St Mary, Haggerston

St Mary, Haggerston, was a "Commissioners' church", was advised on architectural questions by the Board of Trade, whose three architects, John Soane, John Nash and Robert Smirke were asked for sample plans and estimates as soon as the act was passed. Nash built only two churches for the commissioners: the Neoclassical All Souls, Langham Place, and the Gothic St Mary, Haggerston. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of London on 29 March 1827. The estimated cost of construction was £12,496 and it was designed to seat 1,700 worshippers.

The church had a substantial west front with side turrets, from the centre of which rose an unusually tall tower. Various apocryphal stories grew up to account for the great height of the attenuated tower. Its construction to such a height was made possible by the purchase by the contractor of a large amount of moderately priced Bath stone from the demolished Wanstead House.</blockquote> The stone-faced west front had a central square tower flanked by porches; at each end of the front was a polygonal turret, housing the stairs leading up to the galleries over the aisles, an arrangement which saved space within the body of the church. The tower had octagonal buttresses terminating in…