Octagon Chapel (Royal Photographic Society)

Octagon Chapel (Royal Photographic Society)

This proprietary chapel, now a display gallery for photographs, was built between 1766 and 1767 to the design of Thomas Lightoler, with a shopfront added by Silcock & Reay in 1900.

The building is constructed of limestone rubble. It is centrally planned around a 50-foot-wide octagonal drum, with a sanctuary to the west side. The octagonal structure sits on a rectangular base of blind walling and stands behind Nos 43–46 Milsom Street, originally accessed through a passage but now entered through No. 43. The building has almost no street frontage or external expression, being almost entirely surrounded by neighbouring buildings. The octagonal drum features multi-paned windows in each face, a cornice, and is surmounted by an octagonal timber lantern. This treatment does not accord with Lightoler's published drawing, suggesting possible alteration.

The interior was originally arranged with a continuous eight-sided gallery supported on Ionic columns with carved decoration on the gallery front. Above this, the octagonal drum contains windows with small panes and wreath decoration in each face. A shallow dome and lantern rise above. The interior has undergone significant alterations. In 1895, when the organ and other fittings were removed, plasterwork was added as the building was converted into an antique showroom. When refurbished as a museum for the Royal Photographic Society from 1983 onwards, the interior was largely obscured rather than substantially altered.

The chapel was funded by a subscription raised by Reverend Dr Dechair and William Street, the banker. It opened for worship on 4 October 1767 and was advertised as "the only safe place of worship in Bath as there are no steps to climb and no bodies buried below". Lightoler's published plans of 1786 showed an apse and three domes. William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus in 1781, served as organist. The basement was used for wine storage, inspiring Christopher Anstey's quip about "spirits above and spirits below". The chapel was hugely popular with Georgian visitors but declined with the liturgical movement of the 1840s. It remained in use as a chapel until 1895, when it became an antique showroom for Mallet and Son, which by 1908 was described as "the most sumptuous shop in Europe" containing priceless curios and treasures. The building has served as a gallery for the Royal Photographic Society since 1983.