St Thomas's Church, also known as Tenison Chapel, was an Anglican church in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

, London. It was built in 1702, on the site of a wooden chapel of 1688; it was a

proprietary chapel A proprietary chapel is a chapel that originally belonged to a private person, but with the intention that it would be open to the public, rather than restricted (as with private chapels in the stricter sense) to members of a family or household, ...

until 1869, when it became a district church dedicated to St Thomas. It closed in 1954, and was later demolished.

History

Thomas Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...

(later Archbishop of Canterbury) became the first rector of

St James's Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, England. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren. The churc ...

in 1685. Because of the increase of population, he erected a temporary chapel, completed in 1688, in the north of the parish. It was situated between King Street (now

Kingly Street Kingly Street is a street in London's Soho district. It runs north to south from Liberty's and Foubert's Place to Beak Street, in parallel to, and between, Regent Street and Carnaby Street. Known as King Street until 1906, the first buildin ...

) and

Swallow Street Swallow Street is a small street in the West End of London, running north from Piccadilly. It is about long. History The street was previously much longer and stretched as far north as Oxford Street. The first section of the street was built ...

, which before the construction of Regent Street was longer than at present, extending from

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

.'Kingly and Carnaby Street Area', in ''Survey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2'', ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1963), pp. 176-195
British History Online. Retrieved 5 December 2023.'Swallow Street to Glasshouse Street', in ''Survey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2'', ed. F. H. W. Sheppard (London, 1963), pp. 57-67
British History Online. Retrieved 5 December 2023. (Coordinates .) It was a wooden structure on a brick foundation, consisting of one large room. By 1702 the chapel was in a poor state, and a new building was erected on the site. The architect is unknown. Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...

, who had designed St James's Church, might have supervised the design; he was consulted in 1713 on later repairs. The building was rectangular, built of brick, with a small square tower to the west; there was a high-pitched roof over the nave and low-pitched roofs over the aisles. The first service took place on 4 October 1702. Furnishings and decorations were completed the following year.

Nineteenth century

In 1824, as

was planned, replacing part of Swallow Street, land to the west of the church was given up, which became part of the new street. A new façade with an entrance on Regent Street was built, funded by the Church Building Commission and designed by C. R. Cockerell. New rooms, a vestry with a schoolroom above, designed by

Thomas Hardwick Thomas Hardwick (1752–1829) was an English architect and a founding member of the Architects' Club in 1791. Early life and career Hardwick was born in Brentford, Middlesex the son of a master mason turned architect also named Thomas Hard ...

, were built behind the façade. Commerce increased in the area; middle-class inhabitants left, and a greater proportion of local householders could not afford

pew rent A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryma ...

, so that the church's income decreased. In 1854, to increase income, the Regent Street frontage and schoolroom were converted into a shop and dwelling house, and a new entrance lobby was created on the side facing Chapel Court, now known as Tenison Court. J. E. Kempe, rector of the parish from 1853, negotiated with the

Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorised to determine the distribution of revenues of the Ch ...

for the conversion of the chapel, which was a

, into a district church in the parish of St James. This took place in 1869, the freehold of the building being conveyed to the Commissioners, and the church was dedicated to St Thomas.

Twentieth century

The building sustained minor damage in the Second World War. Although in 1953 the church became the parish church of the combined parishes of St Thomas's Church,

St Anne's Church, Soho St Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminst ...

and

St Peter's Church, Great Windmill Street St Peter's Church was an Anglican church in Great Windmill Street in Soho, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1861, and was demolished in the 1950s. History The church was designed by Raphael Brandon, for a small site on the eas ...

(demolished after its closure in 1954), St Thomas's Church closed in 1954, and was later demolished."Anglican Churches in Westminster, Middlesex in 1890/1905"
GENUKI. Retrieved 5 December 2023.

References

{{Reflist Former Church of England church buildings Former churches in the City of Westminster