St Paul's, Onslow Square (known as HTB Onslow Square), is a

Grade II listed 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 ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in Onslow Square,

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, London, England. The church was built in 1860, and the architect was

James Edmeston James Edmeston (10 September 1791 – 7 January 1867) was an English architect and surveyor; he was also known as a prolific writer of church hymns. He was born in Wapping, Middlesex, England. His maternal grandfather was the Reverend Samuel ...

. Composer William Carter was appointed organist at the church in 1868. Hanmer William Webb-Peploe (1837–1923), the evangelical clergyman, and member of the

Holiness Movement The Holiness movement is a Christianity, Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakers, Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with ...

, was the vicar for 43 years from 1876 to 1919. In the late 1970s, the parish of

Holy Trinity Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's Onslow Square and St Augustine's South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (''formerly ...

(HTB) merged with the neighbouring parish of St Paul's, Onslow Square. St Paul's was declared redundant. An attempt by the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

to sell the building for private redevelopment was thwarted in the early 1980s when local residents joined with churchgoers to save the church. In the late 1980s, the Parochial Church Council requested that the redundancy be overturned which allowed curate Nicky Lee and his wife Sila to ''plant'' a congregation there as well as undertake some building structural maintenance work. In 1997, the congregation at St Paul's divided into three, with some going with curate Stuart Lees to plant a church in Fulham; others returning to HTB with Nicky and Sila Lee; and others forming the St Paul's Anglican Fellowship and remaining based at St Paul's with John Peters. This last group left in 2002 to plant into

St Mary's, Bryanston Square St Mary's, Bryanston Square, is a Church of England church dedicated to the Virgin Mary on Wyndham Place, Bryanston Square, London. A related Church of England primary school which was founded next to it bears the same name. History St Mary's, ...

. During 2007, after plans by HTB to rebuild the 1960s offices were withdrawn following difficulty in getting support from local residents, HTB decided to undertake some renovations and to resume services in the church. St Paul's launched 9am and 6pm services in September 2007 and followed with an 11am service on 20 January 2008 and a 4pm service on 28 September 2009. In December 2009 the upstairs balcony was recommissioned for worship, having previously been used for administrative offices (the office occupants having moved to HTB's nearby office building purchased in 2008). The church holds services at 10.30am, 4.30pm and 6.30pm every Sunday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's, Onslow Square Churches completed in 1860 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Diocese of London 1860 establishments in the United Kingdom South Kensington Holy Trinity Brompton plants