Our Lady, Queen of Heaven
Queensway
London, May 2023
“A tall, double galleried former Nonconformist church, designed on a horseshoe plan. Originally built for the United Methodist Free Church, it was used by the West London Ethical Society and the West London Unitarian Fellowship, before being converted to Catholic use in 1954. The fitting out is largely modern. Externally, the Gothic Revival design stands out amidst the brick and stucco terraces of Queensway.The church was built in 1868 for the United Methodist Free Church, replacing a small Wesleyan Methodist chapel of 1828. The architect is not known. In 1909, the building was sold to the West London Ethical Society who rented it from about 1946 to the West London Unitarian Fellowship. In March 1954, it was bought for £22,000 (plus £1,000 for the organ) by Fr Horace Tennant, Superior of St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater. It was opened for Catholic use by Cardinal Griffin on 12 September 1954. Queensway became an independent parish in 1973. In the early 1990s, the hall was refurbished and renamed Carpenter Hall, after Fr Philip Carpenter, the first parish priest.In 2000-02, the architect Gerald Murphy oversaw the refurbishment and reordering of the church (cost: £300,000). This included the removal of a 1920s sloping floor and its replacement by a new floor at the original level, the removal of the altar rails, new pews, new sanctuary furniture (including a freestanding altar to replace the old wall-fixed one), a reconciliation room within a former light well, a new organ and a new lighting system. The church was consecrated by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor on 21 April 2002.” (Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Taking Stock)
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