page_title: St Luke Old Street
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St Luke Old Street / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Weather vane on the church of St Luke, Old Street, London EC1. It depicts a dragon's head and a fiery comet-like tail, but was misinterpreted as a louse, and gained the church the nickname "lousy St Luke's".
context_page_description: St Luke's is a historic Anglican church building in the EC1 postcode district of central London, and in the London Borough of Islington. It served as a parish church from 1733 to 1959. It was designed by John James and Nicholas Hawksmoor, and is a Grade I listed building.
  Following closure in 1959, the church stood derelict and roofless for some 40 years, but since 2003 has been a music centre operated by the London Symphony Orchestra and known as LSO St Luke's. It is the home of the LSO's community and music education programme, LSO Discovery. The main body of the building seats up to 372 and is used by the LSO for rehearsals, and by a wide variety of musicians for performances and recording. Additional rooms in the crypt provide practice facilities for professional musicians, students and community groups.
context_section_description: The church is sited on Old Street, north of the City of London. It was built to relieve the City church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate, Cripplegate, under the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, an attempt to meet the religious needs of London's burgeoning 18th-century population. The ancient parish of St Giles lay partly within the City and partly outside its boundaries in Middlesex: under the Commissioners' scheme these two parts were to be separated, with the Middlesex portion becoming a new parish of St Luke's. Construction began in 1727 and was completed in 1733, when the church was consecrated on 18 October (St Luke's day), and the parish detached from that of St Giles.
  The architects were the joint salaried surveyors to the Commission, John James and Nicholas Hawksmoor. James is thought to have been responsible for the body of the church, and Hawksmoor for the west tower, the flanking staircase wings, and the obelisk spire (a most unusual feature for an Anglican church). The spire was topped by an unusual weather vane depicting the head of a dragon with a fiery comet-like tail: this was misinterpreted locally as a louse, and by the mid-20th century had gained the church the nickname "lousy St Luke's".
  The church stood in the historically marshy Moorfields area, and from an early date (but particularly from the beginning of the 20th century) suffered from problems of subsidence. The effects of the subsidence remain visible in the distorted shapes of the windows on the north side of the building.
caption: The weather vane
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