Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church

Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church is a Baptist church built between 1845 and 1848 by John Gibson for Sir Samuel Morton Peto, who believed a church was needed in the area. The church is constructed of grey brick with stone dressings and features vertical bands, showcasing an early Italian Gothic style. It has a rectangular plan and stands two storeys high with attics.

The west front has three windows and is flanked by rectangular towers. There are three central moulded arch entrances, above which is a Lombardic frieze and a large rose window, flanked by two round-arched windows. A deep Lombardic frieze runs beneath the arcaded attic windows, which are topped with a balustrade. The four-stage towers have vertical bands and small windows, with the fourth stages serving as belfries featuring round-arched openings, friezes, and cornices with trefoil enriched dies at the angles. The original short spires were removed due to war damage.

Inside, the church has a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with a curved gallery supported by polygonal cast-iron columns. The gallery features an arcaded-patterned front, and decorated square columns rise from the gallery to the roof. The interior includes good curved pews and stained glass windows that incorporate texts. A winding wrought-iron staircase on either side of the narrow central entrance foyer leads to the balcony, which was refitted in the 1960s.

Historically, this church was the first Baptist chapel to be prominently situated on a London street, resembling a traditional church and reflecting the improved status of Victorian dissenters. Legend has it that when Peto sought to lease the land, the First Commissioner of Woods & Forests remarked that Nonconformist chapels were too dull and preferred a church with a spire. Peto famously replied, "A spire? My Lord, we shall have two!"