page_title: Christ Church Greyfriars
section_title: Wren's church
hierarchical_section_title: Christ Church Greyfriars / History / Wren's church
caption_attribution_description: English: Image taken from March 22, 1845 issue of The Illustrated London News. Copyright expired.
context_page_description: Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Following its destruction in the Great Fire of London of 1666, it was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. Except for the tower, the church was largely destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. The decision was made not to rebuild the church; the ruins are now a public garden.
context_section_description: The medieval church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Reconstruction was assigned to Wren, who oversaw a decades long-programme   that rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral and approximately 50 parish churches in the fire zone. There appears to have been some debate about the form the new Christ Church should take. A surviving unused design shows a structure considerably larger than what was eventually built.
  The parish was united with that of St Leonard, Foster Lane, which was not rebuilt
  Parishioners raised £1,000  to begin work on the design that in the  end was selected. To save time and money, the foundations of the gothic  church were partially reused. The new church and tower (without steeple) were completed in 1687,  at a total cost of £11,778 9s. 7¼d. Smaller than the gothic structure, the building measured 114 feet (35 m) long and 81 feet (25 m) wide, occupying only the eastern end of the site of the medieval church, the western part becoming its churchyard.
  The tower, rising from the west end of the church, had a simple round-arched main entranceway and, above, windows decorated with neoclassical pediments. Large carved pineapples, symbols of welcome, graced the four roof corners of the main church structure. Unique among the Wren churches, the east and west walls had buttresses.
  The interior was divided into nave and aisles by Corinthian columns, raised on tall plinths so that their bases were level with the gallery floors. The aisles had flat ceilings, while the nave had a shallow cross-vault.  The north and south walls had large round-arched windows of clear glass, which allowed  for a brightly lit interior. The east end had trinity windows, a large wooden altar screen and a carved hexagonal pulpit, reached by stairs. There was elaborate carved wainscoting. A pavement of reddish brown and grey marble to the west of the altar rails was said to date from the  original gothic church. Galleries stood over the north and south aisles, built at special request of the officers of Christ's Hospital as  seating for the school's students. Pews were said to have been made from the timbers of a wrecked Spanish galleon. The organ, on the west wall over the main nave door, was built by Renatus Harris in 1690, according to a pre-war guide to the church.
  The steeple, standing about 160 feet (49 m) tall, was finished in 1704 at an additional cost of  £1,963, 8s. 3½ d. It has three diminishing storeys, square in plan, the middle one with a freestanding Ionic colonnade.
  Over the course of the church’s existence, significant modifications were made. In 1760, a vestry house was built  against the facade’s south  side and part of the church's south wall. At some point, rooms were enclosed in the north and south aisles beneath the galleries. Stained glass depicting Jesus with the children was installed in the centre trinity window to replace the original clear glass.
  The church functioned as an important centre of City of London society and music. The Lord Mayor attended an annual service to hear  the Ancient Spital Sermon on the second Wednesday after Easter, placing  his ceremonial sword in a special holder. Felix Mendelssohn played Bach's A minor fugue and other works on the organ in 1837. Samuel Wesley also performed at the church.
  The Christ's Hospital boys continued to attend services, sitting in the galleries. According to the pre-war guide book to the church, they included the young Samuel Coleridge and Charles Lamb. Sixth Form boys tasked with maintaining order sat in special seats placed over those of the younger students. A few boys carved initials in the woodwork.
caption: Christ Church as depicted in an 1845 edition of the Illustrated London News.
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