Teulon
In the middle of the 19th Century, the Holborn Valley Improvement Scheme bought the North Churchyard from St Andrew’s to make way for the Holborn Viaduct, which was to link Holborn with Newgate.Queen Victoria opened the viaduct in 1869. Because of the loss of land from the churchyard many of the bodies were re-interred in the Crypt, as well as in the City Cemetery in Ilford.
St Andrew’s engaged the Victorian Gothic architect Samuel Teulon to build a new vicarage and Court House on the South side of St Andrews. Into the Court Room, the feature room of the building, Teulon incorporated a 17th Century fireplace from one of the two previous Questhouses; it still stands impressively in the room today.
Teulon’s building now operates as the offices for the Foundation, the associated Charities, as well as the Vicarage and the Conference Rooms. Teulon also substantially remodelled the interior of the church, as can be seen in the picture below. His 'improvements' did not cohere well with the purity of Wren's designs. However, his alterations were destroyed when the church was bombed in 1941. Subsequent restoration has been closer to Wren's intentions.
The church was used by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist - Bill Sykes looks up at St Andrew’s tower, and by Iris Murdoch in Under the Net, who copies Dickens - though from where her character stands it is almost impossible to see St Andrew’s.
John Stanley (1712-1786) was Organist here from the age of 14, and died nearby in Hatton Garden. He became a governor of the Foundling Hospital after Handel’s death and continued the tradition of performing the Messiah for the Hospital.
Next
