The Chapel of King's College London is a

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed 19th century chapel located in the

Strand Campus The Strand Campus is the founding campus of King's College London and is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, adjacent to Somerset House and continuing its frontage along the River Thames. The original campus comprises the Grade ...

of King's College,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Originally designed by

Sir Robert Smirke Sir Robert Smirke (1 October 1780 – 18 April 1867) was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture, though he also used other architectural styles (such as Gothic and Tudor). As an attached (i.e. official) arch ...

in 1831, the

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

chapel seen today was redesigned by the prominent Victorian Gothic architect

Sir George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

in 1864.

History

The original college chapel was designed by

and was completed in 1831 as part of the College building (later known as the King's building). Given the foundation of the university in the tradition of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, the chapel was intended to be an integral part of the campus.Heulin (1979), p. 1 This is reflected in its central location within the King's Building on the first floor above the Great Hall, accessible via a grand double staircase from the foyer. Although no pictures have survived, the original chapel was described as a low and broad room "fitted to the ecclesiological notions of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

's reign." However, by the mid-nineteenth century its style had fallen out of fashion and in 1859 a proposal by the college chaplain E. H. Plumptre that the original chapel should be reconstructed was approved by the college council, who agreed that its "meagreness and poverty" made it unworthy of King's. The college approached

to make proposals. In his proposal of 22 December 1859, he suggested that, "There can be no doubt that, in a classic building, the best mode of giving ecclesiastical character is the adoption of the form and, in some degree, the character of an ancient basilica." His proposals for a chapel modelled on the lines of a classical

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 ...

were accepted and the reconstruction was completed in 1864 at a cost of just over £7,000.

19th and 20th century

Scott had to overcome several structural difficulties since the chapel was situated above the Great Hall in the 19th century. He used a lightweight construction system for the arcade and upper nave walls. In the 20th century, there were many developments that changed the design of the chapel. The original pitched roof designed by Scott was covered with canvas decorated in bays with large star motifs, but these were lost when the ceiling was substituted in the 1930s. The low level windows, which were embellished with stained glass, were damaged during the

Second World War 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 ...

. The architect Stephen Dykes Bower was asked to produce proposals for the chapel in 1948 following war damage. Under his direction, the windows were glazed with tinted cathedral glass instead of stained glass. The arcade columns, original designs on the aisle and apse walls were repainted.

21st century

It was desired by the chaplaincy team of the college to have a chapel that is "sensitive to the tradition and relevant to the contemporary culture". The chapel was planned to be restored and refurbished from 1996 but was not restored until 2001.

Apse

The

semi-dome In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building. Architecture Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and in mosques and iwans in Isla ...

of the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

is a copy of one of Salviati's

mosaics A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

, depicting Christ in Majesty surrounded by

angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

. Either side of the arch are elaborately decorated vertical panels which include figures bearing scrolls inscribed with the motto of King's College, (With Holiness and Wisdom), and other Christian inscriptions. The

spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

of the arches on each side of the nave feature the painted heads Doctors of the Church, and four 16th- and 17th-century Anglican Divines. These appear to have been an afterthought, as they do not feature in the original Gilbert Scott drawings.

Deans

Organists

The following is a list of organists of the chapel: * 1835: Henry Bevington * 1854: William Henry Monk (director of the choir from 1849) * 1889: John Edward Wernham (joined the college staff in 1886) * 1916: vacancy (organ played by students under the supervision of the Department of Theology) * 1937: Robert Linton Shields (officially appointed lecturer in music, as were all subsequent organists until 1980) * 1941: vacant * 1945: Harold Last * 1953: Ernest H. Warrell * 1992: David Trendell * 2014: Gareth Wilson * 2015
Joseph Fort

Chaplaincy

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Official websiteKing's College London
{{Authority control 1831 establishments in England King's College London Grade I listed churches in London Chapels in London Churches completed in 1831 University and college chapels in the United Kingdom Strand, London