St. Stephen's Church, Rosslyn Hill
Encyclopedia
St. Stephen's is a former church building in Hampstead
, London
. It is sited on Rosslyn Hill
, a steep slope adjacent to the Royal Free Hospital
, and held up to 1,200 worshippers at its peak.
and he considered it the best of the 114 churches he designed, calling it his "mighty church" - it was also the most expensive of them. He accepted the commission to design it after Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, offered Hampstead Green to be the site for a new church in 1864. From 1864 to 1867 funds were raised (the projected cost was estimated as £7,500 - the final sum was actually £27,000).
Work began in January 1869, with the foundation stone being laid May that year and consecration by John Jackson
the Bishop of London
occurring on 31 December. It was fully complete by 1870, but was continually prone to subsidence due to its hilly site. By the later 1960s concerns had been raised on structural grounds and, with maintenance costs rising and its congregation declining, it was closed for worship in 1977.
It was saved from demolition to provide a carpark for the hospital or being split into flats by being made a Grade 1 listed building in the late 1970s. However, it went into slow decay, with squatters, whilst discussions for a new used for it dragged on.
A lease on it was awarded to the St Stephen's Restoration and Preservation Trust in 1999 and, after this body raised over £4 million from English Heritage
, the Heritage Lottery Fund
, local businesses and individual donors, it has restored it to a usable condition in three phases.
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It is sited on Rosslyn Hill
Rosslyn Hill
Rosslyn Hill is a road in London, connecting the south end of Hampstead High Street to the north end of Haverstock Hill. It is the site of the Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, St. Stephen's Church and the Royal Free Hospital. It is served by the bus routes N5, C11, 46 and 268. Pond Street links it to...
, a steep slope adjacent to the Royal Free Hospital
Royal Free Hospital
The Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
, and held up to 1,200 worshippers at its peak.
History
It was designed in the Neo Gothic style by Samuel Sanders TeulonSamuel Sanders Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon was a notable 19th century English Gothic Revival architect.-Family:Teulon was born in Greenwich in south-east London, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French Huguenot family. His younger brother William Milford Teulon also became an architect...
and he considered it the best of the 114 churches he designed, calling it his "mighty church" - it was also the most expensive of them. He accepted the commission to design it after Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, offered Hampstead Green to be the site for a new church in 1864. From 1864 to 1867 funds were raised (the projected cost was estimated as £7,500 - the final sum was actually £27,000).
Work began in January 1869, with the foundation stone being laid May that year and consecration by John Jackson
John Jackson (bishop)
John Jackson was a British divine and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Career:Jackson was appointed rector of St James, Westminster, London in 1846....
the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
occurring on 31 December. It was fully complete by 1870, but was continually prone to subsidence due to its hilly site. By the later 1960s concerns had been raised on structural grounds and, with maintenance costs rising and its congregation declining, it was closed for worship in 1977.
It was saved from demolition to provide a carpark for the hospital or being split into flats by being made a Grade 1 listed building in the late 1970s. However, it went into slow decay, with squatters, whilst discussions for a new used for it dragged on.
A lease on it was awarded to the St Stephen's Restoration and Preservation Trust in 1999 and, after this body raised over £4 million from English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
, local businesses and individual donors, it has restored it to a usable condition in three phases.