Client Trustees of St Ethelburgas
Project Rebuild following Major Bomb Damage
Location Bishopsgate, City of London
Services Full Architectural Services
The client's requirements for the project at St Ethelburgas were to rebuild the Grade I listed church from the collected fragments and the standing remains, and to provide new accommodation for the St Ethelburgas Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. The building had been heavily damaged by the Bishopsgate bomb in 1993. The project aimed to preserve the aesthetic and historic value of the whole site by rebuilding the church, with its familiar Bishopsgate façade, using traditional building techniques and incorporating much of the original material; the Kentish ragstone rubble and the Reigate stone dressings. Considering the force of the blast, which created a 15ft deep crater in the street directly outside, it is surprising that so many of the timbers of the oak frame of the tower structure survived, as did quantities of stonework and some of the monuments. Where possible these have been incorporated in their original locations. Where there was insufficient surviving material, or records of the original construction, the building has been completed using new materials that are complementary to the original conserved or rebuilt fabric. A new steel and glass extension facing onto a courtyard to the rear of the building provides the entrance for the Centre. Internally offices and a meeting room have been created on a mezzanine level in the South Aisle.
