Wesley the Architect?

I conclude this blog series with a look at John Wesley the architect--not the architect of our denomination, but actually designing a church building. That church is City Road Chapel in London.  It is also referred to as Wesley’s Chapel and was built to replace John Wesley's earlier London chapel, The Foundry.

The site was purchased from the Corporation of London in 1776. After considerable funds had been raised, the foundation stone for the new chapel was laid on April 21, 1777. On that day Wesley preached on what God had accomplished through him and the Methodists (Numbers 23:23). Although Wesley designed the building, he was wise enough to use the architect George Dance the Younger, surveyor to the City of London, to provide the building plans. Built by Samuel Tooth, a member of the Foundry Chapel and one of Wesley’s lay preachers, City Road Chapel was opened on All Saints’ Sunday, 1778.

Even though Wesley called his chapel "neat, but not fine," its Georgian lines and other features are quite attractive. It faces Bunhill Fields across the street, where his mother Susanna is buried along with several notable Non-Conformists. Wesley's tomb is behind the chapel.

Wesley used City Road Chapel as his London base. The chapel was the first Methodist church in London built for the celebration of communion and preaching. It is not the first Methodist church, however; that honor belongs to the New Room in Bristol.

In 1891, to mark the centenary of Wesley's death, the chapel was refurbished. The original oak masts that supported the gallery, a gift to the chapel from King George III, were replaced with marble pillars from around the world. As it was the Civil War era, the chapel received two pillars from America: North and South.

One year after the completion of the chapel, Wesley built a house on the property. He spent the last 11 winters of his life here and died in his bedroom on March 2, 1791. An art print from the era shows Wesley on his deathbed surrounded by several friends and associates. Having visited the house myself, I can only wonder how all fifteen people fit into such a small space (11ft. x 14ft.). Artistic license?



 

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher got married at Wesley's Chapel in 1951. A devout Methodist, she attended services here from time to time, but the security arrangements eventually made it very difficult to do so. She donated the current communion rail.

 

 

 

Frost Fairs

During John Wesley’s life England experienced some of the most severe winters on record. In fact, the period is often spoken of as the Little Ice Age.  It began in the Fifteenth Century and continued into the Early Nineteenth Century. During this era, the River Thames often froze over. One story (legend) from the early 1600s purports that William Shakespeare’s acting company, along with a small band of helpers and roughnecks, carted the various parts of their timber-framed theater away from its original location in Shoreditch and stealthily made their way across the ice of the frozen Thames to its new location in Southwark, where it would later become famous as the Globe Theater. In doing so they avoided the taxman on London Bridge.

With the River Thames frozen, not only could things be moved across the river, but people could enjoy skating, food booths, drinking booths, games of chance, rides, and performance artists. 

A few years ago I had the opportunity to see a newspaper from 1788. The paper was owned by a good friend, Rev. Frederick Maser.  Dr. Maser was not only an exceptional Methodist preacher; he was also a recognized Methodist historian.  Related to his interest in Methodist history, he had become a collector of things related to John Wesley: books, letters, and ephemera.  The newspaper was in this last category.

He pointed out the front page article about the Frost Fair being held on the Thames. It spoke of the fair as a fairyland all lit up with lanterns at night. The article extolled the great joy that people of all ages had on the ice. After showing me this account, however, Fred directed me to another, shorter article on one of the inner pages of the paper. The headline to that article was, “Mr. Wesley’s Societies Collect for the Poor”. What was most interesting was that the poor in question were the very people who were out of work due to the prolonged freeze of the river: longshoremen, sailors, fish mongers, and so on.

The paper caught for me the spirit of Methodism, which is to be aware of the joys in life and to participate fully, but to not let those joys blind us to the needs of others.