Church Of St Peter

Church of St Peter, Eaton Square

Built between 1824 and 1827, this is a classical Commissioners' church designed by Henry Hakewill. Following a fire in 1837, the roof and interior were restored with minor alterations by Charles Jearrad and J.H. Hakewill. A major recasting took place in 1873–75 under Arthur Blomfield. The church was destroyed by fire in 1987 and refitted between 1988 and 1991 by the Braithwaite Partnership.

The building is constructed in yellow stock brick with ashlar and stone dressings. It takes the form of a basilica with a pedimented west portico, narthex carrying a tower and cupola, a rectangular nave, a chancel with small north and south transepts, and flanking chapels.

The west elevation is dominated by a hexastyle Ionic portico with a plain entablature, modelled after the west portico of the Erectheum. It is set on 4 steps and surmounted by a pediment. Pilasters at the rear angles frame 3 tall doorways with moulded architraves and flat cornices on carved brackets. Each doorway has a pair of doors with fielded panels, and the portico interior features a coffered ceiling.

The tower rises on a wide stylobate with a tall plinth forming the clock stage, with a clock face on each side. At the bell stage is a louvred round-arched opening flanked by Ionic half columns with pilasters at the angles. The cupola sits between pedimented blocks at the angles and is surmounted by a gilded metal cross.

The 5-bay return elevations are of brick with stone dressings. The nave features 4 tall round-headed windows linked by moulded stone bands, with plain rectangular lights of clear glass. The narthex, articulated by pilasters and breaking forward slightly, has a slightly battered lower rectangular window and upper circular light. A pedimented stone attic with a plain recessed panel crowns this elevation, with a plain cill band broken by the pilasters and a simple entablature.

The north and south transepts and chancel were added in 1873 by Blomfield in a Romanesque manner, constructed of stock brick while echoing the style of the original church. Both transepts are pedimented, with north and south entrances set between angle pilasters. Each entrance is framed by a pair of doors beneath a tympanum with a circular glazed feature, under a semicircular brick arch, with a small roundel to each side. Above are three round-arched windows defined by pilaster strips and linked by continuous moulding, with a corbel table below. Similar round-arched windows appear on the east and west elevations, with two simple round-arched openings below and a tall round-headed window echoing those of the nave. An open pedimented niche sits below. The south chapel has a range of 5 round-headed windows with intact stained glass and a circular window above.

The interior was substantially remodelled after the 1987 fire. The narthex has been partly remodelled with an open well stone stair to the south featuring an iron balustrade; the former northern stair has been removed. The nave was entirely remodelled in 1990, lowering the ceiling and obscuring internally the remnants of Blomfield's chancel except for part of the sanctuary and the south chapel, now used as a sacristy and vergers' room.

The nave features a blind arcade of green reeded marbled piers enclosing a mosaic of Christ in Glory, with an open arcade to the left (formerly above the sedilia) of annulated marble shafts linking to the south chapel. The south chapel is lined with alabaster sheets, with engaged marble shafts at its sanctuary supporting a moulded timber barrel-vaulted roof. A pair of round-arched lights flank an upper circular cinquefoiled light with a moulded arch on short shafts. The glass is probably by Clayton and Bell. Five south windows sit under a marble arcade with engaged shafts, the glass unattributed. The mosaic floor bears the monogram and keys of St Peter.

The church contains several monuments. George Howard Wilkinson, Bishop of St Andrews and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church (died 1907), is commemorated by a recumbent marble figure in bishop's robes on a stone base, by W.R. Lethaby. Victor John Fergus Ferguson, a Major in the Royal Horse Guards (died 1896), is remembered by a stone tablet signed by Gaffin of Regent Street, with a cross, sword and shako above and a shield of arms below. Mary Georgiana Cathcart (died 1852) is marked by a stone stele with a lily in relief, signed by Bedford of 256 Oxford Street. Harold Wingfield, a Midshipman on H.M.S. Newcastle who drowned in the China Sea on 13 December 1870, is commemorated by blue glazed tiles arranged in a lunette.