Fitzrovia Chapel

Last updated

Fitzrovia Chapel
Fitzrovia Chapel 2017-09-17-1.jpg
Fitzrovia Chapel's altar and sanctuary (restored 2017)
Westminster London UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fitzrovia Chapel
Location in Central London
51°31′08″N0°08′18″W / 51.5190°N 0.1383°W / 51.5190; -0.1383
Location Fitzrovia, London W1
CountryUnited Kingdom
Previous denomination Church of England
Website fitzroviachapel.org
History
Former name(s)Middlesex Hospital Chapel
Status Hospital chapel
Architecture
Functional status Deconsecrated
Heritage designationGrade II*
Architect(s) John Loughborough Pearson
Style Victorian Gothic
Years built1891–92
Closed2008
FitzRoy arms Arms of the Duke of Grafton.svg
FitzRoy arms

The Fitzrovia Chapel is located at Pearson Square, London W1, standing in the centre of the Fitzroy Place development, bordered by Mortimer Street, Cleveland Street, Nassau Street and Riding House Street in Fitzrovia, Westminster.

Contents

Designed by John Loughborough Pearson RA , the chapel was built 189192 with its interior completed 32 years after his death in 1929, the works being overseen by his son Frank Loughborough Pearson (18641947). [1]

Built in the central courtyard of the former Middlesex Hospital, which was rebuilt in 1929–35 before being demolished in 2008–15, the hospital chapel was preserved as a Grade II*-listed building and renamed as the Fitzrovia Chapel.

The chapel is noted for its opulent Gothic Revival-style and mosaic interior. [2]

History

The chapel isolated in 2011 during demolition of the Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital Chapel (5869839129).jpg
The chapel isolated in 2011 during demolition of the Middlesex Hospital
The entrance on Fitzroy Place, London W1, to the Fitzrovia Chapel Fitzrovia Chapel in Fitzroy Place.jpg
The entrance on Fitzroy Place, London W1, to the Fitzrovia Chapel

The building now known as the Fitzrovia Chapel was built in 189192 as the Middlesex Hospital Chapel. Between 1929 and 1935 the decaying 18th-century hospital building was gradually demolished and rebuilt around the chapel. [3] [4]

After the Middlesex Hospital was amalgamated into University College Hospital, its hospital buildings other than the chapel were completely demolished 200815, being replaced by a new residential development. The Grade II*-listed edifice was preserved throughout the demolition [5] [4] and today the chapel stands within Pearson Square, a privately owned public space named after the chapel's architect, belonging to Jones Lang LaSalle. [6]

Architecture

The chapel is noted as a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture, designed by John Loughborough Pearson in the Italian Gothic-style. The interior of the chapel features a rib vaulted ceiling richly decorated with polychrome marble and mosaics. The mosaics were completed in the 1930s by Maurice Richard Josey, assisted by his son John Leonard Josey. [2]

The ceiling mosaic depicts blue stars against a gold background representing the firmament. The wall mosaics are lined with green onyx and a zigzag pattern. In the arched chancel there is a Cosmatesque pillar piscina. Set into an ogee arch is an aumbry adorned with an image of the Pelican in her Piety carved in white marble, erected in memory of Prince Francis of Teck, younger brother of Queen Mary, who died in 1910. Set into roundels beneath the arches are sculpted busts of the Twelve Apostles and the Old Testament prophets. The organ gallery at the chapel's west end is surmounted by an arch decorated with a mosaic inscription of words from the Gloria in excelsis Deo: [2]

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BONÆ VOLUNTATIS
(GLORY BE TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND ON EARTH PEACE TO MEN OF GOODWILL)

The baptismal font is carved from a solid block of green marble and is adorned with the symbols of the Four Evangelists. The inscription, "Nipson anomemata me monan opsin", is a palindrome in Ancient Greek as inscribed on a holy water font outside the Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, in medieval times: [2]

Νίψον ἀνομήματα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν
(Wash the sins, not only the face)

Unusually, the chapel is aligned approximately on a north–south axis instead of the traditional alignment towards the liturgical east. [2]

Interior features

Notable people commemorated at the Fitzrovia Chapel

Memorial to Diana Beck at the Fitzrovia Chapel Diana Beck memorial plaque at Fitzrovia Chapel.jpg
Memorial to Diana Beck at the Fitzrovia Chapel

The Fitzrovia Chapel Foundation

The Fitzrovia Chapel is managed by a charity, the Fitzrovia Chapel Foundation. It is a secular chapel, and is a venue for non-religious ceremonies such as weddings, civil partnerships, baby namings and memorials.

Exhibitions and events

The Fitzrovia Chapel is also used by artists, galleries and art organisations for exhibitions.

