Situating St Mary-le-Strand: The Church, the City and the Career of James Gibbs

Abstract

ABSTRACTJames Gibbs's church of St Mary-le-Strand has often been interpreted as an expression of his training in Rome, his Tory politics and his Roman Catholic faith. These factors, as well as the growing clout of the Palladian movement, all supposedly contributed to the architect's dismissal from the Commission for Fifty New Churches. In fact, the design was discovered slowly and by compromise, and Gibbs's dismissal was brought about by a change of monarchy, the demise of his original patrons and by the cost-cutting agenda of the new Whig regime. Rather than recent Italian sources, St Mary-le-Strand derives many of its features from the architecture of London, particularly St Paul's Cathedral. The siting of the church on the royal processional way from Westminster to St Paul's Cathedral explains many of Gibbs's design choices. Queen Anne, under whose reign the church was conceived, used the route frequently.