Church of St Mark

History

The Church of St Mark was consecrated on 29 June 1872 and was originally a daughter church to that of St Mary's, Bryanston Square. It seated about 600 persons, and was intended to improve provision of worship space in this crowded area of St Marylebone. A controversy over ritualism broke out here in the mid-1890s concerning changes to the east end. Slight alterations were carried out here in 1903 under the direction of G F Bodley. The church was largely cleared of its fittings in the mid-1990s and has been used for a mixture of uses since then. This church is a good example of an inner-city church, built with a limited budget, to provide spiritual outreach to the crowded districts of inner London. Together with the neighbouring vicarage and church schools it forms a notable group of High Victorian religious buildings in an inner-city setting.

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 24/01/2020

1900/0/10289

OLD MARYLEBONE ROAD
CHURCH OF ST MARK

31-OCT-01

GV II

Church of St Mark, 1871-1872 by Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829-1899).

MATERIALS: red brick with Bath stone dressings, tiled or slate roofs.

PLAN: nave with aisles, aligned north-south, with altar at south end.

EXTERIOR: gabled end with buttresses, lower aisles to either side. Central gabled entrance with moulded arched door surround of stone: stiff-leaf capitals to shafts flanking doors, tympanum above contains relief of St Mark, holding roundel with lion, within a mandorla against a relief of rinceaux. Double plank doors with Gothic Revival ironwork. Lesser door to left (or east) with IHS monogram in tympanum. Band of herringbone brickwork beneath moulded string course over porch, above which is a receding tiled roof; arched opening to centre of upper gable contains a pair of arched lights with quatrefoils above, a circular window with three quatrefoils, flanked by circular rosettes of moulded brick, with more herringbone brickwork to the recess. Gables terminate in octagonal finials. Sides of exterior are largely concealed by neighbouring buildings: each has rows of arched recesses with four-light windows at upper level, over sloping side roofs to aisles.

INTERIOR: four-bay nave with arcades of cast iron piers to either side. Open king-post truss roof to nave, open truss roof to aisles. Large chancel arch opening to sanctuary carried on colonnettes, with triple-arched openings above. Triple openings to arcaded sides, carrying paired arches above: those to (liturgical) north contain windows, those to (liturgical) south are open. Three-light (liturgical) east window, upper parts by Mary Lowndes possibly designed by or with Emily Ford in 1904, lower parish war memorial lights of around 1920, depicting the warrior Saints Joan, George and Maurice (symbolising the Allied powers of France, Britain and Italy), are unidentified, but possibly the work of William Morris & Company of Westminster (not to be confused with the Morris & Company, founded by the designer-craftsman William Morris). North chancel chapel added in 1895. Organ loft at west end with organ by Whiteley of Chester (not the original) and an arcaded trefoil headed front to loft.

FITTINGS: largely removed. Altar table 1897 by Messrs Grosse of Bruges, dedicatory plaques in north chancel chapel in situ. Five-panel reredos with scenes from the Life of Christ painted by Emily Ford, adapted from 1897 reredos in 1904. This was originally positioned below the east window, but was moved in March 1956. Its current position became the chapel of St Francis of Assisi in October 1956. The reredos was restored at least twice, in 1942 and 1950, and the woodwork around the paintings was also repainted.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

488184

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Reference to east window and reredos in Building News, 1904, Vol. 86, (29 April 1904), p638

Other
Diocese of London1898 Faculty papers (bundle including consistory court papers, correspondence, parish magazines, newspaper articles), London Metropolitan Archives (LMA: DL/A/C/02/044/021)
Diocese of London 1903 Faculty papers, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA: DL/A/C/02/049/025)
Diocese of London 1955 Faculty papers, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA: DL/A/C/02/101/085)
PCC and annual vestry minutes; parish magazines, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA: P89/MRK1//30-32, /33-37)

End of official list entry

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