The Anglican Chapel

249/80/139 HARROW ROAD W10 30-OCT-64 KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY The Anglican Chapel (Formerly listed as: HARROW ROAD W10 KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY CHAPEL)

GV I

Anglican chapel, colonnades and catacombs. 1835-36. By John Griffith for the General Cemetery Company. Portland stone and stucco. Central chapel consists of a Greek Doric tetrastyle portico with pediment over baseless fluted columns, raised on a podium with steps in centre; inner, side and rear walls faced with channelled rustication; front elevation comprises a central door with surround, with a smaller door to the north; rear elevation with paired pilasters flanking rectangular window, with segmental window above. Chapel flanked by three-bay colonnades, with nine-bay returns to the north and south: each bay comprises a pair of fluted Doric columns set between pilasters, with anthemion terminals above the parapet over each column. Each of the north and south colonnades terminates in square pavilions, formerly roofed: the western ones contain marble memorial sculptures commemorating (in the north) the family of John Lough and (south) Robert Sievier, carved by Lough and Sievier respectively; other memorial plaques along the southern colonnade.

Interior: antechamber with coffered ceiling screened from chapel with a pair of Doric columns. Chapel square in plan, with short extensions to each side; centre covered with a Soanian domical vault, fluted, with a central rosette within a Greek key-enriched border; channelled pendentives with circular rosettes. Doric frieze carried on pilasters. West window with modern glass depicting Christ in Majesty; segmental window inside Greek key border above.

Catacombs: the chapel and colonnades stand on top of an extensive system of catacombs, consisting of a central spine corridor with six corridors on each side: vaulted brick walls and ceilings, York stone floors and shelves; each corridor is lined with compartments filled with shelving for coffins, some of which are concealed with marble covers and others screened with cast iron grilles. Each corridor terminates in a semi-circular ventilation shaft. In centre of the spine corridor stands a hydraulic catafalque (restored 1995-97), used for lowering coffins from the chapel to the catacombs.

History: the chapel was damaged by bombing in 1940 and restored in 1954 under E.R. Bingham Harriss.

Listing NGR: TQ2375182538