St Charles Borromeo Church, Westminster

Saint Charles Borromeo Church is a Roman Catholic church situated on Ogle Street in Fitzrovia, within the City of Westminster in London, England. Dedicated to the 16th-centruy Italian saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), and forms part of the Archdiocese of Westminster. It has been designated a Grade II listed building since 1970. History On the outside it is Gothic Revival style; the architect was Samuel Joseph Nicholl, in partnership with T.J. Willson. The church was built in 1862–63 on anonymously donated land and cost £4,000 (equivalent to £434,526 in 2025). The builders were Messrs Patman and Fotheringham. It was opened by Cardinal Wiseman on 20 May 1863. John Francis Bentley added a reredos, a high altar and communion rails in 1870–73. The reredos, which is thirty feet high, has two tiers of saints painted on slate by Nathaniel Westlake. The frontal for the Lady Chapel altar was added in 1879. The reredos in the Sacred Heart chapel, designed by Nicholl, was added in 1902, with four angels in niches holding the instruments of the Passion; in the central niche is a statue of the Sacred Heart by Theodore Phyffers (1821–1876), a Belgian-born sculptor working in London. When the lease expired, the church survived because Madame Meschini and her son Arturo purchased the land and donated it to the Westminster diocese. The church was consecrated on 4 September 1921. It survived being damaged during the Second World War, and the interior was restored in 1957–63 and again in 1978–80, when the reredos was restored and a large forward altar, by Michael Anderson, installed. The octagonal immersion font, designed by Michael Anderson in collaboration with Mattia del Prete and Antonio Incognito of Rome, was installed in the nave in 1984. There are four stained glass windows in the south aisle of Saints Patrick, Margaret, Cecilia (1898) and Thomas of Canterbury. Rectors 1861 C. J. Keens † 1869 D. Canty † 1876 R. Tuke † 1879 R. F. Smith † 1880 T. Regan † 1895 R. E. F. Egan † 1906 R. N. Sullivan † 1912 E. Melly † 1915 P. W. O'Connor † 1917 E. D. Hanifin † 1939 W. Horgan 1940 V. B. Nagel 1944 R. Crook 1955 G. T. Wright 1963 P. Lowry 1969 L. Marteau 1971 J. Galvin 1972-1973 Francis Wahle † (1929-2024) 1973-1981 Ronald S. Cox † (1929-1994) 1981-2011 Alan James Fudge † (1940-2011) 2011-2018 Bryan Jones † (1945-2020) 2018-2022 David Barrow 2022- present Oscar Ardila Music The church's history records two pipe organs, and possibly a harmonium. The first was a second-hand instrument by an unknown builder, which had reached the end of its working life by the early 1920s. It was succeeded by a new two-manual organ — the builder's identity now forgotten — dedicated in 1926, with its console on the choir gallery and its pipework housed in the space adjoining the presbytery. By the early 1980s the pedalboard, and eventually the instrument as a whole, was failing. It was donated free of charge to the newly-rebuilt Our Lady Queen of All Creation in Hemel Hempstead, where part of its original pipework was incorporated into a new organ by Vincent Woodcock. Work was completed in 1988 and the instrument still stands today. Organists and Directors of Music Thomas Cooke 1863-1877 Thomas Casserley 1877-1902, then retired Choir disbanded by 1912, then re-established in 1915 Ernest Oldmeadow 1910s Choir formed of both men and women for the first time Harold Cooper by 1919 Grace Miller 1920s Mr Pinnock from 1925 Choir disbanded during WWII, re-established afterwards no organist, until David Black 1960s Sr Angela Sumner c.1960s-1973, and Stephen de Winter from 1969 Choir disbanded for the 3rd time in 1973 Stephen de Winter 1969-2018 Interregnum 2019-2025 Choir re-established in 2025 José Blasco Sánchez & Howard Lee 2025-2026 Howard Lee 2026- Artworks The parish houses several pieces of contemporary sacred art. Among these is the Supper at Emmaus (also known as Married Couple at Emmaus) an icon (2016) by modern expressionist artist Mike Quirke, depicting Cleopas and his wife. See also St Catherine's Church, West Drayton References External links Official website http://catholicdirectory.org/Catholic_Information.asp?ID=38147 Neo-catechumenal Way Official website Mike Quirke Official website