In May 2017 the Horiuchi Foundation presented a series of photographs at the chapel by Tomohiro Muda. The exhibition was called Icons of Time: Memories of the Tsunami that Struck Japan. [7]

The Richard Ingleby Gallery hosted an exhibition during Frieze London in October 2017, including works by David Batchelor, Jonathan Owen, Kevin Harman and Peter Liversidge. [8]

In July 2017 Erskine, Hall & Coe presented Claudi Casanovas's Minvant at the chapel. [9]

The TJ Boulting gallery hosted Stephanie Quayle's Jenga at the Fitzrovia Chapel in 2016 and Siân Davey's Looking for Alice in December 2017. [10]

As part of Frieze London, the Stephen Friedman Gallery has shown works by Yinka Shonibare CBE and Jonathan Baldock at the chapel. [11]

In January 2019 the photographer Richard Ansett presented his portrait of the artist Grayson Perry at the chapel. It was called Birth and depicted Perry's alter ego, Claire.

The Fitzrovia Chapel has been used by recording artists including Katie Melua, Allman Brown and the Vickers Bovey Guitar Duo. [12]

Fashion brands have used the chapel as a backdrop to shows, shoots and presentations. These have included Phoebe English, Alistair James, Mother of Pearl, Alighieri and Sharon Wauchob.

"The Ward"

Leading up to World AIDS Day in 2017, the chapel presented its first exhibition. Called The Ward, it followed the lives of four young men on the Broderip and Charles Bell Wards in the former Middlesex Hospital. The Broderip, the first AIDS ward in London, was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1987 and was photographed by Gideon Mendel, who chronicled the wards in 1993.

"Nina Hamnett - 'Everybody was Furious'"

The chapel's exhibition in 2019 focused on the Welsh artist (and former Fitzrovia resident) Nina Hamnett. The exhibition was called Nina Hamnett - 'Everybody was Furious'. It featured pieces from Tenby Museum & Art Gallery, in the town where the artist was born. [13] [14]

"Portraits of NHS Heroes"

Tom Croft created a virtual exhibition (installed and scanned observing COVID-19 government guidelines) at the Fitzrovia Chapel, showcasing portraits of NHS staff created during the coronavirus crisis. Portraits for NHS Heroes included work by 15 artists, all members of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters. The tour is available online.

"Tell Them I've Gone to Papua New Guinea"

The performance artist Leigh Bowery was celebrated during an exhibition in 2022 which included costumes and video. The Charles Atlas film, The Legend of Leigh Bowery, was included in the show.

"Lee Miller: Nurses"

The exhibition showed images of nurses taken across Europe by the photographer Lee Miller during the Second World War in May and June 2022. The photographs document nurses in Oxford, on the front in field hospitals in France, and German prisoner-of-war nurses. [15]

Chapel opening times

The Fitzrovia Chapel is open for public view most Wednesdays between 11.00 and 16.00 and is also open for events and exhibitions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Hamnett</span> British artist (1890–1956)

Nina Hamnett was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' chanteys, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Loughborough Pearson</span> British architect

John Loughborough Pearson was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency unrivalled in his generation. He worked on at least 210 ecclesiastical buildings in England alone in a career spanning 54 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitzrovia</span> Human settlement in England

Fitzrovia is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of the area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in the 18th century. Its name was coined in the late 1930s by Tom Driberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza dei Miracoli</span> Historic architectural complex and UNESCO World Heritage site in Pisa, Italy

The Piazza dei Miracoli, formally known as Piazza del Duomo, is a walled 8.87-hectare (21.9-acre) compound in central Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as an important center of European medieval art and one of the finest architectural complexes in the world. It was all owned by the Catholic Church and is dominated by four great religious edifices: Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistery, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Camposanto Monumentale. Partly paved and partly grassed, the Piazza dei Miracoli is also the site of the Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito, which now houses the Sinopias Museum and the Cathedral Museum.

The year 1889 in art involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friern Hospital</span> Former psychiatric hospital in North London, England

Friern Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Friern Barnet close to a crossroads which had a hamlet known as Colney Hatch. In 1965, it became part of the London Borough of Barnet and in the early 21st century was converted to residential housing as Princess Park Manor and Friern Village. The hospital was built as the Second Middlesex County Asylum and was in operation from 1851 to 1993. After the County of London was created in 1889 it continued to serve much of Middlesex and of the newer county, London. During much of this time its smaller prototype Hanwell Asylum also operated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Anrep</span> Russian artist

Boris Vasilyevich Anrep was a Russian artist, active in Britain, who devoted himself to the art of mosaic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capesthorne Hall</span> Manor in Cheshire, England

Capesthorne Hall is a country house near the village of Siddington, Cheshire, England. The house and its private chapel were built in the early 18th century, replacing an earlier hall and chapel nearby. They were built to Neoclassical designs by William Smith and (probably) his son Francis. Later in the 18th century, the house was extended by the addition of an orangery and a drawing room. In the 1830s the house was remodelled by Edward Blore; the work included the addition of an extension and a frontage in Jacobean style, and joining the central block to the service wings. In about 1837 the orangery was replaced by a large conservatory designed by Joseph Paxton. In 1861 the main part of the house was virtually destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by Anthony Salvin, who generally followed Blore's designs but made modifications to the front, rebuilt the back of the house in Jacobean style, and altered the interior. There were further alterations later in the 19th century, including remodelling of the Saloon. During the Second World War the hall was used by the Red Cross, but subsequent deterioration prompted a restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John's Cathedral (Brisbane)</span> Church in Queensland, Australia

