Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

This church on Marylebone Road was built between 1825 and 1827 to the design of Sir John Soane, one of Britain's greatest architects. The building was one of three churches Soane designed for the Church Commissioners, a government board established in 1818 to build new places of worship. It was the most expensive of Soane's three churches for the commissioners, costing nearly £25,000, which exceeded their £20,000 spending limit; the additional funds were raised through public subscription led by the Duke of Portland, the major landowner in the area. The final designs were approved in 1824 and the foundation stone was laid the following year. In 1878, the chancel was remodelled by G Somers Clarke and an external pulpit was added to the west side of the south elevation in 1891 as a memorial to Reverend William Cadman. The church was later converted to offices, initially housing the headquarters of Penguin Books in 1936, which stored books in the crypt. In 1955 and 1956 it was converted to offices for the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge by the architectural firm Handisyde and Taylor, representing one of the first experiments in finding new uses for historic churches no longer required solely for worship.

The church is constructed in Portland stone with its principal elevation facing south. This comprises a slightly-advancing Ionic four-column portico with no pediment, flanked by single bays of round-headed windows. Above the portico rises a distinctive tower with a square belfry featuring pairs of Corinthian columns at the angles with projecting entablatures resembling buttresses, each topped by a finial. The tower supports a circular stage of Composite columns and terminates in a stone cupola and weathervane. The east and west elevations are articulated by a giant order of six Ionic half-columns to the central bays, reflecting the internal position of the nave arcade. The north elevation features an apsidal end, added during the 1878 chancel remodelling. The original railings have been lost, but two lamp standards in a distinctive neo-Grecian style remain on either side of the portico.

The interior has been substantially altered by two major interventions. The 1878 chancel remodelling introduced marble floors, stained glass and mosaic decoration. The 1955 to 1956 conversion to offices subdivided much of the space with partitions to create two rooms from the nave and a series of offices in the gallery and aisles, though many of these alterations are reversible. Despite these changes, considerable elements of Soane's original interior remain, either visible or concealed. The entrance preserves two stone corner staircases with iron balustrades to the east and west. The raked gallery flooring survives between the 1950s floor and suspended ceilings. The ceiling pattern with square coffering and rosettes is visible in the nave and partially revealed in the east gallery. The arcades of Tuscan columns and octagonal colonnettes supporting the gallery survive, though the spaces between them have been filled in. None of the original fittings such as pews, font and pulpit remain, but wall monuments dating from the 1820s and the organ are still present. A large crypt with impressive vaulting lies beneath the church.

Sir John Soane, who lived from 1753 to 1837, designed many distinguished works including the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture Gallery. His late-Georgian classical designs, which include Holy Trinity, are characterised by highly individual features and have been interpreted by later scholars as proto-modernist in their approach.