CHAPTER XI
The Greek Church (Later St. Mary's,
Crown Street) and St. Martin's Almshouses
The buildings described in this chapter
(Plates 16, 17, 18, 19, fig. 71) occupied sites now
forming that of the building erected by the
London County Council in 1938 at No. 107–109
Charing Cross Road for the St. Martin's School of
Art and the College for the Distributive Trades.
This site had until then always been in divided
occupation, but for the first 140 years or so of its
use, until 1818, it was in the single ownership of
the parish of St. Martin in the Fields. The parish
held it from 1677 by lease and from 1686 as
freehold; from the latter year it lay geographically
within the area of the parish of St. Anne.
The physical disposition of the site as it was
first built upon in the years 1677–86 survived
without radical rearrangement until the period
1869–74 (fig. 71a). The history of the site
before the erection of the present building will be
discussed in two parts. First will be described
the area most of which was originally occupied
by a Greek church: from 1874 to 1934 this area
was occupied by the church of St. Mary's,
Crown Street, later Charing Cross Road (approximately plots A, B, C, on fig. 71a), and its clergy
house, latterly No. 109 Charing Cross Road
(approximately D on fig. 71a). Secondly will be
described the circumjacent area (E, F, G on fig. 71a),
originally occupied by the almshouses of St.
Martin's parish and later by church and local
authority schools.
Site and Curtilage of Greek Church
The occupation of this site began in the period
when the revived power of the Ottoman Turks
under the Kiuprili viziers was causing Greek
Christians to seek refuge or relief in Western
Europe. Some came to England, and the 1670's
saw a melancholy attempt to establish among the
raw brick carcases of Soho a shrine of Byzantium.
Royal and episcopal support was not lacking,
but an accumulation of troubles condemned the
enterprise to a very short life.
It had been embarked upon in 1674, (ref. 1) when a
petition to the Privy Council from three Greeks,
Daniell Bulgaris, Lewis Orbinaty and Demetry
of Constantinople, sought leave 'to Build a
Church in any part of the City of London or
Libertyes there of, where they may freely
exercise their Religion according to the Greek
Church'. A number of the refugees were doubtless
seamen from the archipelago and the petition
mentions that some of the Greeks were 'serving on
Board his Maties Fleete, & in Merchant Men'. In
January 1674/5 permission was granted, evidently
on the assumption that the Greeks would become
naturalized. (ref. 2) In the following month Bulgaris
(a priest) was acquiring British nationality. (ref. 3) But
the church-building project languished for want
of 'means, methods and interests', (ref. 1) until in 1676
the Greeks were joined by another priest, Joseph
Georgirenes, whose added energies succeeded
in at least getting the church built. Georgirenes,
a native of Melos (the Milo of the armless Venus),
had been consecrated Archbishop of Samos in
1666; increasing Turkish oppression after the
subjugation of Crete in 1669 made his position
difficult, so that in 1671, 'wearied with their
injuries, he retired to the Holy Grotto of the
Apocalypse, in the Isle of Patmos'. (ref. 4) His subsequent removal to England had in part a literary
purpose, 'to publish a Book in print, called
Anthologion, for the use of the Eastern Greek
Church'. (ref. 1) This did not materialize, but by July
1677 a translation of A Description of The Present
State of Samos, Nicaria, Patmos and Mount Athos
by Georgirenes had been made in England 'by
one that knew the Author in Constantinople',
and was published in London in the following
year.
On Georgirenes's arrival in 1676 his compatriots asked him (by his own account) to take
charge of the work of getting the church built. He
evidently lost no time in obtaining the approval of
the Bishop of London, Henry Compton, late in
1676 or early in 1677. The bishop further
promised 'to speak to the other Bishops, and other
Gentlemen to bestow their benevolent Contributions'. Next Georgirenes looked for a site, and
rather unfortunately turned westward from the
City to the new-building suburb of Soho, in the
parish of St. Martin in the Fields. There he sought
the co-operation of the prominent building speculator, Nicholas Barbon, who, Georgirenes relates,
'as soon as he was acquainted with my design,
promised to give me a peice of ground, and to
build the Foundation at his own charge'. Where
this was is not known, although Barbon was at
that time about to lay out the Military Ground
in building (see page 383). Georgirenes represents
himself as reporting Barbon's promise to the
bishop, whose goodwill led him to make an alternative offer which turned out ill for the Greeks.
According to Georgirenes the bishop 'promised
to give me a peice of ground himself, and sent one
Mr. Thrift with me, and marked out the ground'. (ref. 1)
This was Richard Frith, the bricklayer, and
Barbon's keen rival as a building speculator in
Soho (see page 30). The site thus accepted by
Georgirenes was on the west side of Hog Lane,
in Soho Fields, and was held on sub-lease by Frith
from Joseph Girle, a brewer, who held it from
the Crown lessee, the Earl of St. Albans. The
bishop intended to induce the parish of St. Martin
to acquire it from Frith and (no doubt) to make it
over in some manner to the Greeks. The exchange by which the parish obtained the site
(together with that of St. Anne's Church) from
Frith was made in August 1677 (ref. 5) . But later
events show that Georgirenes, who was 'unacquainted with ye language' of his benefactors, (ref. 6)
had failed to understand the intermediary nature
of the bishop's role or the dependent legal status
of what he was being 'given'.
