In Detail: Conservation Work on the Royal Garrison Church Woolwich

The restoration of the circa 1890 Salviati mosaics in the Royal Garrison Church is entering its final phase, as conservators with Skillington Ltd. spend the next few weeks on site to finish reinstalling the remaining pieces.

Funded by the Heritage of London Trust and working under the supervision of the English Heritage, the conservation work was necessary due to the poor state of the mosaics resulting from decades of exposure to environmental conditions after the bombing of the church in 1944.

Most of the conservation was carried out in situ, including stabilization of mortars and loose tesserae, disinfection and cleaning. In the decorative border around St George, there was also the replacement of old repairs with new tesserae in the same tone.

Another company had previously removed some of the mosaics, and these were restored at Skillington Ltd.'s workshop. Those conserved pieces are now being installed, which would complete the mosaic restoration project.

Sources: 
The photographs and information about the conservation work have been kindly provided by Kalypso Kampani of Decorative Arts Conservation and Restoration. Ms. Kampani wrote the original proposal for the restoration grant and is the head conservator on the project.

Grand Hotel, Trafalgar Square

London's Grand Hotel was designed by F & H Francis and James Ebenezer Saunders. This team also designed London's Metropole Hotel in 1883.

Salviati decorated the six-story, Italianate hotel, which opened in Trafalgar Square in 1880 with mosaic work.

Circa 1910

The original building was taken over by the British government in World War I to house military officers.  By 1972, not only had the stone facade weathered, but the whole building was damaged by the new Jubilee subway line. It was demolished in 1986 and replaced with the similarly styled Grand Buildings (housing the current Grand Hotel) designed by Sidell Gibson Partnership.

Sources:
"Earthenware and Porcelain: No. VIII Mosaic Work and Stone-ware." The Furniture Gazette. July 10, 1880. 18.
Antique Print of the Opening of the Grand Hotel. Amazon.
Vintage Everyday. July 4, 2014. 
Exhibition of the Royal Academy. 1878. 44.
Royal Institute of British Architects. Riba1680 Grand Hotel, Charing Cross, London. 1879.
Calder, I.C. "Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London WC2." Proceedings of the ICE - Civil Engineering, Volume 97, Issue 3, 01 August 1993, pages 127 –134.
Hotel Metropole, St. Croix Architecture.

Royal Garrison Church Woolwich

The Italianate style church dedicated to St. George was built by Thomas Henry Wyatt in 1863-67. It became a Royal Garrison church in 1928.

 

Apse detail from sometime before 1944

The church was severely damaged by bombing in July 1944 and it had to be partly demolished. The apse containing the Salviati mosaic (commissioned by Burke and Co.) of St. George and the dragon surrounded by panels with ornamental motifs has survived. 

The remaining structure is currently undergoing a full restoration thanks to a substantial grant in 2011 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Mosaic details

Ornamental design around one of the two memorial tablets listing Victoria Cross recipients from the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

Architect's rendering of the new canopy for the apse containing the mosaics.

Additional mosaics found in the remaining structure showing a Phoenix rising and a peacock, which are noticeably different in tesserae shape and placement from the St. George composition, may have been added by Burke and Co. in 1903.

In 1870, Salviati made a mosaic designed by Edward Poynter featuring another St. George for the central lobby of Parliament.

Sources:
Heritage Lottery Fund
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 137.
e-Shooters Hill 
e-Shooters Marvellous Mosaics
The Times of London
Steve Hunnisett's flickr Photostream
This is Local London
Didimendum1's flickr Photostream
English Heritage

St. Mary's Cadogan Street Chelsea

This Catholic church in greater London was designed by John Francis Bentley and built 1877-79.

Bentley also designed the pulpit, which is decorated with Salviati mosaics.

Sources:
Salviati, Antonio. On Mosaics. 1865. 52.
St. Mary's Cadogan Street Chelsea
London Churches in Photographs
John Salmon on Geograph

St. Michael and All Angels, Shoreditch

In 1858, there was a severe lack of churches in this extremely poor London neighborhood. In fact, there was only church space for 1 in 11 people, while 17 clergymen were each responsible for about 7,000 individuals. Designed by James Brooks, this church was built 1863-65 for a total of 7,500 BP in an early Pointed French, rather than English style.

Brooks' original church plans.

Because of declining congregations, the church was closed and deconsecrated in 1964. The parish at that time was united with St. Leonard's in Shoreditch. Consequently, the St. Michael's building was turned into the home of the London Architectural and Salvage Supply Company Limited in 1976, which occupied most of the space for over thirty years.

