The Dutch Church

Details

TQ 3281 SE AUSTIN FRIARS, EC2

627/10/10163 The Dutch Church

II

Church. 1950-54 by Arthur Bailey. Reinforced concrete box frame clad externally in Portland stone ashlar and internally in Doulting stone. Hipped roof of slate to eaves cornice, with some lower flat roofs. Leaded fleche. T-shaped plan, with tall rectangular central space and low north aisle. Stepped north elevation in three levels with a projecting segmental headed doorway to right side, and projecting two-storey wing behind with cross in relief. Square headed 2-light windows at all three levels, tall to the middle tier. Recessed and moulded surrounds. Relief crest above each window, and above entrance. Rusticated half basement, also with 2-light square-headed windows. Tall fleche surmounts roof at junction of T-plan. This has tall delicate pilasters and an ogee dome topped by a spire. Weathervane and external stonework, the latter commemorating the beheading of the Duke of Arnold in C14 (he was buried in the old church), by John Skeaping. The forecourt over the columbarium is edged with low stone walls and steps. It includes a fragment of one pier from the medieval church.
Interior also ashlar lined with segmental headed arcades. Wall on liturgical south side articulated by fluted pilasters, the aisle with groin vaulting. Pews donated by the Protestant Nederduitsch Vervormde and (Nederduitsche) Gereformeerde churches of South Africa. Stained glass to many windows. The glass in the aisle by W Wilson, 1954-8, and includes commemorative memorial to the church's friendly associations with the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. To the north of the sanctuary is glass donated by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, connected to the Church since 1558. Opposite is glass donated by the Corporation of the City of London. Memorial window to Queen Wilhelmina, of 1962 by Rev. Kok. Three western windows by Max Nauta commemorate the history of the church and the sixteen English towns who permitted the Dutch community to worship in C16. Central timber pulpit raised on stone dais over floorstone from the medieval friary church on the site until 1940, with tall timber panel to wall behind and tester. Decorative brass chandeliers of traditional type, large to main space and small to the aisle. Matching wall lights. Organ built in 1954 by Willem van Leeuwen of Leiderdorp, Holland, reached up spiral stair. Coffered segmental barrel ceiling. Stairs (with glass commemorating William and Mary) lead down to lower community hall, library and columbarium, the latter incorporating the remains of bodies found on the site during excavation work in the late 1940s.
The Dutch church is the oldest foundation of any foreign denomination in England, and the oldest foundation of any protestant denomination, whether English or foreign. It received its charter in 1550 from Edward VI, and the Augustinian Friary he granted to it was restored to the community by Elizabeth I in 1560 after the community briefly took refuge in Emden, north Germany, during the reign of Mary I. so long a continuity of worship, and the early missionary work of its pioneering presbyterian community, has caused the church to be regarded as a `mother church' by Dutch Protestants in the Netherlands. The present building replaces the medieval one, bombed on 15-16 October 1940. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 23 July 1950 by the ten year old Princess Irene of the Netherlands, symbolically commemorating the original foundation by the boy king Edward VI.
The Dutch Church is a good example of a London church built for an expatriot congregation, combining Dutch and English craftsmanship and commemorating their history together in the City. Arthur Bailey was a leading exponent of the refined English classical tradition which continued to develop through the 1930s and 1950s, and this is perhaps his finest work. The result of English, Dutch and South African patronage served to create one of the most lavish non-conformist churches to be built in England during the austere post-war years.

The asset was previously listed twice, also in the City of London as List entry 1380071. This entry was removed from the List on 04/12/2015.


Listing NGR: TQ3293081357

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

470626

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Lundeboom, J, History of the Dutch Reformed Church 1550 to 1950, ()
The Builder in 10 September, (1954)
Architects Journal in 20 July, (1950), 57

End of official list entry

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