For the time being, however, Georgirenes's
efforts met with fair success, and in the years
1676 to 1682 he collected some £1,500. (ref. 1) Apart
from natural concern for distressed fellow-Christians there was a political and sectarian
interest among Anglicans in the history and liturgical uses of a church which seemed to preserve
primitive traditions independent of Rome. (ref. 7)
(fn. a) In
March 1676/7 Georgirenes and Bulgaris asked
for assistance from the King, who gave £100. (ref. 9)
The Duke of York, despite his religion, seems also
to have been an especial benefactor, perhaps unfortunately for the Greeks. (ref. 10) The building of the
church (in the centre of the site and not directly
abutting on Hog Lane) evidently began in 1677
while Frith still owned the site. (ref. 11) He himself did
the bricklayer's work, with bricks supplied by his
lessor Joseph Girle, and by John Wells, and
already in July of that year was being fined by the
Tylers' and Bricklayers' Company for using bad
bricks. They were said to be 'sammell [soft or
badly baked] and crasey and too short'. (ref. 12)
Figure 71:
Site of Greek church and St. Martin in the Fields' almshouses
a. In 1868. Based on the Ordnance Survey map, 1869–74.
A. St. Mary's, Crown Street, formerly Greek church
(a, part of burial ground of St. Martin's taken into
church-site c. 1700). B. No. 10 Crown Street. C. St.
Mary's National School, formerly burial ground of St.
Martin's parish. D. No. 11 Crown Street, formerly
charity house of St. Martin's parish. E, F, G. Cottages,
formerly almshouses of St. Martin's parish.
b. In 1894. Based on the Ordnance Survey map, 1894–5.
Georgirenes set up an inscribed tablet on the
church to commemorate its foundation. This
still survives and is now re-erected in the cathedral
of Aghia Sophia, Moscow Road, Bayswater
(Plate 16b). Translated, the legend runs:
In the year of Salvation 1677, this Temple was
erected for the Nation of the Greeks, the Most
Serene Charles II, being King, and the Royal Prince
Lord James being Commander of the Forces,
the Right Reverend Lord Henry Compton being
Bishop, at the expense of the above and other
Bishops and Nobles, and with the concurrence of
our Humility of Samos, Joseph Georgirenes, from
the Island of Melos.
The progress of building had mainly to wait on
subscriptions, (ref. 1) although for a time an additional
source of income was in prospect. Georgirenes
had seemingly been accompanied to England by
another Greek from Melos, 'Lawrence Georgerini', who was perhaps a relation and who brought
to Hog Lane from the Cyclades a knack in
pickling mackerel. He sought to put this happy
skill at the service of his compatriots by asking
for fourteen years' patent rights, to provide
a maintenance for the church. The government was interested in the potentialities of this
for trade, and also for the victualling of the armed
services, and in December 1677 a warrant was
issued for the patent, but no record of a grant
survives. (ref. 13)
In October 1678 the church was sufficiently
complete to be caught in the vivid light cast by
the supposed narrative of the Popish Plot, and at
the same time Georgirenes was involved in a
complication of embarrassments. He had recently
had to accuse a 'servant', one Dominico Cratiana
(or Gratiano) of absconding with funds given for
the church, and Cratiana was brought to trial at
Bristol. Eventually the accusation failed (according to Georgirenes because of his own ignorance of
the English language and law). More seriously,
Cratiana then made counter-charges against
Georgirenes, evidently from September 1678 onwards, which seemed to bear on the Popish Plot. (ref. 14)
In October Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey died violently, probably by murder, and in November the
informer, Bedloe, surrendered himself at Bristol.
On the twenty-sixth of that month Cratiana, then
imprisoned in Bristol's Newgate, deposed that
Georgirenes, who was evidently also in that city,
had said that he hoped to hear Mass in Bristol
cathedral: (ref. 15) at that time or later he also accused
Georgirenes of saying that the Duke of York
would soon be King and that then he, Georgirenes,
would have a bishopric. (ref. 16) Secretary Coventry
was promptly informed (ref. 17) and the House of Lords
ordered Cratiana to be brought to London for
interrogation (ref. 18) (as Georgirenes had independently
requested). (ref. 6) This was done by 21 December,
when Cratiana was ordered to be kept in the
Marshalsea to await examination. (ref. 19)
On the same day the second chief informer on
Godfrey's supposed murder, Miles Prance, was
arrested. Three days later he produced an account
of the deed. Georgirenes's uneasiness must have
been worsened by the fact that his new church figured in Prance's narrative. This, true or false, told
how Godfrey's corpse had been carried in a sedan
chair 'as far as the new Grecian Church in The
Soho', where it was put on the back of a horse for
conveyance to Primrose Hill, and the chair 'left
in one of the new unfinished Houses', to be
collected on the way back. (ref. 20)
In the event, the occurrence of the church in
Prance's notorious tale is not known to have
embroiled Georgirenes himself in the subsequent
interrogations and trial, nor is any more heard of
the Lords' examination of Cratiana. No doubt
they decided that he had merely contracted at
Bristol the notion of blackening his accuser. But
the episode was, perhaps, less than helpful in
Georgirenes's relations with the Bishop of
London and William Lloyd, the vicar of St.