In 2007, Westland and Company took over the church to use as showrooms for its architectural garden and decorative antiques business.

A 1908 photo shows what the altar looked like, however, the actual location and current status of the Salviati mosaics in the church that consisted of an "ornamental design" is unknown.

Sources:
Amazon
London Church Buildings
The Independent
Westland and Co.
Church Plans Online 
Parliament. House of Commons Papers. Vol. 14, May 4, 1875. 156.
Church Postcard Views 
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 124.

Holy Trinity Brompton

Much of the interior of this 1829 London church was redesigned by Arthur Blomfield in 1879-82.

The sanctuary reredos from 1885 was designed by John R. Clayton.

The central figure of Christ Enthroned surrounded by angels is flanked on either side by a total of twelve individual figures, including John the Baptist, St. Peter, King David and the Virgin Mary.

 

Sources:
British History Online: Survey of London 41, Page 32
British History Online: Survey of London 41, Pages 33-49
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 125.
Castor, David. Wikimedia Commons
Marcus Perkins Photography
London 365 Photo
Alaistair Humphreys' flickr Photostream
American Institute of Architects. Architectural  Record. Vol 2. New York: The Record and Guide, 1893. 81. 

St. Mary Magdalene Paddington

This High Victorian Gothic church near the Little Venice area of London was designed by G.E. Street and built 1867-78.

Six hexagonal mosaics by Salviati surround the chancel - four to the left of the altar and two to the right.

A catalog of Salviati's works from after 1903 shows the original designs for two of the medallions.

The Good Shepherd: "I am the Good Shepherd I know my sheep"

The return of the Prodigal Son: "Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee"

The woman taken in adultery: "Neither do I condemn Thee go and sin no more"

Raising of Lazarus: "And he that was dead came forth"

St. Peter's denial: "The Lord turned and looked upon Peter"

The impotent man at the pool of Bethesda: "Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto Thee"

The 2012 film "Les Miserables" used the Crypt Chapel of St. Sepulchre in this church as the Bishop's chapel, featuring scenes with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean. Although that scene takes place in the 1860s, the actual crypt wasn't built until 1895.

Sources:

Erede Dr. A. Salviati & Co. Venezia Catalog. Items 112 & 113. "The Life of Christ made for London. 25 sq. ft. each. 2nd Cat." After 1903. Courtesy of @Troyoz on Twitter
British Listed Buildings
Victorian Web
Rex Harris' flickr Photostream
YouTube

Central Lobby, Houses of Parliament

Four mosaics can be found in the central hall of the English Houses of Parliament in Westminster Palace. Two of them were made by Salviati.

St. George was designed by Sir Edward Poynter at a cost of £150 and manufactured by Salviati for £500. It was installed in 1870.

St. David was also by Poynter and Salviati, but it wasn't finished until 1898.

Sources:
Michael Shanks' Blog
Architecture of the Palace
Explore Parliament
Hansard, Thomas Curson. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, London: Cornelius Buck, March 28, 1883. 1034-36.
Taylor and Francis. The Houses of Parliament. 1991, 48.

St. Botolph without Bishopsgate

Designed by James Gould and built in 1729, this is the fourth church in this location.

The unusual altar reredos are by Salviati and depict the figures of St. John the Evangelist and Moses (earlier incorrectly identified as possibly Christ and the church's namesake) flanking a somewhat stylized tree of life in the middle.

Sources:
Parish and Ward Church of St. Botolph
Wikipedia
Simon_K's flickr Photostream
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 125.

M. Ellis, church administrator. August 1, 2018.

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street

Architect Joseph John Scoles designed this Roman Catholic Church that was built 1844-49 and which is run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

Henry Clutton designed the church's outer aisles and several chapels including the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament (also called the Sacred Heart Chapel) in 1860, which may be why his name is associated with Salviati's Venetian mosaics from around the same time that are located above A.W.N. Pugin's high altar.

Presented in 1875, the two mosaic panels depict the Annunciation and the Coronation of the Virgin, respectively.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 125.
Wheatley, Henry Benjamin and Peter Cunningham. London: Past and Present. Vol II. London: John Murray, 1891. 31.
Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP's flirck Photostream
Evinson, Denis. Catholic Churches in London. Wiltshire: The Cromwell Press, 1998. 44.
Hibbert, Christopher, et. al. The London Encyclopaedia. 3rd ed. London: Macmillan, 2008. 170.
Brian Harrington Spier's flickr Photostream
Rex Harris' flickr Photostream