| St. Paul's, Covent Garden | |
Photo of St. Paul's
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| Country | United Kingdom |
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| Denomination | Church of England |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Inigo Jones |
St Paul's Church, also commonly known as the Actors' Church,[1] is a church designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fitt for the habitacons of Gentlemen and men of ability" in Covent Garden, London, England.[2]
As well as being the parish church of Covent Garden, the church gained its nickname by a long association with the theatre community.
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In 1630, the fourth Earl of Bedford was given permission to demolish buildings on an area of land he owned north of the Strand, and redevelop it. The result was the Covent Garden Piazza, the first formal square in London.The new buildings were classical in character. At the west end was a church, linked to two identical houses. The south side was left open.[3]
St Paul's was the first entirely new church to be built in London since the reformation.[3] The design of the church, and the layout of the square, has been attributed to Inigo Jones since the seventeenth century, although firm documentary evidence is lacking. [4] According to an often repeated story, recorded by Horace Walpole, the Earl of Bedford asked Jones to design a simple church "not much better than a barn", to which the architect replied "Then you shall have the handsomest barn in Europe".[5]
Work on the church was completed in 1633, at a cost of to Bedford estate of £4,886, but it was not consecrated until 1638 due to a dispute between the earl and the vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields. It remained a chapel within the parish of St Martin-in the -Fields until 1645, when Covent Garden was made a separate parish and the church dedicated to St Paul.[4]
The building is described by John Summerson as "a study in the strictly Vitruvian Tuscan Order". It has been seen as a work of deliberate primitivism: Summerson also points out that the Tuscan order is one associated by Palladio with agricultural buildings. [3] At the east end, facing the piazza, is a massive portico, with a boldly-projecting pediment supported by two columns and two piers. There were originally three doorways behind the portico; the middle one, which survives, was built as a false, door as the interior wall behind it is occupied by the altar. [6] The other two were blocked up in the nineteenth century, when the chancel floor was raised. [4] The main entrance to the church is through the plainer west front, which has a pediment, but no portico.[6] William Prynne, writing in 1638 said that it was originally intended to have the altar at the west end, but pressure from the church hierarchy led to the imposition of the traditional orientation. [4]
The earliest existing detailed description, dating from 1708, says that the exterior was not of bare brick, but rendered with stucco . In 1789 it was decided to case the walls in Portland stone as part of a major programme of renovation, which Thomas Hardwick was chosen to supervise. At the same time the tiled roof was replaced with slate, the dormer windows, added in the 1640s, were removed, [4] and the archways flanking the church, originally of stuccoed brick, were replaced with stone replicas.[6] When Hardwick's stone facing was removed from the church in 1888; it was found to be a thin covering averaging two-and-a-half to three inches thick, poorly bonded to the brick. The building was then reclad in the present unrendered red brick.[4]
There were originally six or seven steps leading up to the portico, but these disappeared as the level of the Piazza was raised gradually over the years. By 1823 there were only two steps visible, and none by 1887.[4]
The church was burnt out by a fire, accidentally started by workmen on the roof in September 1795.[6] A survey of the damage found that the outer walls had survived structurally sound, but that the portico would have to be reconstructed. It is unclear whether this was in fact done. The church was restored, again under the supervision of Thomas Hardwick, and reconsecrated, on 1 August 1798.[4]
The puritan Thomas Manton ministered from the pulpit of St Paul's until the Great Ejection. On 23 September 1662 Simon Patrick, later bishop of Ely, was preferred to the rectory of St. Paul’s where he served during the plague.
The first known victim of the 1665–1666 outbreak of the Plague in England, Margaret Ponteous, was buried in the churchyard on 12 April 1665. In 1788 Thomas Hardwick began a major restoration. However, in 1795 there was a terrible fire. Although much was destroyed, the parish records were saved, as was the pulpit — the work of Grinling Gibbons.[7]
St Paul's connection with the theatre began as early as 1663 with the establishment of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and was further assured in 1723 with the opening of Covent Garden Theatre, now the Royal Opera House.
On 9 May 1662, Samuel Pepys noted in his diary the first "Italian puppet play" under the portico — the first recorded performance of "Punch and Judy", a fact commemorated by the annual MayFayre service in May.
The artist J. M. W. Turner and dramatist W. S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) were both baptised at St Paul's. Among those buried at St Paul's are Samuel Butler, Grinling Gibbons, Sir Peter Lely, Thomas Arne (composer of "Rule Britannia") and the Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras. The ashes of Dame Ellen Terry and Dame Edith Evans rest in St Paul's. Memorials in the church are dedicated to many famous personalities of the 20th century, including Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Gracie Fields, Stanley Holloway, Boris Karloff, Vivien Leigh and Ivor Novello. The Avenue of Stars, which commemorated many notable figures and groups from the entertainment industry, formerly passed outside the church. There is also a Memorial plaque to Music Hall Star Bransby Williams 1870-1961, which was unveiled by Sir Michael Redgrave. The portico of St Paul's was the setting for the first scene of Shaw's Pygmalion, the play that was later adapted as the musical My Fair Lady.
The church is surrounded by an award-winning graveyard garden, providing an area of tranquillity within busy central London.
In 2002, the church hosted the first of two weddings (the other one was held in Los Angeles) for famous musicians Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale.
The Orchestra of St Paul's (OSP) is a professional chamber orchestra resident at the Actors' Church. In addition to a concert series in Covent Garden, the Orchestra of St Paul's gives regular performances all around the UK and makes annual visits to the Southbank Centre and St John's, Smith Square. The orchestra's musical director is Ben Palmer and its patron is Sir Roger Norrington.