Martin's, who were both active in the investigation of the Plot.
Nevertheless, the work of completing the
church went on. In 1679 contributions were still
being paid towards building, (ref. 21) and in February
1679/80 Georgirenes described the church as
'almost finished'. (ref. 22) It is shown on Ogilby and
Morgan's map of 1681–2 (Plate 2).
By then, however, the Greeks' brief tenure of
the building was coming to an end. Writing in
1682 Georgirenes was to give a reason of practical
convenience for relinquishing it. But this decision may have owed something to the unhappy
atmosphere that seems to have surrounded the
Greek community. Cratiana was not the only
compatriot to trouble Georgirenes. In February
1679/80 the latter was obliged to put an advertisement in The London Gazette contrasting his stature
and growth of whisker with that of a brother
priest, Joachim Ciciliano of Cephalonia, who had
illicitly collected funds in Georgirenes's name
and 'Lewdly spent' them. (ref. 22)
(fn. b) Probably a graver
cause of difficulty was the dissension which had
arisen between Constantinople and London over
the doctrinal implications of Orthodox worship.
This appears in a letter sent to England by Sir
John Finch, the ambassador at Constantinople,
in February 1678/9. He had received from the
Bishop of London details of the observances
required of the Greeks before they could worship
in London: possibly the apprehensions awoken
by the Popish Plot were stiffening the bishop
against any departure from Anglican usage. The
Patriarch of Constantinople had now sent five
archbishops, accompanied as interpreter by a
Greek priest who had visited England and seen the
church there, to interrogate the ambassador.
The Greek authorities found quite unacceptable
the bishop's prohibition of certain practices
common to the Orthodox and Roman churches,
and themselves put forward large claims, including one that the London church should have 'the
same priviledges with that of Venice, and that it
might be under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch
of Constantinople, to whom any priest should be
sent to be judged'. The ambassador rejected this
as 'extravagant and unreasonable', but referred
the whole to the Bishop of London, to whom he
was writing on the same subject a year later. (ref. 24)
At that time, in 1680, the Epistle Dedicatory to
the bishop, prefixed by Thomas Smith to his
Account of the Greek Church, refers to the gratitude
owed to the bishop by the Greeks in Constantinople and London for his help in setting up the
church, but hints that 'the Governours of their
Church' may not have had 'such a gratefull
resentment of the favour, as it highly challenges
and deserves'. (ref. 25)
Probably in 1681 the Greeks decided to get
rid of the Hog Lane building. Georgirenes
explains that it had been 'found inconveniently
situated, being too remote from the abodes of most
of the Grecians, (dwelling chiefly in the furthermost parts of the City)', and that another church
was to be built elsewhere. (fn. c) Its intended location
is not known. He says that the bishop promised to
countenance this new church, but that when he
found a purchaser for the Hog Lane building the
bishop 'would not consent thereto, lest the Party
should make a Meeting house thereof'. (ref. 1) Georgirenes next tried to sell the building to St. Martin's
parish, with the bishop's cognizance. It then
appeared that Georgirenes had misunderstood
the nature of his tenure of the church, which he
supposed had in some manner been given him
by the bishop. The latter's benevolence in 1676–
1677 had, however, been limited (whatever his
ultimate intentions) to ensuring that the lease of
the site proposed for the church, together with a
circumjacent area, should be acquired by St.
Martin's parish from Frith in exchange for other
property and made over (presumably by a sublease) to the Greeks. This exchange, as has been
seen, had been made in August 1677. (ref. 5)
When appraisers appointed by Georgirenes
and the parish, probably late in 1681, reported
that the 'Church' was worth £626 (as Georgirenes
states) this was perhaps a valuation of the building
with the ground on which it stood. The parish
made a valuation of the building alone in December 1681, and finding it contained twenty-four
'squares' valued it at £7 per square. They therefore offered the Greeks only £168 for the conveyance of 'their pretended Right' in the building.
