Lincoln Memorial Tower

Last updated

Name plaque of the Lincoln Tower above the original entrance in Westminster Bridge Road Lincoln Tower name plaque.jpg
Name plaque of the Lincoln Tower above the original entrance in Westminster Bridge Road

The Lincoln Memorial Tower or Lincoln Tower is a Gothic revival tower in Lambeth, London, housing small meeting rooms, that was opened in 1876 in memory of Abraham Lincoln, and paid for partly by Americans. Once part of a complex of nineteenth-century philanthropic institutions sited alongside a Congregational chapel, it is all that now remains of the original design. It is located at the corner of Westminster Bridge Road and Kennington Road close to Waterloo station and Lambeth North tube station in London, and is today a listed building [1] associated with, and close to, Christ Church and Upton Chapel.

Contents

Origins

Lincoln Memorial Tower Lincoln Memorial Tower.jpg
Lincoln Memorial Tower

The Lincoln Tower is built on the site of an orphanage for females, founded in 1758. When the orphanage closed in the mid nineteenth century, its site was acquired by trustees of the Surrey Chapel on nearby Blackfriars Road, whose own chapel lease was due to expire. This larger site provided them with ample opportunity to fund-raise not only for a new Congregational chapel which they named Christ Church, but also for a large complex of ancillary buildings.

The pastor of Surrey Chapel at the time was the energetic Christopher Newman Hall who had lectured and written extensively in support of Abraham Lincoln and abolition of slavery during the American Civil War. He raised funds in America for a permanent International Memorial in London, to Abraham Lincoln, and incorporated this into plans for redevelopment of the former orphanage site.

The Lincoln Tower was opened on 4 July 1876, the centenary of American independence. The foundation stone had been laid two years earlier, on 9 July 1874, by the American ambassador, Robert C. Schenck. The two main rooms in the tower were named the Washington and the Wilberforce rooms.

Architecture and design

The original design by the architect E. C. Robins, developed in 1873, would have placed the tower and spire as an elevated structure above the centre of the new Congregational chapel. This was adapted in the final scheme by architects Paull and Bickerdike, who kept much of the original design and detailing of the building complex as a whole, but gave greater prominence to the Lincoln Tower. This became a stand-alone building with its own ground floor and entrances, though still integral to the complex. As more memorial funds were raised, the new architects, like E. C. Robins before them, added a lofty spire; raising the tower 200 feet high. The spectacular spire incorporated Robins' concept for an architectural version of 'stars and stripes' - the use of a polychromatic colour scheme of red and white stones.

On the Tower's north entrance, above the apex of a large archway, a stone was added bearing the title Lincoln Tower. Under the paved basement the coffin of preacher Rowland Hill was re-located from Surrey Chapel, with a tablet inset into the interior wall above. There was another tablet in memory of his successor, James Sherman, with a still larger tablet giving the name and purpose of the tower – to commemorate emancipation by the martyred Lincoln, the contribution of half the cost of the tower by American citizens, and as a pledge of international brotherhood.

The completed tower, built of Kentish Rag stone outside and Bath stone within, and modelled on a Gothic style, was widely regarded at the time as one of the best examples of steeple and tower architecture in south-central London.

Modern context

The Lincoln Tower within its contemporary setting - a modern office block and integral Christ Church & Upton Chapel Lincoln Tower and Christ Church & Upton Chapel.jpg
The Lincoln Tower within its contemporary setting – a modern office block and integral Christ Church & Upton Chapel

Much of the Christ Church complex was destroyed in the Second World War, although the Lincoln Tower survived. In the 1950s a large commercial office block, with an integral Congregational and Baptist chapel and community office space, was planned where the nineteenth-century Christ Church Congregational chapel and its school and meeting rooms (Hawkstone Hall) had stood.

