The French Protestant Church

The French Protestant Church, built between 1891 and 1893, was designed by Aston Webb (later Sir Aston Webb) for the consistory of the French Protestant Church. The architecture is in a Free Franco-Flemish Gothic style incorporating late Romanesque elements. The builders were Messrs Higgs and Hill, and the modelling for the Doulton terracotta was executed by William Aumonier.

Materials and Construction

The exterior is constructed of blue Luton brick with red Doulton terracotta dressings and lavish enrichments. Steeply-pitched slate roofs terminate in stepped gables marked by terracotta scrolling, above which rise tall brick chimney stacks with terracotta capping. The church interior is predominantly faced in buff terracotta, with some slightly darker brickwork. The windows on the south frontage contain horned timber sashes (though the 1970 List entry notes small-pane iron casements, the illustration in The Builder of 27 June 1891 appears to show sash frames, as do early photographs). The church windows are leaded with geometric patterns.

Plan and Layout

The building occupies a rectangular plot stretching back from the south-facing street frontage. The church itself, accessed directly from a central passage, occupies the rear part of the building and is set on a north-south axis. The nave rises through two stages, flanked by side aisles, with a semicircular apse to the north. The front range contains the library and presbytery: the library lies to the west of the entrance, while the presbytery, accessed by a staircase to the east of the entrance, is arranged one room deep over three upper storeys.

South Frontage

The principal frontage is built over four storeys with basement and is five main bays wide, subdivided into nine window bays on the upper floors. The ground floor, faced in terracotta with brick bands to the jambs of the openings, contains five round-headed arches. The largest, to the central entrance, is enriched with shafts and cusping to the outer arch. The tympanum contains J Prangnelli's 1950 commemorative carving depicting the arrival of the first Huguenots by sea and the signing of the 1550 charter, with a Huguenot cross above. The basket-arched double doors are of timber, carved with linenfold panels.

A secondary entrance to the east is framed by a single order, the doorway enriched by acanthus moulding, with double doors having glazed panels. The linked openings to either side of the main entrance are framed by arches with flower mouldings resting on pilasters; the windows are divided into two arched lights by a central mullion. Within a frieze at first-floor level is gilded lettering reading 'EGLISE PROTESTANTE FRANCAISE DE LONDRES'.

Above, a central canted bay rises through three storeys to the gable, which is faced with buff terracotta with brick banding. A stepped arcade of niches surrounds the canted attic window, with a cross finial to the apex. To either side rise shallow tower-like projections with pyramidal roofs. The windows in the upper storeys have terracotta frames with engaged shafts and decorative mouldings; those to the first floor are segmental-arched and those to the second floor are flat-arched. Small paired square-headed windows to the outer bays have leaded lights. The upper windows to the towers have aprons decorated with classical French swag and drop motifs. The centre of the roof is crowned by a cupola with a leaded lantern.

North Elevation

The north of the building is not intended for public viewing and is very much plainer. The rear of the presbytery is of stock brick with tall stock brick stacks. Further north, the upper part of the nave of the church rises above the flat roofs of the side aisles. The walls are of stock brick, with buff terracotta frames to the graduated tripartite clerestory windows, which have round-headed arches. Set in the tops of the side aisles are glass oculi which light the aisles, with modern covers.

Entrance Hall

Within the front doors are glazed inner doors set in a terracotta archway. Beyond is the narrow barrel-vaulted entrance hall leading to the church, which serves as an introduction to the church interior, being faced with buff terracotta. To either side are niches in the form of fireplaces, with moulded basket-arched openings, containing original radiators. There is a terrazzo floor. An iron lantern is thought to be original. Round-headed archways give access to the library to the west and a waiting room to the east. At the north end, another round-headed archway with glazed double doors leads into the church.

Church Interior

Entering the church, the impression of spaciousness filled with light includes an element of surprise, given its situation at the rear of this enclosed site. The effect is created by the tall clerestory windows, the apse pierced by five lights, top-lights to the vaults of the aisles, and above all by the use of pale buff terracotta for the internal facing.

The four-bay nave is separated from the aisles by an arcade of Romanesque arches. The compound piers have shafts defined by moulded bases and capitals, the shafts themselves dying into the piers. Above, a narrow passage runs around the clerestory, its balustrade swelling into small corbelled balconies between the arches. Each trio of clerestory windows is set within a round-headed arch with angled reveals; the window heads have complex mouldings of scrolls and small bosses. Around the entrance to the church are graduated panels with cinquefoil heads, beneath a shallow arch.