Georgirenes, who claimed to have spent £800 on
the construction of the church, relates that he then
found another purchaser at £230: the parish
offered £200, and on his refusing this took posses
sion of the church. After an unsuccessful attempt
to obtain legal redress Georgirenes published his
account of the business in 1682, and thereafter
no more is heard of him or his fellow worshippers
in Soho. (ref. 26) <For the Greek Church see also Gregorio Leti, Del Teatro Brittanico, 1683, pp. 250-1, 313, 548-9.>
In January 1681/2 the parish of St. Martin
obtained the promise of a grant from the Crown
of the freehold reversion of the church site and
surrounding ground, which was agreed to be made
to the Earl of St. Albans and by him transferred
to the parish. (ref. 27) The grant was in fact delayed
until 31 May 1684, when it was made to St.
Albans's heir, Thomas, Lord Jermyn, in trust
for the parish. (ref. 28) The conveyance from Lord
Jermyn to the parish was made on 31 March1 April 1686, (ref. 29) by which time the site lay within
the newly created parish of St. Anne.
In the meantime the parish of St. Martin
proceeded to the disposal of the site under its
leasehold tenure. On the north, west and south
sides it built almshouses; the history of this part
of the site will be discussed later. The history of
the church building, together with the ground
immediately to its north and east, continues to
be dealt with here.
In the early months of 1682 the parish was
negotiating with the congregation of French
Protestants at the Savoy, and in July leased to
them for thirty-one years at £12 per annum the
'New Erected Building commonly called or
known by the name of the Greek Church', and
the piece of ground adjoining it on the east. (ref. 30 )
(fn. d)
By March 1685/6 the lessees had, as covenanted, erected on the eastward piece of ground
(B on fig. 71a) a building abutting on Hog
Lane (later No. 10 Crown Street) which was
no doubt for a time 'the French Ministers
House'. (ref. 31)
North of this house was a site (D on fig. 71a)
which St. Martin's parish did not let to the French
congregation but retained for a 'charity house'
(later No. 11 Crown Street) built in 1686 to
accommodate female pensioners. (ref. 32)
North of the church, and also not leased to the
French at this time, was an open space appropriated as an additional cemetery of St. Martin's
parish for the burial of the poor from the adjacent
almshouses. It was consecrated in March 1685/6,
together with the site of the church. (ref. 33)
(fn. e) In 1700
a piece of this ground ten to thirteen feet wide
(a-a on fig. 71a) was leased by the parish to the
French for the northward enlargement of the
church, (ref. 35) but the rest (c on fig. 71a) remained
open until the nineteenth century.
The French congregation which acquired the
church in 1682, and retained it until 1822 under
a succession of leases from St. Martin's parish,
was generally known as L'Église des Grecs and
the neighbourhood was known to the French as
the 'quartier des Grecs' into the mid eighteenth
century. (ref. 36) The church was associated and served
with that of the Savoy, and like the Savoy conformed to Anglican worship. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries it was used
also for English services in connexion with the
almshouses, with an Anglican minister. (ref. 37) By
1700 it had become necessary to enlarge the
chapel northward, as indicated above, and a
new lease was taken of the augmented site. (ref. 38)
In the 1730's the church seems to have supplanted
that of the Savoy. (ref. 39) Well into the eighteenth
century the congregation was of very good
standing, (ref. 40) and Hogarth's Noon, published in
1738 (Plate 16a), is said to portray the church
and its smartly dressed congregation. (ref. 41) From c.
1691 to c. 1714 a French Protestant school of high
reputation was held in Greek Street, adjacent to
the church and almshouse site, with which it
communicated (see pages 173–4).
In 1818 the freehold of the whole site described
in this chapter, now occupied by No. 107–109
Charing Cross Road, was agreed to be sold by
St. Martin's parish (see below), and the French
congregation removed to Edward (now Broadwick) Street, St. James's, in 1822, when it had
only two years of its lease to run. (Thence it
moved in 1845 to Bloomsbury Street, now
Shaftesbury Avenue, for the remainder of its
existence.) (ref. 42) The chapel is shown during the last
years of its occupation by the French on Plate
17b, 17c.
In 1822 the whole site was bought by trustees
for a body of Calvinistic Independents. (ref. 43) They
occupied the chapel, perhaps intermittently, until
1849: (ref. 44) the minister from 1823 to 1833 was the
Rev. John Rees, (ref. 45) in 1848 the Rev. Charles
Brake, and in 1849 the Rev. Robert Hunt. (ref. 46)
Between 1823 and 1846 a schoolroom was
built on the former burial ground immediately
north of the chapel. (ref. 47)
In 1849 mortgagees of the property determined to sell the chapel and it seemed likely to
become a 'dancing saloon and music hall'. (ref. 48)
The rector of St. Anne's, the Rev. Nugent
Wade, thereupon bought in December of that
year the freehold of the chapel, of No. 10 Crown
Street, and of the site north of the chapel (A, B, C
on fig. 71a), for £1,500. (ref. 49) He was aided by a
'liberal grant' from the Metropolis Churches
Fund. The chapel was to be used as a chapel of
ease to St. Anne's, with all the sittings free. It
was conveyed to the Church Building Commissioners in June 1850, (ref. 50) and was consecrated as
St. Mary the Virgin on 29 June. (ref. 51)
The necessary alterations, which had been
estimated to cost £1,030, were made by P. C.
