Church Army Chapel, Blackheath

Church Army Chapel, Blackheath
Drawing by E.T. Spashett
General information
Architectural style	Modern
Town or city	Greenwich, Greater London
Country	United Kingdom
Construction started	1964
Completed	1965
Cost	£250,000 (whole site)
Client	Church Army
Technical details
Structural system	Saddle roof and sectional aluminium spire
Design and construction
Architect	Ernest Trevor Spashett ARIBA (1923-94)
Structural engineer	Woodgate (Blackheath) Ltd, Montpelier-vale, Blackheath

The Church Army Chapel at Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, Greater London, designed by Austin Vernon & Partners, opened in 1965 by Princess Alexandra and consecrated by Michael Ramsey, is a locally listed building of outstanding architectural significance, and is notable for originally having had the tallest sectional aluminium spire of its time, and for being one of the earliest 20th-century chapels of modern design to have been conceived with a central altar. It is now part of Blackheath High School.

At Greenwich Council building conservation department it is locally listed as a building of outstanding architectural significance, under the name of the Wilson Carlile Training College Chapel at 27 Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, London, by architect E.T. Spashett. It is described as: "An interesting modern building of unusual design featuring a striking gull wing upper roof swept to ground level on one side; grey brick with tall, narrow window lights". Local listings have no reference number. By the time Greenwich Council planning department assessed it in the 1980s, the spire was down and lying alongside the building. The building could not be upgraded to national status by The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, representing English Heritage in April 1999, as the spire was gone so the massiveness of the roof structure could no longer be understood by the assessors who were puzzled to find it "overscaled". When opened complete with spire in 1965, the South East London Mercury described the chapel as "a showpiece of modern architecture and building technique".

See images here and here and here. The Church Army does not normally have a chapel as it does outreach work, but in the 1960s an exception was made for its headquarters at Blackheath, possibly as the chapel could be considered part of the training college.