St. Stephen Walbrook

St. Stephen Walbrook - Table of Contents ............................ Architecture Around the World

Interior - St. Stephen Walbrook
39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN

St. Stephen Walbrook - Official Home Page

March 2016 photos

Baroque style ... Wren ... See also: Wren

Church brochure.
"Wren's churches were intended to be what he called 'auditories', in which everyone present could see, hear and feel themselves part of the congregation. A well-lit interior was imperative, with the minimum of obstruction from internal supports." - Church brochure: Kerry Downes, "A Thousand years of the Church of St. Stephen Walbrook"

Rectangular body with stone columns supporting large, plaster dome with barrel-vaulted arms and flat ceilings to corner compartments ...

Round-arched, circular and elliptical windows ...

Recessed clerestory windows segmentally arched or lunettes ...

Roman Corinthian columns and pilasters, on low pedestals, with rich entablature ...

8 arches support the coffered dome and lantern, all with plaster enrichment

Center top of photo: boss ... Coffered dome ... Roman Corinthian columns ...
Note daylight from the outdoor lantern atop the dome - see detail in photo below:

Lantern atop the dome

Plaster coffered dome ... Roman Corinthian columns

Coffered dome ... Rosettes bordered by egg-and-dart molding

Foliated coffer bordered by egg-and-dart molding

These window arches have become the Church's principal light source since the east windows are colored and the oval side windows are shielded by later buildings.

Plaster ... Egg-and-dart molding ... Acanthus leaves ... Roman Corinthian capital

Roman Corinthian capital

Organ and brass chandelier

Brass chandelier

"In 1987, as part of a major programme of repairs and reordering, a massive white polished stone altar commissioned from the sculptor Henry Moore by churchwarden Peter Palumbo was installed in the centre of the church. Its unusual positioning required the authorisation of a rare judgment of the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved." - Wikipedia: St Stephen's, Walbrook (online March 2016)

Wooden seating.
"After the 1666 fires in London, Wren designed a number of urban churches to replace those lost. This provided an opportunity to move away from a typology that was associated with the Roman Catholic processional service to one that met the needs of a Protestant congregation that was more interactive, where preaching and reading passages from a prayer book were the focus. As a result, Wren’s churches were designed to facilitate speaking and listening. Wren’s name for the churches was “auditories.” - Kerry Traynor, University Presbyterian Church National Trust Nomination. Section 8, pp. 5-6