Hardwick; the builders were Warne and Son of
Lisle Street. (ref. 52) The pews were replaced by open
seats, the eastern parts of the galleries removed,
and the centre of the east wall set back to form a
sanctuary. A 'small but sufficient' chancel was
enclosed by a low screen, and two prayer desks
provided for 'antiphonal worship'. In the
chancel were red hangings below walls of yellow,
blue and grey, and the sanctuary roof was coloured.
Stained-glass windows were provided by James
Powell and Sons. (ref. 53)
The Ecclesiologist was warm in praise both of the
'adaptation of a conventicle of barbarous architecture' and of the 'missionary' character of the
church in a 'poor demoralized neighbourhood'.
It noted that the daily services 'are, we hear,
thronged by the poor'. (ref. 54) St. Mary's was more
ritualistic than the mother church, and the wife
of the rector of St. Anne's had expressed to him
the hope that 'you do not let Mr. Hardwicke
draw you into anything you do not approve of'. (ref. 55)
There was, indeed, strong hostility, led by the
churchwarden, Joseph George, among those
parishioners of St. Anne's who disliked the
'Histrionic mode of Worship' in a church which
they thought had been 'imposed on the Parish
without consulting its opinion or wish'. (ref. 56)
East of the church No. 10 Crown Street
(B on fig. 71a) was occupied by the curate and
school-teacher. (ref. 57) The school north of the church
was put in trust for use as a National School in
1852. (ref. 49) A district chapelry was assigned to St.
Mary's in 1856. (ref. 58)
In 1861 the curate-in-charge told the Ecclesiastical Commissioners that 'except for kind
friends it would be impossible to keep ye church
going'. Because of 'the extreme Poverty of ye
people . . . ye struggle has been for the last four
years terrible'. (ref. 59) But the congregation, though
poor, was said to be numerous, (ref. 60) the church had
wealthy supporters, and in 1867 a step was taken
towards a comprehensive scheme of enlargement,
estimated to cost £10,000. (ref. 61) In that year the
site of No. 11 Crown Street, the former charity
house of St. Martin's (D on fig. 71a), was bought
by the curate of St. Mary's for £1,100, (ref. 49) to be
the site of a new clergy house, of which the
foundation stone was laid by Mrs. W. E. Gladstone in July 1869: £2,700 had by then been
subscribed towards the cost of the whole scheme
of which the clergy house was part. (ref. 61) The completion of the house allowed the clergy to remove
from No. 10 Crown Street and this to be demolished (together with the eastern bay of the
old nave) for the construction of a chancel for
the church, of which the corner stone was laid
by Canon Liddon in April 1872: (ref. 62) the faculty
was granted in November when the cost was
estimated at £1,875, all of which had been
subscribed. (ref. 63) The chancel was consecrated on
27 May 1873. (ref. 64) Early in the same year and as
part of the same scheme new school buildings
were erected on the site of the north range of
former almshouses (E on fig. 71a) (see below),
and a north aisle was added to the old nave,
approximately on the former school site (c on
fig. 71a): these were completed in July 1874. (ref. 65)
The architects for the whole were R. Herbert
Carpenter and (until his death in December
1872) W. Slater. (ref. 66) Contractors included Gibson
Brothers of Southall (ref. 62) and Gough of Chelsea. (ref. 67)
The central figure of the reredos was executed
in white marble by Miss Grant, and the retable
of alabaster and marble, and the sedilia, by
Forsyth. (ref. 67) The organ, said in 1867 to be by Gray
and Davison, was rebuilt in 1873 by J. W.
Walker and Sons. (ref. 68)
The large scale of the chancel (Plate 19) had
been adopted in anticipation of the rebuilding of
the nave, (ref. 69) but this was not carried out at that
time. The nave was thus still substantially the
old Greek church when in May 1897 the London
County Council served a Dangerous Structures
Notice on the vicar of St. Mary's because of the
unsafe condition of the west end of the church, (ref. 59)
and subsequently itself had the roof of the nave
taken off. (ref. 70) (Plate 18). In 1900 the old nave was
replaced by a new one, of which the corner stone
was laid in June. (ref. 71) The church was re-opened in
April 1901 but work continued and by the end of
1903 some £6,251 had been spent. The architect
was A. R. G. Fenning and the builders Dove
Brothers. (ref. 59) The work was completed in 1904. (ref. 72)
Conrad Noel, who held mission services in
this 'church of unpopular causes' in the first
decade of the century, records that the high altar
was 'raised above the level of the church by a
remarkable series of steps' (twelve in number), (ref. 62)
and that a Lady Chapel, screened off by an iron
grille, contained 'a lovely altar-piece painted by
Selwyn Image' (curate at St. Anne's in the
1880's). (ref. 73) By the time of its demolition the old
nave had contained stained glass thought to be of
sixteenth-century German origin, (ref. 74) and in 1925
the windows contained many fragments of old
glass. (ref. 75)
In 1932 St. Mary's was united with St.
