Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist, Hoxton

Built between 1824 and 1826 by Francis Edwards, this is a large and impressive Classical-style church constructed at the expense of the Church Building Commissioners. It was funded under a £1 million Parliamentary grant from 1818 intended to provide Anglican places of worship in areas of rising population lacking adequate Established church accommodation. The building cost £15,394 (£16,444 including the graveyard) and originally contained 1732 sittings, of which 1066 were free. It was consecrated on 22 June 1826 as a chapel of ease to St Leonard's, Shoreditch.

The church is constructed of stock brick with limestone dressings. The plan comprises a nave and chancel with internal vestries.

Externally, the building presents a single vessel appearance with a tower projecting from the west end and a plain parapet running around all four sides. The east end has a central bay brought forward to accommodate the altar, framed by pairs of flat limestone pilasters. The side elevations are symmetrically arranged with rectangular doorways in the end bays, which project slightly and are framed by flat pilasters. The windows are arranged in two tiers: small segmental-headed openings below and much taller round-headed openings above, separated by a horizontal limestone band. This two-tier arrangement expresses the presence of galleries within. The band continues around the entire church, broken only by flat pilasters and the bay containing the west entrance, emphasising the horizontal division.

The west end has three bays with two giant Ionic columns in antis flanking the rectangular doorway in the middle bay. Behind the entrance, the tower projects through the roof, initially square then turning to two circular tiers terminating in a cupola. The lower circular stage has flat pilasters between eight single-light round-headed openings; the upper stage has single-light openings to the cardinal directions with paired Ionic demi-shafts in between.

The interior retains much of its original Georgian character through its plan, galleries on three sides, and flat ceiling. The galleries are supported by wooden Tuscan columns with panelled fronts. Unusually, they retain their original seating, comprising a mixture of pews and open-backed seating—an important survival. The body of the church contains Victorian seating with shaped pew ends. The wooden pulpit is mounted on wheels so it can be retracted underneath the galleries.

The defining characteristic of the present interior is the rich decorative scheme of the ceiling and paintings flanking the east window, executed by J A Reeve (1850-1915) between 1902 and 1914 and restored to their original appearance in 1993-94. The ceiling features angels of the Apocalypse in square panels on a blue ground, executed in an accomplished late Romantic manner with painterly execution. The wings of the angels display subtle modulation of tone and colour reminiscent of later followers of Burne-Jones. The decorative settings are rich and bold, with border strips dividing the ceiling into compartments in a slightly muted idiom of Burges, with traces of Art Nouveau arabesque freedom. The west end was screened off with oak and glass partitions in 1995 by Tom Hornsby of Keith Harrison Associates for various uses.

Principal fixtures include a polygonal mid-Victorian font dating to 1865 on a shafted base, which serves as a memorial to A F Kelly, the incumbent for 38 years who died in 1864. His monument, also by M W Johnson of Euston Road, hangs on the wall. There are a few wall monuments, and the stained glass is post-1945 following war damage.

The churchyard is bounded by fine wrought-iron railings on the south and east sides. Mounted in the south boundary rail between the churchyard and pavement is a polished granite drinking fountain erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.

Francis Edwards (1784-1857) entered Sir John Soane's office as an improver in 1806 and was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools two years later, winning both silver and gold medals. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1809 and 1830. After leaving Soane's office in 1810, he assisted fellow former pupil H H Seward for four days a week until 1823, when he devoted all his time to his own practice. His work encompassed many building types; his best-known building was the now-demolished Lion Brewery, a South Bank landmark near Westminster Bridge.