St Pancras wins SPAB Award
We are delighted to announce that St Pancras Church has won the prestigious Sir John Betjeman Award for 2017 given by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. The Award recognizes the quality of the repair work in the recent restoration of the roofs and stone work at the west end of the church.
From the SPAB press release: ‘The annual award honours the memory of church enthusiast and SPAB member Sir John Betjeman and is made for outstanding repairs to the fabric of places of worship in England and Wales completed in the last 18 months. Importantly, the award is always made to the winning church / chapel rather than to individuals. This year’s John Betjeman Award attracted a record number of entries from across England and Wales. All dates and styles of ecclesiastical architecture were represented, from soaring landmarks seating hundreds to the small and modest, some in deeply rural locations, but all at the heart of their community
The SPAB judging panel visited three shortlisted projects earlier this spring and found themselves faced with a tough decision. Ultimately the meticulous and beautifully executed Portico Project at St Pancras Church emerged as a clear favourite. Years of pollution have taken their toll on the early 19th-century building designed by father and son William and Henry Inwood to serve the growing population of the Duke of Bedford’s ‘New Road’ estate on the northern edge of Bloomsbury. As part of the parish’s ‘Portico Project’ architects Alan Chandler and Marcus Chantrey have meticulously cleaned and repaired the roof, parapet and terracotta decoration of St Pancras’s Ionic western portico, working closely with specialists Pierra Restoration, Leadworkers MS Lock and Sons, conservator Sally Strachey and Darwen Terracotta.
The Revd. Anne Stevens, vicar of St Pancras Church, said: “We are delighted to receive this award. St Pancras Church has been one of the treasures of Central London since it opened in 1822, but the Inwoods had no idea that the Euston Road would become one of the most heavily polluted in the country. This has caused – and still causes – severe damage to the decorative features of the building. We were determined that the repairs to the roof, stonework and terracotta should preserve the original grace and beauty of the church. In an area blighted by poor development, the classical elegance of the building continues to lift the heart, and to remind people of the timeless values of faith, hope and love in our busy world. Sir John Betjeman is remembered with great fondness in the station that bears our name – and it is an honour to receive the SPAB award that bears his.” ‘
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