Tuesday, June 28, 2011

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in London

I had to pop in to a restaurant for a bite to eat and then noticed this lovely church again. I have seen this before and always wanted to explore this more. This is the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
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The church is a long narrow one, fascinatingly architected. The frontage also contains the Steeple although I wouldn't call it that. With a statue of St. Patrick in a niche in the front.

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Looks almost Italian, no? But this is Soho Square, one of the most important addresses in London. So what’s the story? Well, as it so happens, this was previously the house of the Earl of Carlisle in 1690. Then in 1760, it was leased by Mrs Cornelys, a colourful character who had a child by Cassanova. But she went bankrupt and it was then purchased by a priest and an Italianiate building was constructed and consecrated the chapel in 1792.

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Beautiful frontage. You can see the greek and roman influence.

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The tower is the most extraordinary sight. Beautiful structure. And to see an Italian style building in the middle of a Soho Square is just brilliant.

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The full building in relief. One day I have to get inside this building and take some more photographs.

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A closeup of the tower. Warm warm bricks. I did not know that there are catacombs underneath the church. One day I have to get inside this definitely. I also did not know that this was the first catholic church created after the English Reformation. Brave men indeed.

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This is the statue of King Charles II in Soho Square. Somebody was evil enough to plonk in a glass in his hand. Very amusing. This statue was constructed way back in 1681 but was restored here in 1938 after it had gone on a bit of a journey. The face has been restored, so it almost looks like it is wearing a mask.

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This is the Picasso Room in the Le Escargot Restaurant just off Soho Square where I had dinner. This statue keeps on fascinating me. It is absolutely brilliant. Calls to me and talks to me. I am trying to find out the provenance of this statue. Any thoughts?

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