The Building

St John’s Church was described at its Consecration in 1887 as “the most beautiful parish church of modern days”. Designed in 1881, the church is one of the most famous buildings by John Loughborough Pearson who was probably the greatest ecclesiastical architect of the Nineteenth century gothic revival. He was also responsible for Truro Cathedral and Brisbane Cathedral.

His wonderfully vaulted roof and soaring gothic spaces provide a matchless setting both visually and acoustically for an organ quite stunning in its splendour. The combination of Lewis’s genius as a voicer and Pearson’s acoustic ambience result in a cathedral-like sound of superlative beauty. The organ is the largest in London in a parish church and survives as an outstanding example of Lewis’s work.

The foundation stone was laid on 6th May 1878 and immediately covered up until 1881, when the first brick of the new church was set in place. A year later, the Archbishop of Canterbury dedicated the chancel, a portion of the south aisles and two bays of the nave. It was not however until 1887 that the completed church was consecrated. From the start, the church was always in debt and the planned tower and spire were never realised.

On 23rd June 1944 and again over the following few days, the building was rocked by bomb blasts that put it out of commission for nearly 3½ years. Restoration work began in the autumn of 1946 and within a year the North aisle was sufficiently repaired to serve as a temporary church .

With the arches between the north aisle and the remainder of the church bricked up, it was still able to seat around 200 people. On 15th September 1951, the restored church was rededicated with around 1400 attending.

In recent years, new lighting has been installed to enhance the architecture.
A recent problem with subsidence leading to the screen having to be rebuilt was put to good effect as both it and the lady chapel were cleaned and restored to their former glory.

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St John the Evangelist, Auckland Road, Upper Norwood, LONDON, SE19 2RX. 020 8653 0378

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