Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 235, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1271628
- Date first listed:
- 04-Nov-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
- Statutory Address:
- BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 235, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-04-19
- Reference:
- IOE01/16138/09
- Rights:
- © Dr Barbara Hilton. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1271628
- Date first listed:
- 04-Nov-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
- Statutory Address 1:
- BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 235, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 235, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Camden (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 30068 81390
Details
CAMDEN
TQ3081SW SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
798-1/105/1428 (East side)
04/11/94 No.235
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
(Formerly Listed as:
SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
Central Baptist Church)
GV II
Baptist church. c1845-8. By John Gibson. For Sir Samuel Morton
Peto on speculation because he considered a church was needed
in the area. Grey brick with stone dressings and vertical
bands. Early Italian Gothic style. Rectangular plan.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics. West front of 3 windows
flanked by rectangular towers. 3 central moulded arch
entrances above which a Lombardic frieze and large rose window
flanked by 2 round-arched windows. Deep Lombardic frieze
beneath arcaded attic windows crowned by a balustrade. 4-stage
towers with vertical bands and small windows; 4th stages are
belfries with round-arched openings, friezes and cornices
having trefoil enriched dies at angles; formerly with short
spires, removed due to war damage.
INTERIOR: horseshoe-shaped auditorium with curved gallery
supported on polygonal cast-iron columns; the gallery with
arcaded-patterned front. Decorated square columns rise from
gallery to roof. Good curved pews, and stained glass
incorporating texts. Balcony reached by winding wrought-iron
stairs in angles either side of narrow central entrance foyer
refitted c1960s.
HISTORICAL NOTE: this was the first Baptist chapel to stand
prominently on a London street, looking like a "church",
reflecting the improved status of Victorian dissenters. Legend
records that when Peto sought to lease the land, the First
Commissioner of Woods & Forests told him that Nonconformist
chapels were too dull: he liked a church with a spire. "A
spire?" exclaimed Peto, "My Lord, we shall have two!".
Listing NGR: TQ3007881386
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 477974
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 13:29:07.
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