St John's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane and the metropolitan cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of Queensland, Australia. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The cathedral is situated in Ann Street in the Brisbane central business district, and is the successor to an earlier pro-cathedral, which occupied part of the contemporary Queens Gardens on William Street, from 1854 to 1904. The cathedral is the second-oldest Anglican church in Brisbane, predated only by the extant All Saints church on Wickham Terrace (1862). The cathedral is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Richard Josey</span>

Maurice Richard Josey was an English mosaic artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middlesex Hospital</span> Hospital in London, England

Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally closed in 2005. Its staff and services were transferred to various sites within the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust. The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, with a history dating back to 1746, merged with the medical school of University College London in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Marylebone Parish Church</span> Church in London , United Kingdom

St Marylebone Parish Church is an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Oxford Street. The church there was demolished in 1400 and a new one erected further north. This was completely rebuilt in 1740–42, and converted into a chapel-of-ease when Hardwick's church was constructed. The Marylebone area takes its name from the church. Located behind the church is St Marylebone School, a Church of England school for girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitzroy Place (London)</span> London building

Fitzroy Place is an office, residential and retail estate in Fitzrovia, London. With 289 homes, with interiors designed by Johnson Naylor, and 220,000 sq ft of office space, Fitzroy Place houses a series of shops and restaurants, offices and community spaces, set around a publicly accessible central square. The square, which was the first new garden square in W1 for 100 years, incorporates the Grade II* listed Fitzrovia Chapel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qalawun complex</span> Pious complex in Cairo, Egypt

The Qalawun complex is a massive pious complex in Cairo, Egypt, built by Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun from 1284 to 1285. It is located at Bayn al-Qasrayn on al-Mu'izz street and like many other pious complexes includes a hospital (bimaristan), a madrasa and mausoleum. Despite controversy surrounding its construction, this building is widely regarded as one of the major monuments of Islamic Cairo and of Mamluk architecture, notable for the size and scope of its contributions to legal scholarship and charitable operations as well as for the richness of its architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds Central Library</span> Public library in Leeds, England

Leeds Central Library is a public library in Leeds. Situated in the city centre, on Calverley Street, it houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection and hosts the Leeds Art Gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two Temple Place</span> Building in central London, England

Two Temple Place, known for many years as Astor House, is a Neo-Gothic building situated near Victoria Embankment in central London, England. It is known for its architecture, and contains notable works by the likes of William Silver Frith, Sir George Frampton, Nathaniel Hitch and Thomas Nicholls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodora Cowan</span> Australian sculptor (1868–1949)

Theodora Esther Cowan (Theo) (1868–1949) was an Australian artist, regarded as the first Australian-born woman sculptor. She was one of a number of women sculptors who were working at the end of the 19th century. Apart from being the first to be born in Australia, Cowan (along with Margaret Baskerville) was among the first to achieve success, especially for her portrait work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Joseph's Church, Highgate</span>

St Joseph's Church, Highgate is a parish of the Catholic Church on Highgate Hill, in the Diocese of Westminster, London. It was founded by the Passionist Congregation in 1858. It is a grade II listed building.

Portraits for NHS Heroes is an art project held in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broderip Ward</span>

The Broderip Ward was a ward at the Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia, London. It was the first ward dedicated to the care and treatment of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. "Our history". The Fitzrovia Chapel. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Middlesex Hospital Chapel (Grade II*) (1223496)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  3. Rivett, Geoffrey (1986). The Development of the London Hospital System, 1823-1982. King Edward's Hospital Fund for London. p. 218. ISBN   978-0-19-724633-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 Richardson, Ruth (29 March 2014). "Preserving the name of Middlesex Hospital Chapel". The Lancet. 383 (9923): 1120–1121. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60554-7. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   24693549. S2CID   30802376 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. Aminoff, Michael Jeffrey (2016). Sir Charles Bell: His Life, Art, Neurological Concepts, and Controversial Legacy. Oxford University Press. p. 85. ISBN   978-0-19-061496-6 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  6. "Exemplar pay tribute to chapel architect in proposal for street name at Fitzroy Place". Fitzrovia News. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  7. www.horiuchifoundation.com
  8. www.inglebygallery.com
  9. www.ehc.art
  10. www.tjboulting.com
  11. www.stephenfriedman.com
  12. www.wcom.org.uk
  13. www.tenbymuseum.org.uk
  14. www.charitycommission.gov.uk
  15. "Lee Miller and the nurses of the Second World War". Financial Times. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.