St John's Church, Waterloo, is an Anglican
Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...
church in
South London
South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...
, built in 1822–24 to the designs of
Francis Octavius Bedford. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist,
and with St Andrew's, Short Street, forms a united benefice.
Location
The church is located in
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces
* Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Australia
* Waterloo, New South Wale ...
, opposite the
London IMAX, close to
Waterloo station
Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergroun ...
and the Waterloo campus of
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
. In 1818, when the country was settling down into a period of peace after the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
and the population was beginning to expand rapidly, Parliament decided to allocate a sum not exceeding a million pounds for the building of additional churches in populous parishes and "more particularly in the Metropolis and its Vicinity." Of this sum, the
Commissioners for Building New Churches appropriated £64,000 in 1822 for the needs of the parish of
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
. It was decided that a new church should be built on the Waterloo Bridge approach, with a piece of ground on the east side of the road to be purchased from the Archbishop of Canterbury and his lessee and the sub-lessee, Gilbert East and a man named Anderson.
History
The Church of St John was built to the designs of the architect
Francis Octavius Bedford in 1824. Bedford designed three other churches for the Commissioners, St George's, Camberwell,
St Luke's Church, West Norwood and
Holy Trinity, Newington. They were all built in the same Greek style inspired by Bedford's background as a well-respected Greek scholar and antiquarian. Bedford's churches were fiercely criticised by contemporary critics at a time when the tide was turning away from the Greek revival towards Gothic. St John's however gained more critical appreciation mainly because of its fine spire which used classical detail to build up a more traditional English parish church shape.
The ground was very swampy, consisting in part of a pond, and the advice of
John Rennie the Younger
Sir John Rennie FRSA (30 August 1794 – 3 September 1874) was a British engineer who was the second son of engineer John Rennie the Elder, and brother of George Rennie.
Early life
John Rennie was born at 27 Stamford Street, Blackfriars Ro ...
was sought as to the most suitable type of foundation. His recommendation that piling should be used under all the walls was adopted with such success that, after the lapse of 125 years, heavy damage by bombing and ten years' exposure to the weather, the walls were still strong and sound enough to be used in the renovated church.
The churchyard was converted into a garden in 1877. In 1883
Lord Brabazon, the Chairman of the newly formed
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association (also known as the MPGA) is a charity in London for the purposes of the preservation of public parks and gardens, established in 1882. It facilitated the creation of new public open spaces, including f ...
, gave a swing and giant stride as part of a children's playground; the MPGA itself provided parallel bars, a seesaw and six seats. In more recent years the garden had become neglected, but has since been restored. The playground equipment is no longer present.
The church was renovated by
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.
Early life and career
Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...
in 1885 and altered internally 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 architecture, Gothic Revival architects.
His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...
in 1924. The church was struck by a bomb in 1940, when the roof and much of the interior was destroyed. Services were then held in the crypt, and the church described itself as St John's-in-the-crypt. The building stood open for ten years until it was restored and remodelled internally by
Thomas Ford in 1950. In 1951 the church was rededicated as the
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951.
Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...
Church.
Thomas Ford removed the galleries and a new decorative scheme was installed using Greek ornamental motifs, gilt and light pastel shades. A mural by
Hans Feibusch was commissioned and replaced the damaged Victorian reredos Two paintings by
David Morris depicting Christ in parables in views from Waterloo Bridge were exhibited to either side of th
mural The overall effect was vastly different from the essentially Victorian interior that previously existed. The highlights of decorative detail and colour are typical of a tradition evolved by
Thomas Ford through the 1930s and into the 1950s.
The much-modified organ was by
Bishop & Sons, dating from the construction of the church in 1824. Badly damaged by the war-time bombing, it was restored in 1951 by
Noel Mander
Noel Percy Mander Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE, FSA (19 May 1912 – 18 September 2005) was a British organ builder and founder of the firm N.P Mander later known as Mander Organs Limited.