Above the balcony, a high oriel window with leaded ogee lights allows the interior of the church to be viewed from the presbytery, and a doorway from the balcony gives access. Moulded letters beneath the window read: 'LE TEMPLE DU SEIGNEUR JESUS'. The nave has an austere wagon roof of sequoia wood, with a band of undulating terracotta moulding running beneath it.

A high arch with moulded imposts frames the apse, which is in three stages, the windows being in the upper stage. The apse is fitted with semi-circular choir stalls with panelled fronts, the pastor's seat being at the centre; two additional reading desks in the same manner are located elsewhere. Above are two round-headed arched openings, one blind, the other containing the 1893 organ by William Hill. The organ pipes are set in timber cases between the arches and the windows above. Between the pipes is a panel with a plain timber cross, placed in 1964 to cover the original cross in moulded terracotta, which is understood to be surrounded by angels and with the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in French; this remains in situ, though hidden. Shafts framing the windows rise to the radiating ribs of the semi-domed roof, terminating in six timber crown finials, said to be a reminder of Edward VI's role in the foundation of the church.

To the front of the apse is the integrated pulpit in buff and black terracotta, wide and low with a bowed front, with steps to either side; moulded letters along the front read: 'IN CHRISTO VITA ET LIBERTAS'. The vaulted aisles have ribbed saucer domes with gadrooned bosses, and central leaded lights set above octagonal frames. The aisle walls are banded with brick and have arched radiator niches. The floor is of timber parquet, with boards in the seating area.

The church retains its original sequoia pews with moulded ends. The communion table is 19th century, with Tudor Gothic detailing, and is thought to be part of the early furnishings of the building, though not designed for it. The slender terracotta font with scrolled feet and a shallow basin was installed in 1950 on the 400th anniversary of the church's foundation, and has a dedication to John à Lasco.

Near the entrance is a First World War memorial timber tablet in the form of an aedicule, designed by Adrien Montagu in 1920, brought from the demolished French Protestant School, commemorating four students. Beside it is the school's bell. A handwritten memorial in a glass-fronted case commemorates members of the congregation lost during both the First and Second World Wars. To either side of the apse are small vestries, accessed by heavy planked doors with moulded fillets. A winding stair from the eastern vestry leads to the aisle roof and the rear access to the presbytery.

Library

The library to the south-west is lined on three sides with fitted bookcases and cupboards, original to the building and designed by Aston Webb. The restrained Gothic detailing is more English in character than decoration elsewhere in the church building. There is a central tier of glazed bookcases, with cupboards above and below, those above having trefoil-headed panels and those below having plain panels. The arched doorway has leaf carving to the spandrels, with trefoil panelling above. The wall containing the windows does not have bookcases, but between the windows is a safe in a timber case made to match with trefoil panelling.

The fireplace has tiles surrounding a cast-iron grate with a floral panel, set within a bolection-moulded fire-surround; above is a moulded frame within which is set a royal coat of arms in carved and painted timber, thought to belong to the late Stuart period. The 1970 List entry notes that at that time there were two coats of arms in the building, but the location of the other is not now known.

Presbytery

The waiting room, set between the main entrance hall and the presbytery, has a timber floor and a small cast-iron chimneypiece with an eared panel beneath the shelf. To the east is the entrance hall of the presbytery, which has a terrazzo floor. The stair leading to the living accommodation has turned balusters and a moulded handrail, both elements becoming plainer between the second and third floors. There is a modern door at the entrance to the living accommodation.

The style of the presbytery interior shows the influence of the Queen Anne Revival, in its restrained joinery and features, the majority of which survive, including chimneypieces, panelled doors and fitted cupboards. On the first floor is a double sitting room, divided by multi-panelled double doors set within a panelled opening framed by pilasters; the ceilings have moulded cornices. Both rooms have substantial chimneypieces of Georgian inspiration with Aesthetic Movement tiled cheeks, the example to the west having an integral overmantel glass within a Classical surround. Access to the balcony of the church is gained from a passage running behind these rooms. To the east is a small kitchen with modern fittings.

One second-floor bedroom has a chimneypiece with a moulded frieze of interlocking curves. The bedrooms on the third floor have plainer doors with unmoulded panels, and small cast-iron chimneypieces similar to that in the waiting room.

Basement

The basement probably originated as the cellars of the 18th-century houses formerly standing on the site, but these have been greatly adapted for the use of the church building. The southern part of the basement has been converted to a church hall, being a single open space with a parquet floor. The basement contains a boiler room, and modern kitchen and toilet facilities.

Subsidiary Feature

Along the front of the basement area runs a low wall of banded brick and terracotta. The piers have pedimented caps, with domes topping the gate piers. Between the piers are semi-circular openings containing wrought-iron railings. The gates are thought not to be original.