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St Martin’s digs deep
The costliest ever church refurbishment is nearly complete. Ed Beavan looked around the new St Martin-in-the-Fields
 The repaired ceiling |
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IT IS one of London’s most well-known churches, but those walking through Trafalgar Square in recent months might have struggled to spot it. This week, after two years shrouded in scaffolding and hoardings, a revitalised St Martin-in-the-Fields is emerging, transformed by a £36-million renewal scheme. Wearing an obligatory hard hat and high-visibility jacket, I was one of a few journalists given a preview of the changes, just days before the Archbishop of Canterbury was due to dedicate the new building. The refurbished church and crypt café are already open again to the public; but this was just a part of the work. We were led downstairs to view the new underground developments, squeezing past a bunch of workmen frantically putting the finishing touches to their labours in the labyrinthine crypt. Where there were once burial vaults, we saw the new St Martin’s Hall, a venue for meetings and seminars; the Bishop Ho Ming Community Centre for St Martin’s large Chinese congregation; a new purpose-built soundproof music rehearsal room; and the Dick Sheppard Chapel.What is remarkable is the amount of natural light the architects have managed to incorporate into the new underground space, which is just ten metres above the Northern Line tube station at Charing Cross. |
 Bending the light: the new east window, designed by Shirazay Houshiary GRANT SMITH |
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This is largely thanks to the construction of an impressive glass pavilion and light-well rising up into the paved area, which used to house a street market, to the north of the church.
The project director, Robert Kennett, explained: “The market place has gone, but there is now a much more generous public space, which connects the revitalised Trafalgar Square with Covent Garden, and this contains the glass pavilion.”
The pavilion will be the public entrance to the underground space, and will include a lift for disabled access. The light-well will have a poem by the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, engraved around it.
To the north of the church, Nash Terrace, a Grade-II* listed building, has been restored. Its interior has been reconfigured to offer improved facilities for the church’s Connection project for homeless people. Six thousand a year come through its doors. |
 Light in a dark world: above: the new interior; left: the memorial service last week for Stephen Lawrence, murdered in south-east London 15 years ago PA |
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Colin Glover, its chief executive, cannot wait to move in. “The new building is wonderful, and sends out a message that the people who come here are valued.”
Moving upstairs, we saw close at hand the changes to the interior of James Gibbs’s 18th-century landmark church. These include the restoration of the ceiling plasterwork, a reordering of the chancel, and re-polished woodwork.
The new stone floor is said to give St Martin’s the best acoustics for Baroque music anywhere in the country. (The church stages 350 concerts a year.)
As we examined the gleaming new interior, a musician was tuning a harpsichord for a lunchtime concert. Tourists milled around, having sought shelter from an April shower.
It was a typically busy scene, which delighted the Vicar of St Martin’s, the Revd Nicholas Holtam. During the week the church had already hosted a memorial service for Stephen Lawrence, and hustings for the London mayoral candidates.
“There’s a strong ethical tradition at the church,” Mr Holtam said. “We’re known as the church of the open door and the homeless, and we are a practical, caring church. “All of us working on the renewal knew it was something of huge significance for us personally and for all of those who feel St Martin’s is their church — and the 700,000 visitors we have every year.” |
 Under reconstruction: building workers on the site PA |
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He is particularly proud of the fact that the new east window has been designed by an Iranian woman, Shirazeh Houshiary, in collaboration with the architect Pip Horne (Arts, 14 July 2006). He believes that her involvement is right for a church that has always fought for the rights of the oppressed.
“The Arts Advisory Council chose Shirazeh’s design. The original design was too challenging, but we wanted to work with her, and she came back with this design, which has a sense of cruciform and a sense of rising.
“What is really interesting is seeing different people’s responses to the window, which changes its mood and character through the day. At night it is lit up, and it is very clever how it responds to the building and the setting it is in.”
After the tour, I returned to the Les Routiers-approved crypt café, which has been transformed into a light and airy restaurant, intended as an antidote to the myriad bland chain cafés that dominate the West End.
Walking away, I took one last look back. It’s difficult not to be struck by how bright the church now looks. The exterior stonework has been cleaned and restored to its former glory: it is possible to see why, it was labelled the “white church” on its completion in 1725. |
 Building workers on the site PA |
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A festival to mark the completion of the renewal runs until 18 May, and will include a wide range of concerts, talks, and services. Preachers will include the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Hong Kong, and the Bishop of London.
A total of £15.35 million of the project’s funding came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and there were donations from churches in the US and Hong Kong.
The remaining building work is expected to reach completion in July, but the church still needs £2.5m to reach its target.
For more information on events, and to donate, see www.smitf.org
Andrew Motion’s poem for St Martin-in-the-Fields Now traveller, whose journey passes through Tall courts of shifting light, and trudging crowds Continually worn down but always new. Your stepping inwards from the air to earth Winds round itself to meet the open sky So vanishing becomes a second birth. Fare well. Return. Fare well. Return again. Here home and elsewhere share one mystery. Here love and conscience sing the same refrain. Here time leaps up. And strikes eternity. |
