Description

SOUTHWARK

TQ3280SE ST THOMAS STREET
636-1/17/735 (North side)
06/12/49 No.9A
(Formerly Listed as:
ST THOMAS'S STREET
(North side)
Chapter House of Southwark Cathedral)

GV II*

Parish Church of St Thomas, now offices and museum. c1702-03.
Used as chapter house for Southwark Cathedral, 1901-80, and
part as operating theatre for St Thomas' Hospital. Early
craftsmen included Thomas Cartwright, mason and Jonathan
Maine, carver. 1901-2 conversion by Arthur Bartlett.
MATERIALS: brown-red brick with stone dressings and slate
roof.
STYLE: plain Queen Anne style.
PLAN: rectangular plan with advanced, square-plan tower of 4
storeys to south west.
EXTERIOR: main elevation to street has one storey of 4 bays
and sunken basement, while north elevation has attic dormers
and lower level exposed. Main elevation has 4 round-headed
windows with stone architraves and cherub head keystones,
leaded lights incorporating stained-glass shields. Rusticated
stone quoins and moulded stone cornice with pediment set
against brick parapet with stone capping.
Tower with rusticated quoins has doors in stone architraves on
east and south faces, with segmental pediments and carved
tympanum. At 1st-floor level a circular opening with moulded
stone architrave on south, east and west faces (one on west
blocked up); round-headed, louvred windows in stone
architraves with keystones, one at 2nd-floor and one at
3rd-floor levels on each face. Stone bands at 2nd and 3rd
floors, and moulded stone cornice surmounted by brick parapet
with stone pedestals at angles and in middle of each face.
(Altered) North elevation has 4 tall, straight-headed sash
windows with glazing bars and red rubbed brick dressings,
divided by attached Ionic pilasters with swags supporting
modillion cornice. Lower level was formerly open cloister
space underneath the north gallery of the church.
INTERIOR: has panelled galleries with oak mouldings to north
and west sides, original oak reredos with fluted, Corinthian
pilasters under open segmental pediment with Royal Arms in
panelled cresting having crown above and supporters either
side; and side sections with obelisks over triangular
pediments. Finely moulded modillion cornice with interspersed
paterae over egg-and-dart moulding. Staircase with turned
balusters to gallery. Wainscoting renewed c1900-01. Restored
clock of 1757 by William Parr.
In attic, and now approached by tower staircase, is the old
operating theatre of St Thomas's Hospital (1822-62),
rediscovered in 1957 and furnished with reproduction gallery
and appurtenances of surgeons' trade. Recently opened, along
with the former herb garret, as a museum.
HISTORICAL NOTE: church built as part of rebuilding scheme for
old St Thomas's Hospital between 1680 and 1732, of which only
it, and No.9 adjacent (qv) remain. Continued as a parish
church until 1898. 1901-2 reordered inside for use as chapter
house. North elevation is treated in same way as that of
adjoining No.9 (qv) which was rebuilt for hospital at same
time. Together they form one of the more important survivals
of Queen Anne architecture in London).
This building forms a group with Nos 9-15 (qqv).

Listing NGR: TQ3276680185

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Thomas' Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q17531441 Q7591864

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)