Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Westminster

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Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory, Westminster
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Location Soho, Westminster, London
Country England
Denomination Catholic
Website Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Westminster
History
Consecrated 24 July 1928
Architecture
Heritage designation Grade II*
Designated 24 February 1958
Architect(s) Joseph Bonomi the Elder
Years built 1789–90
Administration
Metropolis Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
Diocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory is a Roman Catholic church on Warwick Street, Westminster. It was built between 1798 and 1790 to the designs of Joseph Bonomi the Elder,[1] and as the only surviving eighteenth century Roman Catholic chapel in London[1] is a Grade II* listed building.[2]

History

The origins of the church lie in the chapel established in the 1730s at the Portuguese Embassy on Golden Square. At this time, with the English Penal Laws in force, most Roman Catholic chapels existed under the protection, and within the precincts of, foreign embassies.[1] Responsibility for the chapel passed to the Bavarian embassy in 1747 but it was destroyed in the Gordon Riots in 1780. The replacement church was designed by Joseph Bonomi the Elder, an Italian architect and draughtsman, who had moved to London in 1767 to work in the practice of Robert and James Adam.

The church has attracted many prominent Catholic worshippers, including Mrs Fitzherbert, mistress of George IV,[3] and the young Cardinal Newman.[3] In 1983, the funeral mass for Ralph Richardson, a regular worshipper, was held at the church.

Exterior

The exterior is of plain brick, stained red in 1952.[1] The brick facade was deliberately "unassuming",[1] in response to the destruction of the earlier chapel, and the gilded stars and angels which now decorate the facade date from the 1950s.[1] It is of three bays and two storeys.[2]

Interior

The interior retains some of its Georgian decoration, but the church was restored and altered in the Victorian period, firstly in renovations carried out by John Erlam, in 1853,[4] which also saw the installation, over the altar, of the bas-relief of the Assumption, by John Edward Carew.[1] A second period of restoration took place from 1874, under the direction of John Francis Bentley,[1] the architect of Westminster Cathedral.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 393
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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External links

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