Anne's (ref. 76) and by the end of 1934 the church had
been demolished. (ref. 77) The rector of St. Anne's
was 'inundated with requests' for the contents. (ref. 59)
The seventeenth-century stone bearing the
Greek inscription which recorded the construction of the old nave was acquired by Mr. Philip
Argenti and presented to the Greek Orthodox
cathedral of Aghia Sophia, Moscow Road, where
it is now re-erected (ref. 78) (Plate 16b). The corner
stone of 1900 was similarly set up in the church
of St. Mary the Virgin, Kenton, Middlesex,
which was built with the aid of funds from the
sale of the site. (ref. 59)
The sale was concluded in March 1935, when
the site of the church and clergy house was
bought for £45,000 by the London County
Council, (ref. 49) to form part of the site of a new
building to house the St. Martin's School of Art.
The school already occupied that part of the
whole site of which the history is described below.
Site of St. Martin's Almshouses
On the perimeter of the leasehold site which
St. Martin's parish acquired in 1677 (E, F, G on
fig. 71a) the vestry built almshouses to replace
those in Cockspur Street. (ref. 79) Building possibly
began in 1680 (ref. 80) although the first mention of the
almshouses in the parish archives is in accounts
for building in 1683–4. (ref. 81) The poor were
ordered to be removed from the old almshouses in
March 1683/4. More almshouses were ordered
to be built in April. (ref. 82) Water pipes were laid in
May 1685 (ref. 34) and building probably finished in
1686. (ref. 80)
There were eighteen or twenty almshouses in
three similar ranges on the south, west and north
sides of the site. Latterly they accommodated
sixty poor women, some or all of whom were paid
monthly pensions out of the rent of the adjacent
church and other parish rents: in the early days
children were also lodged here. (ref. 83)
On the east side, fronting Hog Lane (D on fig.
71a), was a 'charity house' (later No. 11 Crown
Street) of slightly different design, in which
were accommodated four 'decayed Gentlewomen'
and their maidservant, with higher pensions than
the other almswomen. (ref. 84) Its site, unlike the other
almshouses, was not taken into that of the schools
built in 1873 and enlarged in 1890–3, but into
that of St. Mary's clergy house built in 1869
(see above).
For the almshouses built in the period from
August 1683 to January 1683/4, there survive
churchwardens' accounts of payments, totalling
some £981, made to twenty-five building or allied
tradesmen or builders' merchants. Eight suppliers
of bricks are mentioned. (fn. f) At the conclusion of
this period of expenditure, in January 1683/4,
a payment of unknown amount was made for 'a
draught', either of the almshouses or of their site,
to 'Richard Ryder Surveyor', who was thus
possibly responsible for the simple design (ref. 81) (Plate
17a).
The freehold of the entire site, including the
almshouses, was acquired by St. Martin's parish
in 1686 (see above).
The almshouses (and the charity house) continued to be used by St. Martin's until 1818.
In 1817 their 'very old and ruinous' condition
caused the parish to decide to remove its poor to
new almshouses to be built in the recently acquired
burial ground at Camden Town. (ref. 85) The Act of
Parliament to authorize the sale of the entire
site now occupied by No. 107–109 Charing
Cross Road was obtained on 8 May 1818. (ref. 86)
The almswomen were removed to Camden
Town in October. (ref. 87)
The location within St. Anne's, Soho, gave
that parish an interest in the site, particularly for
the accommodation of its paupers. The eventual
failure of St. Anne's to make the purchase seems
attributable in part to the inability of its open
vestry, when very numerously attended, to act
consistently or effectively. In July 1818 St.
Anne's had appointed a committee to treat with
St. Martin's. The committee thought the purchase 'most desirable', and the St. Anne's vestry
clerk, Emanuel Allen, offered £3,000 on behalf
of the parish, but St. Martin's would accept only
the highest offer over £3,500. The St. Anne's
open vestry thereupon authorized the committee
to offer St. Martin's '£50 beyond any other offer
they should receive'. The committee thought it
more prudent to set a limit of £4,500, and Allen
contracted for the purchase at £4,102 10s. In mid
August the St. Anne's vestry refused to be bound
by the agreement. A week later the vestry considered, without deciding, whether to purchase
the premises for a workhouse, and appointed another committee, which reported a fortnight later
to a large meeting of the vestry. The report
dwelt at length on the 'totally unfit' state of
the existing workhouse in Rose Street, where the
healthy had to share beds with the diseased, and
recommended the purchase on the terms of
Allen's contract. The vestry, however, rejected
the proposal by one vote. (ref. 88)
Allen was thus left with his contracted right to
the purchase at £4,102 10s. By 1819 he had
transferred this to Francis Const, of No. 25 Soho
Square, a wealthy lawyer and property speculator.