Today, the complex, with its integral Christ Church and Upton Chapel form a modernist backdrop to the surviving Gothic Revival tower. The Lincoln Tower, as well as the chapel and adjoining community office space, are presently owned by United Reformed Church (as successors to the Congregationalists) and Baptists, and managed by Oasis Church Waterloo, part of the Oasis Trust charity. The chapel is also open as a cafe.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Gilbert Scott</span> English architect (1811–1878)

Sir George Gilbert Scott, largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses. Over 800 buildings were designed or altered by him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spire</span> Structure on top of a roof, skyscraper or tower

A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are typically made of stonework or brickwork, or else of timber structures with metal cladding, ceramic tiling, roof shingles, or slates on the exterior.

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

Lambeth is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charing Cross, across the river from Westminster Palace. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area experienced some slight growth in the medieval period as part of the manor of Lambeth Palace. By the Victorian era the area had seen significant development as London expanded, with dense industrial, commercial and residential buildings located adjacent to one another. The changes brought by World War II altered much of the fabric of Lambeth. Subsequent development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has seen an increase in the number of high-rise buildings. The area is home to the International Maritime Organization. Lambeth is home to one of the largest Portuguese-speaking communities in the UK, and Portuguese is the second most commonly spoken language in Lambeth after English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth</span> Metropolitan borough of England

Lambeth was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Lambeth became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Newman Hall</span> English Nonconformist divine

Christopher Newman Hall, born at Maidstone and known in later life as a 'Dissenter's Bishop', was one of the most celebrated nineteenth century English Nonconformist divines. He was active in social causes; supporting Abraham Lincoln and abolition of slavery during the American Civil War, the Chartist cause, and arranging for influential Nonconformists to meet Gladstone. His tract Come to Jesus, first published in 1848 also contributed to his becoming a household name throughout Britain, the US and further afield, supposedly selling four million copies worldwide over his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowland Hill (preacher)</span> Vaccination pioneer and radical preacher

Rowland Hill A.M. was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of smallpox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the London Missionary Society. The famous instigator of penny postage, Rowland Hill, is said to have been christened 'Rowland' after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westminster Bridge Road</span> Road in London, England

Westminster Bridge Road is a road in London, England. It runs on an east–west axis and passes through the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennington Road</span>

Kennington Road is a long straight road, approximately a mile in length, in the London Borough of Lambeth in London, England, running south from Westminster Bridge Road to Kennington Park Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oasis Charitable Trust</span> UK-based Christian charity

Oasis Charitable Trust, commonly known as Oasis, is a UK-based Christian registered charity. It was founded by the Reverend Steve Chalke in September of 1985. Chalke had been assistant minister at Tonbridge Baptist Church, Kent, for four years. He left this job with the aim of setting up a hostel for homeless young people. Oasis now has over 5,000 staff in the UK as well as thousands more volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John the Divine, Kennington</span> Church in London, England

St John the Divine, Kennington, is an Anglican church in London. The parish of Kennington is within the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. The church was designed by the architect George Edmund Street in the Decorated Gothic style, and was built between 1871 and 1874. Today it is a grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surrey Chapel, Southwark</span> Church in London, England

The Surrey Chapel (1783–1881) was an independent Methodist and Congregational church established in Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor Rev. James Sherman, and in 1854 by Rev. Newman Hall. The chapel's design attracted great interest, being circular in plan with a domed roof. When built it was set in open fields, but within a few years it became a new industrial area with a vast population characterised by great poverty amidst pockets of wealth. Recently the site itself has been redeveloped as an office block, and Southwark Underground Station has been built opposite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England</span>

The medieval cathedrals of England, which date from between approximately 1040 and 1540, are a group of twenty-six buildings that constitute a major aspect of the country's artistic heritage and are among the most significant material symbols of Christianity. Though diverse in style, they are united by a common function. As cathedrals, each of these buildings serves as central church for an administrative region and houses the throne of a bishop. Each cathedral also serves as a regional centre and a focus of regional pride and affection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church, Lambeth</span>

