Tower Of St Anne'S Church, Soho

The Tower of St Anne's Church in Soho is a church tower built between 1801 and 1803 by architect S. P. Cockerell. The main body of the church was designed by either Sir Christopher Wren or Sir John Talman but was destroyed during the Blitz and has since been completely demolished. The tower is constructed of stock brick and Portland stone, topped with a lead spire that also serves as a clock tower.

This tower is an exceptional example of neo-classical rationalism, showcasing sophisticated planar modelling. It consists of three stages: the lower two stages are made of brick set on a stone plinth, featuring a semicircular arched recess and flanking battered buttress-piers that are slightly inset from the corners. There is a block cornice with a stone tablet positioned below the recess, which appears to "hang" over it. The second stage has a stone plinth with a shallow segmented recess above the block cornice, a louvred oculus, and quoin pilasters that have corresponding breaks in the cornice and blocking course above.

The tall stone belfry exhibits a marked batter, chamfered corners, and Doric columns that are "squeezed" in antis beside the louvred openings, topped with a deeply moulded crowning cornice. Above this rises the remarkable steeple and clock tower, which begins as a truncated stone cone, transitions into a lead drum with oculi, and then waists before expanding into intersecting "barrels" that hold the four clock faces, culminating in a finial and weathervane.