(Former) First Church of Christ Scientist

Architect: R. F. Chisholm (1840-1915)

Completed 1908

Sloane Terrace

South Kensington, London SW1

"A building of originality.... The style is a free Byzantine with oriental touches.... tall bell-tower with concave octagonal cupola set back behind curved, corbelled-out balustrades" (Cherry and Pevsner 561). Originally serving a congregation of 1,400, the church was used for its intended purpose until 1996, when its now smaller congregation moved elsewhere. [Commentary continues below.]

Photograph © Tim Glover, licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence. The image has been slightly corrected for perspective.

Text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee

The building was bought by the Cadogan estate in 2000, and in 2004 reopened as the home and concert hall for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While the exterior retains its exotic presence, the interior needed major adaptations, especially for its acoustics. But something remains here too of Chisholm's attention to detail and focus on craftsmanship: "When the organ screen was re-assembled and nearly a century of dirt was removed it was found that each of the column capitals and each of the carvings around the arching balustrade are unique — a surprise discovery that added to the richness of the building" ("A Brief History").

Bibliography

"A Brief History of Cadogan Hall." Cadogan Hall. Web. 24 April 2019.

Cherry, Bridget, and Nikolaus Pevsner. London 3: North West. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.

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Created 24 April 2019