About our building
The church is a simple building in Regency style, with a portico of four unfluted columns with Ionic capitals. The interior is very plainly decorated in white and gold, and reminds some people of churches in New England. The box pews are original. The chancel was extended in the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was dominated by a stained glass window of St John the Baptist. This and other Victorian stained glass in the nave was blown out in the Second World War and was replaced with the present clear glass, which makes the interior exceptionally light, especially on a summer’s day. In 1938 the galleries of the church – which had held the overflow congregation at well-attended funerals – were closed in (most of this space has been used for the last 40 years by St John’s Wood Pre-Prep School). In 1991, the heavy Victorian woodwork was taken out, and the present pavement of Italian marble was installed.
The early nineteenth century funerary monuments which line the walls are the church’s most significant historical feature. They were set up by friends and families as memorials of private grief, and reflect the society and the culture of their time. The most important artistically is the monument to Sarah Capel (on the east side of the chancel), which is by Chantry. The silver doors of the aumbry (where the consecrated bread and wine are kept) are by the noted contemporary silversmith Rod Kelly, and were installed to mark the new millennium.
The statue of St John the Baptist next to the piazza of the church hall complex is by Hans Feibusch, and was erected to mark the completion of the complex in 1977.