St John's Church, Waterloo, is an Anglican

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

church in

South London South London is the southern part of 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, London Borou ...

, 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, opposite the

London IMAX The BFI IMAX is an IMAX cinema in the South Bank district of London, just north of Waterloo station. It is owned and operated by the British Film Institute. From 2012 until 2022, it had been operated by Odeon Cinemas. The cinema is located in t ...

, close to

Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London 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 Underground station of t ...

and the Waterloo campus of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. In 1818, when the country was settling down into a period of peace after the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

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, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

. 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 St Luke's Church in West Norwood is an Anglican church that worships in a Grade II* listed building. It stands on a prominent triangular site at the south end of Norwood Road, where the highway forks to become Knights Hill and Norwood High ...

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 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 Road, London, on 30 August 17 ...

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 architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the des ...

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. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

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 Hans Nathan FeibuschFeibusch, Hans Nathan< ...

was commissioned and replaced the damaged Victorian reredos. The overall effect is 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 or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid *Mount Noel, Britis ...

. 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 a ...

and all dating from 1825. During the construction of the

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

, 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 is undergoing a 10-month restoration of the nave and crypt in 2021–22, designed by Eric Parry Architects.

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 Waterloo
and a large and thriving Churchyard garden. There is a choir under the musical direction of Euchar Gravina. The church also hosts the Okusinza Church, which is a

Luganda The Ganda language 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 10 million Baganda and other people principally in central Uganda including ...

language church with a mainly

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n congregation. The church also holds a very strong link to

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...

products with stalls outside the Church selling items from Monday – Friday every week, in tandem with a Food Court.

List of vicars

*1826–1832: Jonathan BarrettChurch of England Clergy database — Location: Parish (Church): Lambeth St John The Evangelist Waterloo Road
(Accessed 10 September 2016) *1832:

Robert Irvine Robert Paul Irvine (; born 24 September 1965) is an English 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: Imposs ...

(curate since 1828) *1835: John Saunders, curate *1848: J. Aitken JohnstonChurch of St John the Evangelist, Waterloo Road, in Survey of London: Volume 23, Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall
(Accessed 10 September 2016) *1871: Hugh Bateman *1874: Arthur Robinson *1881: Arthur J. Jephson *1884: Arthur W. Jephson *1894: Arthur Powell *1895: Francis Bainbridge-Bell *1902: Edward Gordon *1921:

John Woodhouse John Walker Woodhouse (28 January 188413 March 1955) was an Anglican suffragan bishop from 1945 until 1953. He was born on 28 January 1884 and educated at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford before embarking on an ecclesiastical career ...

*1925: Charles Hutchinson *1944: Edwin Rhys *1972:

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

Framed list of "The Church of St. John with All Saints Waterloo Road Vicars" in atrium of the church. *1976: David Jack Wickert A.K.C. *1987: Robert J. Yeomans A.K.C. *1994: Richard Truss *2009: Giles Goddard

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John the Evangelist, Waterloo Waterloo Churches completed in 1824 19th-century Church of England church buildings Grade II listed churches in London Waterloo Waterloo Greek Revival church buildings in the United Kingdom