| Description | St Joseph's was originally established as a chapel of ease to Str Mary Moorfields. The site for the church was purchaswed in 1815The Parish of Bunhill Row was founded in 1856. The church was built in 1901.
The church of St Joseph, Bunhill Row is a small chapel in the basement of a former school built in 1901. The current church is the successor to a school-chapel of c.1850. It contains two important stained glass windows of the 1820s from the old St Mary, Moorfields, the original pro-cathedral of the diocese.
The site was originally bought in 1815 by the Associated Catholic Charities, who established an orphanage and schools. A school chapel dedicated to St Joseph was listed in the Catholic Directory from 1850. Apart from two years (1853-1854) when the school and chapel moved to Sun Court, Golden Lane, the chapel has been on this site ever since. A new school and chapel building was opened on 1 December 1856. Designed by Edmund J. Kelly, it consisted of a chapel above two school rooms, all in plain Gothic. In 1901 this was replaced by the current chapel, located in the basement of a large new school block. This was a chapel of ease to St Mary Moorfields. A Presbytery was built in 1970.The architect is not known, but George Sherrin, architect of the new St Mary Moorfields in construction at that time, may have had an involvement. St. Joseph’s is today administered pastorally and sacramentally supported by the Parish Priest of St. Mary Moorfields.
St Joseph’s School closed in 1977 and now houses the offices of the Catholic Herald newspaper. In 1993 the church interior was redesigned by Anthony Delarue ‘in a vaguely Florentine Renaissance manner … to bring beauty and a sense of holiness into the building’ (architect’s description, Church Building, 1995). The builders were Messrs Fetherstone Construction Ltd. Delarue also designed a classical doorway for the entrance stair to the church. The church was dedicated by Cardinal Hume on 14 October 1993. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor celebrated Mass on 1 July 2001 at St Joseph's to celebrate the centenary of the church. |