[Illustration: St. Peter's Church, Pimlico.]
The engraving represents the new church on the eastern side of Wilton
Place, in the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square. It is a chaste
building of the Ionic order, from the designs of Mr. Henry Hakewill, of
whose architectural attainments we have frequently had occasion to speak.
The plan of St. Peter's is a parallelogram, placed east and west, without
aisles; the east being increased by the addition of a small chancel
flanked by vestries. The west front, in our Engraving, is occupied by an
hexastyle portico of the Ionic order, with fluted columns. The floor is
approached by a bold flight of steps, and in the wall, at the back are
three entrances to the church. The columns are surmounted by their
entablature and a pediment, behind which a low attic rises from the roof
of the church to the height of the apex of the pediment; it is crowned
with a cornice and blocking-course, and surmounted by an acroterium of
nearly its own height, but in breadth only equalling two-thirds of it;
this is finished with a sub-cornice and blocking-course, and is surmounted
by the tower, which rises from the middle. The addition of a steeple to a
Grecian church forms a stumbling-block to our modern architects, forcing
them to have recourse to many shifts to convert a Grecian temple into an
English church, a forcible argument for the rejection of the classical
styles altogether in this species of buildings.[1] Mr. Hakewill has,
however, in part surmounted this difficulty, and the effect produced is
not bad, as great value is given to the front elevation by it.
The tower consists of a square in plan, in elevation consisting of a
pedestal, the dado pieced for the dials of a clock, sustaining a cubical
story, with an arched window in each face, at the sides of which are Ionic
columns, the angles being finished in antis. This story is crowned with an
entablature, above which rises a small enriched circular temple; the whole
is crowned with a spherical dome, surmounted by a cross.
The body of the church is built of brick, with stone dressings. The
interior is chastely fitted up. The altarpiece is Mr. Hilton's splendid
picture of "Christ crowned with thorns," exhibited at Somerset House, in
1825, and presented to this church by the British Institution in 1827.
The ground for the site was given by Lord Grosvenor, and the sum of
5,555_l_. 11_s_. 1_d_. was granted by the Royal Commissioners towards the
building. It will accommodate 1,657 persons. The first stone was laid
September 4, 1824, and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of London,
(Dr. Howley,) July 20, 1827.
[1] See Gentlemen's Magazine, April, 1829.
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