Eight Buildings for Eight Faiths in London

A Lecture by Charlie Forman on 13 November at The Arts Society Horsham

The audience at the Capitol in Horsham who attended the Arts Society lecture on 13 November were guided on a fascinating virtual tour of eight faith buildings across London.  The lecturer Charlie Forman charted a chronology that stretched from early 18th century to the present day.  The oldest of the buildings featured is the Synagogue Bevis Marks which opened in 1701 in the City of London when Jewish people were readmitted to England from Amsterdam under Cromwell’s Puritan Republic. John Wesley’s Methodist Chapel started in his Georgian home in 1779. The Sikh temple Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southhall was completed in 2002 but had a more humble beginning with the arrival of the Sikhs to Britain during the 1940s and 50s from the Punjab and later from Uganda following expulsion of the diaspora.

The faith buildings were designed and constructed to different architectural styles such as Victorian Gothic, Byzantine and Brutalism, as well as special commissions that follow specific discipline of sacred architecture as the Hindu Temple Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden.  Its monumental edifice and elaborate carving from milky white Carrara and Ambaji marble is a confident statement of the Hindu community’s sense of place as well as an expression of art, architecture and devotional homage to their faith.  They also represent a landmark of cultural integration and the growing wealth of the new communities.  The buildings were designed by eminent architects of the day:  St George’s Catholic Cathedral in Southwark was designed by Augustus Pugin and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Sophia by John Oldrid Scott, second son of Sir Gilbert Scott.  Often there is royal patronage involved - the Buddhist temple in Wimbledon was funded by the Royal family of Thailand.

Intriguingly, the origin of the Mosque in Regent’s Park was conceived in the darkest hour of 1940 - Winston Churchill’s most famous ‘battle cry’ speech also garnered the support across the Empire. The subsequent war cabinet designated a site in Regent’s Park for a mosque to be built.  Work did not begin until 1974 to a modernist design by architect Sir Frederick Gibberd who also designed the Liverpool Catholic Cathedral. 

The Faith buildings are unique architectural gems and bejewelled palaces of worship.  However, beneath the golden domes and turreted towers are stories of religious and political persecution, economic migration, war and Empire that established their presence in London over the last 300 years.  They are beautiful and welcoming sanctuaries which offer a spiritual and wondrous experience to the visitor regardless of one’s faith or denomination!