Const in turn found purchasers, at £4,500, and in
October 1822 (no conveyance having yet been
made) he, Allen and the parish of St. Martin's
joined in making the sale. (ref. 49) As has been said, the
purchasers were trustees for a body of Calvinistic
Independents. The chapel premises were to be
held by them jointly, under a mortgage. The remaining four parts of the site—the former
charity house and the three ranges of former almshouses (D, E, F, G on fig. 71a)—were each held
individually by one of the trustees. (ref. 89) Hence-forward the former almshouses were occupied
privately as cottages.
In June 1871 the north range (E on fig. 71a)
was sold to the vicar of St. Mary's, (ref. 90) for demolition. Here was erected in 1873–4 a building to
house the St. Mary's National School, which was
previously on a site immediately north of the
church (c on fig. 71a). Accommodation was
provided for 600 children. The building was part
of the larger scheme for the rebuilding of St.
Mary's church premises by the architects, R.
Herbert Carpenter and (until 1872) W. Slater. (ref. 65)
Gough of Chelsea was one of the contractors. (ref. 91)
In 1877 the school was transferred by the St.
Mary's authorities to the London School Board
under short leases. (ref. 92) In 1888 an Inspector of
Schools complained of the proximity of the
cottages, whose inhabitants were of 'the lowest
class' and performed 'gross indecencies' within
view of the children and teachers. (ref. 93) After some
opposition from the St. Giles Board of Works to
the expenditure of public money in a locality
where, though this school was full, the demand
for school places was lessening, (ref. 94) the School
Board took a longer lease of the existing premises
from the St. Mary's authorities in May 1890, (ref. 49)
and in August and October bought the freehold
of the two surviving ranges of cottages. (ref. 95) The
twelve cottages were then yielding £304 per
annum from weekly tenancies and a ground rent
of £50, and the purchase price for the leasehold
and freehold interests was £4,700. (ref. 96) In 1891–3
the sites were laid out by the School Board
architect, at a cost of £4,811, as playgrounds and
auxiliary buildings, with cookery and laundry
centres fronting Charing Cross Road (ref. 97) (fig. 71b).
By December 1912 only forty children were on
the roll of the school. It was decided by the
London County Council to close the elementary
school at Easter 1913 and transfer the building to
the St. Martin's School of Art, then in Castle
(now Shelton) Street, St. Martin in the Fields. (ref. 98)
The School of Art had been founded there in
1854 by the vicar and parish of St. Martin's. (ref. 99)
Shortly afterwards it became independent of the
parish and from 1894 was aided by the London
County Council. (ref. 100) In October 1913 it opened
in the former St. Mary's school building, (ref. 101) of
which a new lease was obtained by the Council
from the St. Mary's trustees in February 1914:
the lessors retained the use of some rooms for
parish purposes. (ref. 49)
In 1931 the Council decided to extend the
premises of the School of Art to include those of
the cookery and laundry centres. (ref. 102) In 1933 the
site of St. Mary's church and clergy house
became available for purchase and was bought
by the Council in March 1935 (see above).
In August the site of the school building held
on lease from St. Mary's trustees was bought by
the Council for £4,000 from the rector and
churchwardens of St. Anne's (with which
the benefice of St. Mary's was by then
united). (ref. 49)
The entire site was cleared in 1937 (ref. 103) and a
new building was erected to house both the St.
Martin's School of Art and the Technical
Institute (now the College) for the Distributive
Trades, formerly in Horseferry Road. (ref. 77) The
tender of Gee, Walker and Slater, Limited, was
accepted at £79,943. (ref. 104) The building, No.
107–109 Charing Cross Road (Plate 139a),
was erected to the design of E. P. Wheeler as
architect to the Council, the assistant architect
in charge being H. F. T. Cooper. It was opened
in May 1939. (ref. 105)
Architectural Description
The Greek Church and St. Martin's Almshouses
Discounting the restricted and probably inaccurate view in Hogarth's Noon, the earliest
representation of the Greek church is in the
oblique prospect of the south side given in Schnebbelie's watercolour of 1819 (Plate 17b). A view
from the south-west, drawn by Emslie in 1898,
shows the west front and south side after the east
end bay had been demolished to make way for the
Gothic chancel of St. Mary's (Plate 18a).
Emslie's view, which shows the Greek church
'nave' about to be demolished, is supplemented
by an engraving in Two Centuries of Soho. (ref. 106) The
west elevation had an upper range of four windows, and below the third was the main doorway
of the church, presumably marking the middle
bay of the original front of 1677–80. The south
side, and presumably the north, contained two
tiers of six windows and a doorway at either end.
