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For years the congregation of St Mark’s has been under pressure from developers |
Sacrilege claims over church health spa bid
‘Congregation needs place to worship not a café’
A HISTORIC church could be transformed into a health spa if controversial proposals are approved next month.
The Mayfair community has reacted with anger to an application from the Diocese of London that could see St Mark’s Church in North Audley Street handed to developers.
In exchange for providing crucial maintenance, they would be allowed to open a health spa, café and let a neighbour extend his luxury mansion into the first floor of the Grade I listed building.
A 400-strong petition, signed by residents and members of the active congregation, was delivered to the Lord Mayor Cllr Carolyn Keen in Marylebone Council House on Monday.
“It would literally be sacrilege,” warned Kirk Mitchell, chairman of the Save St Mark’s Action Group.
For years the church congregation has been under threat from developers keen to cash in in exchange for maintaining the building.
The 20-year lease has run out and owners the Diocese of London has since 2003 indicated it would accept offers from the private sector.
This week the campaign took an unexpected twist when the precise details of the proposals, which comes from developers Hammer Holdings Group Ltd, emerged.
Mr Mitchell said: “It is the community that is driving this campaign. The community needs a place to worship, not a café or a health spa. We prize this building as similar to St Martin in the Fields. You have to ask yourself: is it ethical?”
The Church of England owns the building that was officially declared redundant in 1974. It was reopened 15 years ago after Pastor Ed Hornback founded the Commonwealth Christian Fellowship. Pastor Hornback has left the church because of ill-health and now Rod and Julie Anderson run the 200-strong congregation.
“It is literally heartbreaking to consider such a travesty of justice,” Rod Anderson said. “As the old stone plaque says in the church: ‘This building was dedicated to the Glory of God!’ I’d love to ask the leaders of the diocese to read this plaque and ask them, ‘Gentlemen, what is it about this inscription that you don’t understand?’ However, that probably wouldn’t be very Christian of me.
“From this pulpit major generals of armies, prime ministers, foreign dignitaries, and abolitionist friends of Wilberforce spoke.
“During World War II it was the major American Church, as it’s located just off Grosvenor Square, the home of the United States Embassy. Eisenhower and common soldiers attended this church during the war, Eleanor Roosevelt attended here when the first UN Assembly met in London in 1946, to discuss the fate of a Jewish homeland.” |
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