Roman Catholic Church of St James (Spanish Place) is a Grade II* listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. Church. 2 related planning applications.

Roman Catholic Church of St James (Spanish Place)

WRENN ID
vast-solder-peregrine
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Westminster
Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
Country
England
Type
Church
Address
Roman Catholic Church of St James (Spanish Place), Spanish Place W1, City of Westminster, W1U 3HZ
OS grid reference
TQ 282 815
Coordinates
51.51822, -0.15254
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Roman Catholic Church of St James (Spanish Place) is a Grade II* listed church located on George Street in the City of Westminster. Built between 1885 and 1890 by architect Edward Goldie, it features Kentish ragstone with ashlar dressings and a stone-vaulted interior, topped with a slate roof. The church includes a nave, aisles, narrow outer aisles, non-projecting transepts, an apsidal chancel, and a north Lady Chapel. It showcases an ambitious and serious Early English design, with north and south porches, a lower north chancel chapel serving as the Lady Chapel, buttresses, and a flying buttressed clerestory. Inside, the lofty stone interior has an 8-bay arcade supported by shafted piers, a full gallery that bridges across the transepts in the manner of Pearson, and quadripartite stone vaulting. The Lady Chapel and both north aisles are also vaulted, while the outer aisles feature confessionals built into the wall arcade. The church is richly furnished by Bentley, with a reredos and hanging baldacchino designed by Garner.

Local climate

Roman Catholic Church of St James (Spanish Place) sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 51% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Presbytery to the Roman Catholic Church of St James Grade II 22 m
  2. 24, George Street W1 Grade II 28 m
  3. 6, George Street W1 Grade II 38 m
  4. Durrant's Hotel Grade II 74 m
  5. Westmoreland Arms Public House Grade II 98 m
  6. Hertford House Grade II 98 m
  7. 51 and 52, Manchester Street W1 Grade II 100 m
  8. 47 and 48, Manchester Street W1 Grade II 102 m
  9. 49 and 50, Manchester Street W1 Grade II 102 m
  10. Drinking Fountain in the forecourt of Hertford House (The Wallace Collection) Grade II* 105 m