St John'S Gate

St John's Gate, Islington

Originally the south gateway to the Priory of Clerkenwell, which served as headquarters of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, St John's Gate now functions as the headquarters of the Most Venerable Order of St John. The building was constructed in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra.

The structure has undergone several phases of restoration and alteration. It was probably refaced in 1846 through the efforts of W.P. Griffith, a local architect and antiquarian. Further restoration work followed in 1873-74 by Richard Norman Shaw, in 1893 (involving reworking of coats of arms over the arch), and in 1903 by John Oldrid Scott, all undertaken through the efforts of Sir Edmund Lechmere. An east wing, including the Chapter Hall, was added in 1903 to the designs of John Oldrid Scott.

The building is constructed of brick with dressed ragstone facings and stone dressings, and is roofed in clay tiles. It consists of an arch over the street with a room above it, flanked by slightly higher tower-like wings differently arranged on the north and south sides. The arch itself is four-centred with a star-shaped square tierceron vault, with English bond brickwork forming the interior walls. These walls contain Tudor-arched windows and a doorway.

On the north side, a three-light Tudor-arched window is set centrally above the arch with coats of arms immediately below it. On either side of the arch in the same wall face are four storeys of Tudor-arched openings, the lowest being doorways (the western one blocked) with foliage carving to the spandrels. East and west of the central block are projecting wings of four storeys, also with Tudor-arched openings. At the base of the west wing is a doorway with coats of arms and animal carvings in the spandrels and square label stops; a corresponding doorway to the east is partly set below road level and blocked up. A moulded string course runs across the principal front and the inner faces of the wings just above the main arch. The structure features a cornice and embattled parapet.

The south side follows a similar arrangement except that the wings abut immediately on the arch, each having a three-light window to either face on the ground floor and Tudor-arched single-light windows to three floors above. The east wing abuts the Chapter House, and on the west side is a similar additional wing, shallower but as broad, and without windows. Gabled roofs to east and west feature chimney stacks chamfered to produce an extended octagon. The east wing comprises three storeys with a four-window range to St John's Lane. A broad Tudor-arched doorway to the north end, designed as a carriage entrance for horse-drawn ambulances, displays floral and heraldic ornament to the spandrels and a stepped panel of cusped ornament above. The ground floor contains two four-light Tudor-arched windows under relieving arches. The first floor has four three-light Tudor-arched windows under relieving arches. The second floor contains four pointed-arched windows with three lights and one transom serving the Chapter Hall. An embattled parapet crowns this wing.

Interior features include the east tower, which contains a 17th-century dog-leg staircase with closed string, double-vase balusters, moulded rail, square newels with ball finials, and moulded risers. The linenfold dado panelling is probably by John Oldrid Scott. Plasterwork to the underside of the stairs is decorated in relief with designs based on the "langues" of the Order of St John, probably of late 19th-century date. The Old Chancery on the second floor features panelling by J.O. Scott and a stone fireplace of circa 1570 introduced from the former town house of Sir Thomas Forster, with fluted tapering pilasters to either side and a frieze of scrolling foliage and fauna bearing Sir Thomas Forster's arms. The top room has a panelled partition and moulded wooden fireplace surround enclosing Dutch tiles and a grate with cast-iron hood of ogee profile, all by John Oldrid Scott.

The west tower contains a spiral staircase of 1504 with a newel of chestnut and treads of oak or possibly elm, those from ground to first floor being early 20th-century replacements. The lowest room has a fireplace with Dutch tiles and a grate with cast-iron hood of ogee profile, by John Oldrid Scott. The Library and attic of 1874 are by Richard Norman Shaw, with the Library featuring a Tudor-arched stone fireplace bearing heraldic bearings and a decorative inscription including the date 1874.

The Council Chamber, situated over the arch, features panelling of late 19th or early 20th-century date, inset with commemorative plaques. A late 17th or early 18th-century fireplace has a panelled pilaster and consoles supporting a frieze of geometrical interlacing with festoons to the centre, with a dentil cornice to the mantelshelf which breaks back and forward. A late 19th-century roof of shallow pitch features arched braces and a central lantern. Heraldic stained glass in the north and south windows, dated 1911, was made by Powells of Whitefriars.

The Chapter Hall is panelled to sill height. The fireplace at the south end features a straight-sided Tudor-arched opening with a blank arcade bearing coats of arms above and an embattled parapet, set between barley-sugar columns. The panelled roof of oak is fitted with a central lantern carried on corbelled vaulting.