A native of Crouch, Se ...
. There is a ring of 8 bells, all by Thomas II Mears of the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain.
The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...
and all dating from 1825.
During the construction of the
Jubilee line
The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in east London, via the West End of London, West End, South Bank and London Docklands, Docklands. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the ...
, the structural stability of the church was closely monitored as the soil underneath the church began to dry out as a result of the building of the new London Underground line. Still supported by the piles driven into the marshy soil in 1824, millions of gallons of water had to be pumped into the foundations of the church to prevent its collapse as a result.
The church underwent a 10-month restoration of the nave and crypt in 2021–22, led by
Eric Parry Architects. The restoration faced much opposition, and the 20th Century Society objected to the plans, saying that "these changes were solutions to imaginary problems and actually reduced flexibility, while the church’s admirable plans for more community services could be implemented without jeopardising the Thomas Ford work." This objection was supported by both Historic England and Lambeth Council, and the Chancellor of the Southwark Diocese convened a Consistory Court Hearing, the equivalent of a full planning inquiry for a Church of England church. The Chancellor upheld the objections of C20 and the other opponents. Eventually the work was carried out, in a significantly scaled-back scheme, which still resulted in the loss of significant Thomas Ford features, such as the pulpits and altar rails, which were removed. The work included meticulous restoration of the Feibusch mural but the Morris paintings were removed. It is not known where they are now stored or displayed.
Today
The church that exists today is a thriving multicultural congregation that has developed strong links with the local community. Every June it hosts the popula
Waterloo Festival It is also home t
The Bridge at Waterlooand a large and thriving Churchyard garden.
There is a choir under a musical director. The church also hosts the Okusinza Church, which is a
Luganda
Ganda or Luganda ( ; ) is a Bantu language spoken in the African Great Lakes region. It is one of the major languages in Uganda and is spoken by more than 5.56 million Ganda people, Baganda and other people principally in central Uganda, includ ...
language church with a mainly
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
n congregation. The church has Food Court stalls outside selling a range of cuisines from Monday – Friday every week.
List of vicars
*1824–1832:
Jonathan Tyers Barrett
*1832–1848†:
Robert Irvine
Robert Paul Irvine (; born 24 September 1965) is an American celebrity chef and talk show host who has appeared on and hosted a variety of Food Network programs including ''Dinner: Impossible'', ''Worst Cooks in America'', ''Restaurant: Impossi ...
(curate since 1828)
[Church of England Clergy database — Location: Parish (Church): Lambeth St John The Evangelist Waterloo Road](_blank)
(Accessed 10 September 2016)
*1848–1871†:
James Aitken Johnston (curate 1847–48)
*1871–1874†:
Hugh Wilson Bateman
*1874–1880:
Arthur J. Robinson
*1881–1893:
Arthur W. Jephson
*1893–1895:
Arthur H. Powell
*1895–1902:
Francis Bainbridge-Bell
*1902:
Edward Gordon
*1921:
John Woodhouse
*1925:
Charles Hutchinson[Church of St John the Evangelist, Waterloo Road, in Survey of London: Volume 23, Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall](_blank)
(Accessed 10 September 2016)
*1944:
Edwin Rhys
*1972:
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
[Framed list of "The Church of St. John with All Saints Waterloo Road Vicars" in atrium of the church.]
*1976:
David Jack Wickert
*1987:
Robert J. Yeomans
*1994:
Richard Truss
*2009:
Giles Goddard
† ''Vicar died in post''
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John the Evangelist, Waterloo
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces
* Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Australia
* Waterloo, New South Wale ...
Churches completed in 1824
19th-century Church of England church buildings
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces
* Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Australia
* Waterloo, New South Wale ...
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces
* Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Australia
* Waterloo, New South Wale ...
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces
* Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Australia
* Waterloo, New South Wale ...
Greek Revival church buildings in the United Kingdom
The Twentieth Century Society successful interventions