The lower windows, which were the larger, had
interlacing Gothick lunettes, and were set in
round-headed openings with brick arches rising
from plain imposts to keyblocks, the latter merging into a bandcourse that continued across the
side elevation and had a short return only on the
west front. The upper windows were almost
square, with straight or slightly cambered arches.
Schnebbelie shows a projecting eaves-cornice,
but this was replaced by a low parapet above a
bandcourse. Apart from the simple dressing
of the lower windows, the only ornamented
feature was the west doorcase, with plain Doric
pilasters supporting a deep lintel, bearing the
Greek inscription already referred to, and a
simply moulded cornice. The stone Greek
cross above the doorway was a relatively late
addition.
No trace of Byzantine splendour appears in
the interior that Schnebbelie drew in 1819
(Plate 17c). He shows a typical Protestant meeting
house, with high panelled pews, and a gallery
with a panelled front supported on plain Doric
columns, below a plain flat ceiling. The west
gallery contained a cased organ, with the royal
arms above and an Act of Parliament clock on the
gallery front below. Opposite, against the east
gallery, rose the high pulpit with a hexagonal
type suspended above it.
P. C. Hardwick's efforts to transform this plain
'conventicle' into a High Anglican church have
already been noticed, and it was probably he who
added the Romanesque porch, with its corbelled
arch and gable, to the east end of the south side,
as seen in Emslie's drawing.
The house which was no doubt originally the
French minister's, as depicted by Schnebbelie,
appears to have had an exterior of later date than
1686, especially when compared with the neighbouring charity house of that date (Plate 17b).
Its brick front was a charming composition of
two storeys, the lower containing a door, with a
corniced doorcase, between two simple Venetian
windows, and the upper having three wide
straight-arched windows, all provided with external shutters.
The three ranges of almshouses erected round
the south, west and north sides of the irregular
quadrilateral site, were extremely simple, utilitarian structures of two storeys (Plate 17a). The
plain brick fronts were divided by a storey bandcourse and finished with an eaves-cornice below
the high-pitched roof of tiles. Many of the
windows were divided casements with diamondleaded lights, some doorways had plain wooden
hoods, and three houses in the north range had
gabled dormers in the roof.
St. Mary the Virgin Church and Clergy House,
Built 1869–74
The original design for St. Mary's embodied
the solid virtues of High Anglican church architecture in an austere Gothic building of simple
form, bold in scale and of impressive height,
executed in plain but good materials with the construction honestly expressed, and offering a concentrated effect of splendour in the chancel. (ref. 107)
Built of red brick sparingly dressed with stone,
the church was to consist of an ark-like body,
broad and lofty, its length divided into six equal
bays of which the eastern two formed the chancel
and the western four the nave, the latter having
three arched bays opening to a north aisle, of
similar height to the nave. The chancel and the
north aisle alone were completed to Slater and
Carpenter's design (Plate 19).
Massive buttresses of brick, rising into gablets above the parapet line, projected externally
and internally to divide the bays and support the
sexpartite vaulting of the chancel, which was of
brick with stone ribs. The side walls were relieved
of weight by high arches linking the buttresses
inside and out, each arch on the south side framing
a clerestory window consisting of two lancets
below a cusped circle. High in the east wall was
a group of five lancets, stepped to conform with
the arch of the vault. The nave was to have been
continued in the same style as the chancel, but the
south wall was to have had internal arcading below the clerestory windows, each composed of
three lancets stepped to conform with the vaulting.
A large rose window was intended for the west
front, above the double doorway.
Appropriately, the focus of the interior was the
chancel, with a great reredos some thirty feet
high below the east window, and a rich baldachino
raised above the communion table which was
elevated twelve steps above the nave floor. The
organ was placed in a gallery on the north side,
above the vestry entrance in the west bay, and
high in the east bay was a small window into the
oratory of the clergy house. Mansfield and Portland stone, Minton's mosaic, and Derbyshire
and Devonshire marbles were used for the steps
and paving, and the retable was of alabaster and
marble. The marble figure intended for the centre
of the reredos represented Our Lord reigning
from the Tree.
The clergy house, on the north side of the
chancel, had a tall and narrow front of five storeys,
the plain brickwork dressed with stringcourses
and moulded labels, the latter arching over the
lancets of the staircase and the paired two-light
windows of the rooms. The garret storey had
windows set in twin gables rising against the
steep, slated roof. Adjoining the clergy house was
the narrow east front of the school range, with
three windows in each of its three lofty storeys.
St. Martin's School of Art and College for the Distributive Trades, No. 107–109 Charing Cross Road
This is in many ways the most distinguished
front in Charing Cross Road, a design of conservative modernism carried out in dark red brick,
with stone used for the three-bay entrance features
at either end of the front, and for the groundstorey frame (Plate 139a). In the four-storeyed
brick face above are large metal windows set in
groups of three, six and three, below a moulded
brick entablature which underlines a range of
twelve studio-type windows. The stone face of the
recessed attic contains three groups of windows,
wide between narrow.