St Cuthbert's Church, Earl's Court

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St Cuthbert's, Philbeach Gardens is a Grade I listed Anglican church at 50 Philbeach Gardens, Earls Court, London SW5.The Church was built 1884–87, designed by the architect Hugh Roumieu Gough, son of Alexander Dick Gough. The interior furnishings designed by William Bainbridge Reynolds who was a member of the congregation. It has been hailed as Jewel of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.The church is situated on the north west of Philbeach Gardens in Earls Court near the West Cromwell Road . Adjoining the church is the clergy house and to that Philbeach Hall.St Cuthberts is noted for its interior decoration and its style of worship.HistorySt. Cuthbert's is much the grandest church to have been built in western Kensington. It was built from 1884 to 1887 and was greatly enriched and beautified over the succeeding thirty years. A clergy house attached to the north-west corner of the church was incorporated into Gough's scheme and was the first element to be built. It was undertaken in the latter half of 1883 for a contract price of £1,622 by S. Belham and Company of Buckingham Palace Road, who were to be the builders for the church as well. The church itself followed on from the spring of 1884, slowly at first due to lack of funds. Belhams took up the first contract for £2,937 and the foundation stone, a block quarried at Lindisfarne, was laid by Earl Beauchamp on 2 July 1884. Not long afterwards work had to be stopped while Westall appealed for a further £4,000. Tenders for the second contract were not submitted until May 1886, when Belhams resumed their work for a price of £7,836. In July 1887 the structure was being roofed in. The consecration by Bishop Temple finally took place on 18 November 1887 but the Lady Chapel was apparently not finished until the following year. As completed, the church seated about 950; the cost of its construction was estimated roundly at £11,000.