St Lawrence Jewry is another church I visited as part of Open House London. It’s the official church of the City of London Corporation. There’s been a church here from 1136 though the current building is at least the third one on the site. It’s name comes from its historical location next to where a Jewish community lived and is next to the Guildhall building (to feature in a later post).
The present church dates from 1677 and is built on the foundations of the 12th century church that was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Christopher Wren was responsible for its rebuilding but it was again badly damaged during the Blitz in 1940 so the architect Cecil Brown rebuilt it in the 1950s replicating many of Wren’s original designs.
Some of the best features of the church are the stained glass windows. All but three of the windows were designed by Christopher Rahere Webb; the windows of Wren’s church were all of clear glass. They’re all really beautiful but my favourites were those of St Catherine and Christopher Wren.
It really is a lovely church, one of Wren’s most expensive projects. You can find some more photos here.
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