1848. 1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



129 



BLOOMSBURY BAPTIST CHAPEL. 



John Gibson, Esq., Architect. 



(With an Engraving, Plate VII.) 



Bloomsbury-street now presents a very unusual, if not altoge- 

 ther unprecedented, assemblage of church architecture, there 

 being there no fewer than three churches — at least, places of public 

 worship — together in a line by the side of each other. With 

 general similarity of purpose, they display great variety, or we 

 might say contrast. That to the north — namely, Bedford Chapel, 

 or what used to be so called, and which was originally of a most 

 dismal "tabernacle" appearance — was merely re-dressed externally 

 a year or two ago; a circumstance that perhaps excuses many 

 defects and inequalities in the design, the architect being com- 

 pelled to retain all the former openings, both doors and windows, 

 — and it would seem, the former turret and a bit of the gable also, 

 which are seen sticking up most awkwardly over the now horizontal 

 line of the front. Were it not for that, and for the meanness of 

 the doors, the front would have been passable. 



The second of the three buildings in point of date is the south 

 one, — a French Protestant church, with a small residence for the 

 clergyman attached to it. For this, the style adopted is Gothic ; 

 but the design is exceedingly sober and unpretending, there being 

 scarcely anything in it except the large window to give it expres- 

 sion. Even that feature is not made so much of as it might have 

 been ; for although sufficiently correct as to mere form and com- 

 position, it has a tame and spiritless look. 



The Baptist Chapel, which comes in immediately between the 

 two other buildings, is by far the most ambitious and conspicuous 

 of the three. It is that which announces itself most distinctly as 

 a church — in fact, much more as a " church" than as a dissenting 

 place of worship, the latter having hitherto generally eschewed 

 instead of at all afi'ecting, the ecclesiastical orthodoxy of towers, 

 and spires ; while here we have not only tower and spire, but a 

 pair of them. And here they produce a most agreeable diversity 

 of outline, not only as regards the structure to which they belong, 

 but the general group of all the three ; more especially as the as- 

 pect of their fr<uits is an east one, — wherefore they are invariably 

 in shadow, except early in the morning. Standing out in bold 

 relief against the sky, and catching the light on one of their otlier 

 sides, the towers serve to produce some play of light and sliade, as 

 well as form and outline. They tell very strikingly in tlie view 

 from New Oxford-street, — perhaps more so just now than they 

 will do some time hence, for at present they occasion something 

 like surprise also, they seeming to have started into existence all 

 at once, as the building was begun only last autumn. Owing to a 

 singularly happy accident — to mere accident, and nothing more — 

 one of the towers displays itself very picturesquely from Hart- 

 street — near by St. George's, Bloomsbury, — at the end of a vista, 

 formed by a cross-street that runs obliquely from New Oxford- 

 street, into Bloomsbury-street. 



The style of this Baptist Chapel is of exotic character to 

 English eyes, it being mediaeval Italian or Lombardic ; but whe- 

 ther selected on account of its being unlike our own Anglo-eccle- 

 siastical style of the same period, we cannot say ; but, we must ob- 

 serve, the addition of campanili partakes very much more of 

 English Gothic than of Lombardic physiognomy and mode of com- 

 ]W>sition. As our engraving explains the design itself much more 

 intelligibly than tlie most accurate description could possibly do, 

 we need not even attempt any ; accordingly, we shall confine our- 

 selves to a few remarks. While we readily confess that the ar- 

 chitect (Mr. John Gibson, whose name was quite unknown to us 

 before) has shown competent knowledge of the style generally, 

 we also desiderate more regard to the spirit of it in some of the 

 dWails. Tlie uppermost story of the towers, and the large cir- 

 cular window, are satisfactory enough ; not so, however, the door- 

 ways, which might very properly have been made far more im- 

 portant features, — important, we mean, not as regards size, but 

 with regard to design and execution. Such parts of a building Ijeing 

 those wliich are most clearly of aU seen, — in fact, those which sub- 

 ject themselves to the closest inspection, they naturally demand 

 more elaborate ornamentation and finish than others which can be 

 seen from, comparatively, only a distance. Sucli at least seems to 

 have been the principle generally observed by medieval architects, 

 whose doorways and portals were frequently most profusely 

 adorned, even when all the rest of a fa9ade was either featureless 



' * When alteration was going on, it would surely have been worth while to remove the 

 pntrani-es to the " wine vaults" beneath the chapei, from the front to the aide; — or 

 better still, if it could have been done, to the rear of the building, wiiere they would have 

 bteu entirely out of sight. 



No. 128— Vol. XI.— May, 1848, 



or left quite plain. The bestowing particular attention upon them 

 is indispensably requisite for any adequate characterization of the 

 Lombardic style ; more especially as, unlike the Gothic, it affords 

 very few resources of design for windows (circular ones alone ex- 

 cepted), wliich ivere seldom more than mere small single openings, 

 without any of that variety and richness which arise from muUions 

 and intersecting tracery. If not richer in their general design, the 

 doorways of tliis chapel might very well have been considerably 

 bolder in their details and execution. Were they more deeply 

 recessed, and their mouldings in greater relief, they would make 

 a far better appearance. 



The building is of white brick, with ornamental dressings of 

 Caen stone. The spires are constructed of timber, and are covered 

 with ornamental tiles. Tlie width of frontage is 70 feet, and the 

 height to the top of the spires 115 feet. 



The interior affords accommodation on the ground floor for about 

 460 persons in pews, with a vestibule and two vestry rooms. In 

 the towers are staircases leading to the basement and gallery floors, 

 the whole extent of the former being set apart for two schools, for 

 boys and for girls. The galleries occupy three sides of the chapel, 

 with an organ gallery on the fourth — these will accommodate 47(1 

 persons in pews, with a separate gallery for 250 children ; total 

 accommodation, 1,180. 



The span of the roof, clear of supports, is 65 feet. The height 

 from the floor to the ceiling is 39 feet. The whole building is 

 nearly a square, and covers a superficial area of 5,150 feet. 



GOTHIC WINDOW. 



^'''—During the autumn of 1846, in which I stayed some weeks 

 at Boppart, on the Rhine, I met with, in an old church at that 

 place, a Gotliic window, of which I made memoranda. From 

 these, a friend has been enabled to send me the inclosed. I now 

 forward it to you, in case you may think it worthy of insertion in 

 your very useful publication. 



Athen<pum Club, Pall Mall, 

 March 16, 1848. 



I am, yours, &c., 



I. J. Chapman. 



18 



