page_title: Brompton Oratory
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Brompton Oratory / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The nave of Brompton Oratory in London, England. فارسی: سالن شبستان کلیسایی در لندن.
context_page_description: The Brompton Oratory is a large neo-classical Roman Catholic church in the Knightsbridge area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Its full name is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or as named in its Grade II* architectural listing, The Oratory. The church is closely connected with The London Oratory School, a boys' school founded by the priests from the London Oratory. Its priests celebrate Mass daily in the two main forms, frequently conduct ceremonies for well-known people, as it works as an extra-parochial church, and two of its three choirs have published physical copy and digital audio albums.
context_section_description: A design from Herbert Gribble, then 29, won a competition in March 1876. The foundation stone was laid in June 1880; and the new church was consecrated on 16 April 1884. The church is faced in Portland stone, with the vaults and dome in concrete; the latter was heightened in profile and the cupola added in 1895, standing 200 feet (61 m) tall. It was the largest Catholic church in London before the opening of Westminster Cathedral in 1903.
  The competition specified the "Italian Renaissance" style, but the Roman Baroque and Wren are also drawn on. Devon marble is used in the major order of pilasters and the minor order of columns, with more exotic marbles in the apse and the altars, with carvings in metalwork, plasterwork, wood and stone. It houses Italian Baroque sculpture: The Twelve Apostles by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725) acquired from Siena Cathedral in 1895 and the Lady Altar, with sculptures by Tommaso Rues (1650–1690 ca.). The architectonical structure of the altar, originally decorating a chapel dedicated to the Rosary, was acquired from the church of San Domenico Brescia after its demolition in 1883. Gribble's decorative scheme for the apse was not proceeded with, but the decoration of the St Wilfrid and the St Mary Magdalene chapels do reflect his intentions. The St Philip Neri altar is to his design. The second great decorative campaign (1927–32) was by the Italian architect C. T. G. Formilli, in mosaic, plaster and woodwork, the cost exceeding his estimate of £31,000. Further decoration marked the 1984 centenary. The reredos of Doric columns in yellow scagliola (2006) of the St Joseph chapel and a new altar and reredos of the Blessed Cardinal Newman (2010)  are by Russell Taylor. The statue of Newman in cardinal's robes (1896) is by L. J. Chavalliaud in architectural setting by Thomas Garner. The church boasts magnificent vestments and altar plate, and houses an important library.
caption: The nave of the oratory church
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