Christ Church, Lambeth, England, was founded by the Rev Dr Christopher Newman Hall in 1876 as a Congregational chapel, on Westminster Bridge Road. It drew its congregation largely from Surrey Chapel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Congregational Church and Chapel</span> Historic church in Vermont, United States

The Grafton Congregational Church, known locally as The Brick Church, is a historic church on Main Street in Grafton, Vermont. Built in 1833, it is a fine local example of vernacular Greek Revival and Gothic Revival religious architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Grafton's current Congregationalist congregation now meets primarily in the "White Church" at 55 Main Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Luke's United Reformed Church, Silverhill, Hastings</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

St Luke's Church is a United Reformed church in the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, a town and borough in East Sussex, England. The congregation was originally independent before taking up Presbyterianism, and worshipped in a private house from its founding in 1853 until a permanent church was provided in 1857; this was one of the oldest Presbyterian places of worship in southeast England. The growth of the community has resulted in several extensions since then, and severe damage caused by the Great Storm of 1987 was quickly repaired—except for the loss of the building's distinctive spire. The church, along with most other Presbyterian congregations, joined the United Reformed Church when that denomination was formed in 1972. It is one of four United Reformed Churches in the borough of Hastings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tarring</span>

John Tarring FRIBA (1806–1875) was an English Victorian ecclesiastical architect active in the mid-nineteenth century. Based in London, he designed many Gothic Revival churches for Nonconformist clients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church, St Leonards-on-Sea</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

Christ Church is an Anglican church in the town and seaside resort of St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Opened as the town's third Anglican church in 1860 to serve a rapidly developing residential area and to accommodate poor worshippers who could not afford pew rents at the fashionable St Leonard's and St Mary Magdalene's Churches, the original building was superseded by a much larger church built next to it between 1873 and 1875. Prolific ecclesiastical architect Sir Arthur Blomfield's simple Gothic Revival design forms a landmark on one of St Leonards-on-Sea's main roads, continues to serve a large area of the town and maintains a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It has been described as Blomfield's "finest achievement in Sussex" and "one of the main centres of Anglo-Catholic worship in Southern England". The interior fittings are the best of any church in the borough, and the design has been called one of Blomfield's most successful. St John the Evangelist's Church, founded as a daughter church nearby in 1865, also continues to thrive as a separate parish church. Historic England has listed Christ Church at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Leonard's Church, Streatham</span> Church in London , United Kingdom

St Leonard's Church is a Church of England parish church in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade II listed building and occupies a prominent position on the west side of Streatham High Road, at its junction with Tooting Bec Gardens and Mitcham Lane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godalming Congregational Church</span> Church in Surrey , United Kingdom

The building formerly known as Godalming Congregational Church was the Congregational chapel serving the ancient town of Godalming, in the English county of Surrey, between 1868 and 1977. It superseded an earlier chapel, which became Godalming's Salvation Army hall, and served a congregation which could trace its origins to the early 18th century. The "imposing suite of buildings", on a major corner site next to the Town Bridge over the River Wey, included a schoolroom and a manse, and the chapel had a landmark spire until just before its closure in 1977. At that time the congregation transferred to the nearby Methodist chapel, which became a joint Methodist and United Reformed church with the name Godalming United Church. The former chapel then became an auction gallery before being converted into a restaurant; then in 2018 the premises were let to the Cotswold Company to be converted into a furniture and home accessories showroom. In 1991 the former chapel was listed at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weybridge United Reformed Church</span> Church in Surrey , United Kingdom

The Weybridge United Reformed Church situate at Queen's Road, Weybridge, near to its junction with York Road, is a Victorian Grade II Listed church building that is now no longer used as a place of worship.

References

  1. Historic England. "TOWER OF FORMER CHRISTCHURCH AND UPTON CHAPEL (1081059)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 September 2017.

51°29′54″N0°06′43″W / 51.49844°N 0.11191°W / 51.49844; -0.11191