby to the chapel. The late R.G.D. (Russell) Vernon MBE, head of Austin Vernon & Partners under whose banner the chapel was designed by E.T. Spashett, was invited to the opening at which the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
Michael Ramsey was to
consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
the chapel. Image:Church Army Chapel 002.jpg, Print of the chapel showing part of spire, 1965 Image:Church Army chapel 022.JPG, South elevation, 2009, with missing spire drawn onto image Image:Church Army chapel 025.jpg, North elevation, 2009 Image:Church Army chapel 026.jpg, West elevation, 2009 Image:Church Army chapel 008.jpg, Interior, 2009, looking south-east Image:Church Army chapel 005.jpg, Interior, 2009, looking east (blue glass window blocked outside) Image:Church Army chapel 042.jpg, South-east and east elevations, 2009, showing roof curve and spire fixing plate. Image:Church Army Chapel pews 1965.jpg, Pews and west-end altar in chapel, 1965


Architect: E. T. Spashett

Ernest Trevor Spashett (1923–1994) was born in
Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...
and served in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
1942–1947, gaining his wings in 1945, and flying Halifaxes. He was apprenticed to architect F.G. Drewitt in
Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...
, Cornwall, before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, designing under supervision the Guildhall at St Ives in 1939 at the age of 16. After the war he trained as an architect with the Ministry of Works repairing London after the war, working on
Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...
,
Clarence House Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the royal Duke of Clarence, the future King William IV. The four-storey house is faced in ...
and Osterley House among others.Information from architect's archives. For example, Osterley House was then an RAF convalescence home full of airmen in
wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...
s and on
crutch A crutch is a mobility aid that transfers weight from the human leg, legs to the upper body. It is often used by people who cannot use their legs to support their weight, for reasons ranging from short-term injuries to lifelong disabilities. Hi ...
es. The zig-zag, half-fenced ramp he designed for the front steps instantly became a racetrack, and had to be heavily fenced after too many skid turns on the corners created flying wheelchairs. He designed the replacement rose window for Alexandra Palace, the original being lost due to bomb damage. After qualifying as an architect he worked for
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, Gillingham and
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
Councils designing
council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...
, schools and hospitals. He worked with Yates, Cook and Derbyshire in London from around 1954 to around 1960, then from around 1960 with Austin Vernon & Partners (who had refurbished
Dulwich Picture Gallery Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, south London. It opened to the public in 1817 and was designed by the Regency architect Sir John Soane. His design was recognized for its innovative and influential method of illumination f ...
) in
Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of H ...
from 1959, leaving after the chapel opening debacle in 1965. He specialised in church design and restoration, so in the 1960s and 1970s he was consultant architect for the
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
s, taking instructions from
Basil Hume George Basil Hume (born George Haliburton Hume; 2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 until his death in 1999. A member of the Benedictines, he was made a cardinal i ...
. In the 1970s he designed accommodation at two monasteries, including a large, reflective, gold, cross-shaped window (now lost) at Gorton Monastery, Manchester, which at certain seasons caused a gold cross-shaped reflection on the public roadway. From 1965 he was architect for estate agents Geering and Colyer in
Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...
, then left to work freelance in Tunbridge Wells 1982–1989. He continued freelance work in
Herne Bay, Kent Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government ...
until retirement due to ill health in 1992. He died in 1994.


Owners of the chapel and college

The first owner was the
Church Army The Church Army is an evangelistic organisation and mission community founded in 1882 in association with the Church of England and now operating internationally in many parts of the Anglican Communion. History The Church Army was founded in ...
, who needed the buildings for their Wilson Carlile Training College in 1965. The training college moved to Sheffield in 1991–92. The premises were sold by the Church Army in 1994 to
Blackheath High School Blackheath High School is a private day school for girls in Blackheath Village in southeast London, England. It was founded in 1880 as part of the Girls' Day School Trust; the Senior School occupied a purpose-built site in Wemyss Road for ov ...
, which between 1999 and 2009 was using the chapel as a music room and dance studio.


Wilson Carlile Training College site 1965

The chapel was part of a larger build in 1965, and was designed to form part of the south side of an open, central quadrangle (see image of
architectural model An architectural model is a type of scale model made to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design intent. They are made using a variety of materials including paper, plaster, plastic, resin, wood, glass, and metal. Mod ...
). The east side consisted of older buildings, and the west side was open, so the only other major new build was the large dormitory block on the north side. This was an
international style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
building of white brick with metal-framed windows and black
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
panels between the windows and covering the sills. Only two staircases and the upper part of the west end of this block remain in original condition, as there has been much development on the site since 1965. The description of the site in the May 1965 opening day programme is as follows:
"The new College has accommodation for seventy-two students and in addition three flats are provided nearby for married students and their families. Staff are accommodated either in the College or in adjoining houses, provision has been made for four lecture rooms, library, common rooms etc., and the grounds which cover two acres include spacious lawns and an asphalt area for tennis and netball."
Image:Wilson Carlise Training College build 1965.jpg, Dormitory block being built, 1965 Image:Wilson Carlile Training College 028.jpg, West end of former dormitory block in 2009 Image:Wilson Carlile Training College 030.jpg, Staircase in dormitory block in 2009 Image:Wilson Carlile Training College 034.jpg, Staircase in dormitory block in 2009


RIBA archives holdings

Five black and white photographs dated 1975 are held in the RIBA Archives as part of their Press Office collection and described as follows: * London: Church Army's Chapel, Blackheath: ext view showing double-curved roof (architects Austin Vernon & Partners, 1965) (BM/ECCL/40/A) (photo G. Hana Ltd 28978) * London: Church Army's Chapel, Blackheath: ext view (architects Austin Vernon & Partners, 1965) (BM/ECCL/40/B) (photo G. Hana Ltd 28976) * London: Church Army's Chapel, Blackheath: ext view showing double-curved roof (architects Austin Vernon & Partners, 1965) (BM/ECCL/40/C) (photo G. Hana Ltd 28977) * London: Church Army's Chapel, Blackheath: int view (architects Austin Vernon & Partners, 1965) (BM/ECCL/40/D) (photo G. Hana Ltd 28975) * London: Church Army's Chapel, Blackheath: int view (architects Austin Vernon & Partners, 1965) (BM/ECCL/40/E) (photo G. Hana Ltd 28974) The above images can be viewed at RIBA's architecture.com site, under the title "Church Army Chapel, Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath. London." or "Austin Vernon". Image ref. numbers: RIBA75022, RIBA75023. RIBA75024, RIBA75025, RIBA75026.


Notes


References


External links


Youtube video panorama of interior of chapel

Advisory Board for Redundant Churches: Criteria for determining heritage values and the scope for change in closed Anglican churches

Greenwich Heritage Centre: local archives covering Blackheath area.

Church Army online



Greenwich Council: planning and building department


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090705084238/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/RIBALibrary/Catalogue.aspx RIBA archives
An earlier 1950s building with hyperbolic paraboloid roof by Sam Scorer
This was originally supported at the two lower points only (show
here
, as is the Church Army Chapel. {{Churches in Greenwich Chapels in London Former churches in London Churches completed in 1965 Churches in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Blackheath, London 20th-century Church of England church buildings Hyperboloid structures