Description

CITY OF WETMINSTER DEAN'S YARD TQ 2979 SE, TQ 3079 SW 100/101 Church House GV II Assembly Hall, chapel and offices. Built 1936-40 by Sir Herbert Baker and A.T. Scott for Church of England; restored after bomb damage in .1949/50. Steel-framed with reinforced concrete; clad in brick set on flint base with stone ashlar dressings; gabled plain tile roofs; copper-roofed dome to central Assembly Hall. Plan has central Assembly Hall surrounded by ambulatory and offices; Hoare Memorial Hall faces Great Smith Street to west, House of Convocation faces Tufton Street to east, and chapel projects from north east corner. Free Georgian style. Main north front, facing Dean's Yard, of 4 storeys and attics; pedimented 3-bay entrance block flanked by taller 6-bay ranges and fronted by raised terrace with balustraded parapet. Entrance block: boldly-projecting porch with 3 semi-circular arched entrances; cross windows, with flintwork crosses set above moulded stone window architraves to first floor; high relief figure in central niche by Charles Wheeler, representing the Prophet of Assembly of the Church of England; minimal Corinthian pilasters to pediment which has foliate-carved brickwork surrounding lunette in tympanum. Cornice'is continued as string courses to taller flanking ranges, which have shields of Anglican sees alternating with semi- circular arched windows to ground floor, flat brick arches over sashes and hipped roof dormers. Lower 4-bay range to right (west), in sirnilar style. 4-bay chapel range to left (east) has red brick semi-circular window architraves to first-floor chapel above stone mullioned windows and double-chamfered semi-circular arched pedestrian and carriage arches; 3-bay projection to front has stone mullioned and transomed ground floor windows and red brick flat arches over sashes. Similar elevations, with semi-circular arched ground-floor windows, to Little Smith Street (south), Tufton Street (east), Great Smith Street (west) and Great College Street (south elevation of projecting'chapel range to north east): tall oriel window to Hoare Memorial Hall, facing Great Smith Street; oriel window and semi- circular arched windows to House of Convocation facing Tufton Street; similar chapel elevation and 6-bay range further to east with stone mullioned windows and doorcase with bracketed segmental hood facing Great College Street. Interior: entrance hall, finished in polished Ancaster stone and oak, has vaulted ceiling and fine iron balustrade to staircase. Ambulatory, which has lunettes with coloured reliefs and is surmounted by gallery and clerestory with semi-circular arched windows, surrounds Assemby Hall: this has toplit saucer-domed ceiling with figures to springing by Charles Wheeler, heraldic devices and plaster reliefs to panelled coves under gallery. Hoare Memorial Hall has tall panelled dado and ornamental plaster ceiling. House of Convocation has southern apse with Anglo-Indian style arcaded seats. Chapel, on double apse plan, has panelled walls and plaster vault; altar and reredos to east end, with eight gilt figures supporting black marble altar; sanctuary paved with variety of British marbles; horseshoe of arched stalls at west end, divided by finely-carved corbel heads. (Sir Herbert Baker, Church House, Its Art and Symbolism, 1940)

Listing NGR: TQ2996779312

External Links

• Church House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q2967665

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)