All Souls Church, Langham Place | |
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All Souls Church
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Location | Regent Street, London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Churchmanship | Evangelical |
Website | www |
History | |
Consecrated | 1824 |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
Architect(s) | John Nash |
Administration | |
Diocese | Diocese of London |
Clergy | |
Rector | Hugh Palmer |
Laity | |
Churchwarden(s) | Martin Mills Louise Gibson |
All Souls Church is an evangelical Anglican church in central London, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone, at the north end of Regent Street. It was designed in regency style by John Nash and consecrated in 1824.
As it is very near BBC Broadcasting House, the BBC often broadcasts from the church. As well as the core church membership, many hundreds of visitors come to All Souls, bringing the average number of those coming through the doors for services on Sundays to around 2,500 every week. All Souls has an international congregation, with all ages represented.
The church was designed by John Nash, favourite architect of King George IV. Its prominent circular spired vestibule was designed to provide an eye-catching monument at the point where Regent Street, newly-laid out as part of Nash's scheme to link Piccadilly with the new Regent's Park, takes an awkward abrupt bend westward to align with the pre-existing Portland Place.
All Souls was a Commissioners' church, a grant of £12,819 (equivalent to £1,020,000 in 2015) being given by the Church Building Commission towards the cost of its construction. The commission had been set up under an act of 1818, and Nash, as one of the three architects employed by the Board of Works, had been asked to supply specimen designs as soon as the act was passed. It was, however, one of only two Commissioners' churches to be built to his designs, the other being the Gothic Revival St Mary, Haggerston. All Souls is the last surviving church by John Nash.