Crown Shrine
The dome before the dome
Hidden behind Mansion House in a tight City street, St Stephen Walbrook is, to many architectural historians, Wren's finest parish church. The plain Portland-stone exterior gives no hint of the daring interior: a coffered dome carried on eight Corinthian columns, set above a square within a square. Wren rehearsed here, in miniature, the geometry that would later raise the great dome of St Paul's.
A modern altar
The reordering of the church around a massive circular altar carved from Italian travertine by Henry Moore was commissioned by Lord Palumbo in 1978 and installed during the long restoration that followed the heavy bomb damage of 1941, when 160 people died in a single raid on the Walbrook district. The decision was controversial — a Consistory Court case eventually settled the question in favour of the design — but the result is one of the most successful contemporary alterations to a Wren church.
What to see
- Wren's coffered dome and its eight Corinthian columns.
- The Henry Moore travertine altar at the church's geometric centre.
- The font cover and pulpit, carved in the seventeenth century.
- Memorials to Sir John Vanbrugh, the dramatist and architect of Blenheim.
Visiting
Open weekdays during business hours, free of charge. The Samaritans were founded here by Chad Varah in 1953, and the church remains closely associated with their work. A short visit pairs well with a cup of coffee in the City and a walk down to St Mary-le-Bow.
