St Patrick's Church

St Patrick’s Church stands in Soho Square, a quiet garden square in the heart of Westminster. The present brick building, completed in 1893 to designs by John Kelly of Leeds, replaced an earlier chapel consecrated in 1792. It is a long, narrow church because the plot was unusually shaped. The Grade II* listed structure has a bell-tower and a Roman-style porch with Corinthian columns. Above the entrance is an inscription in Latin taken from the writings of St Patrick. The church is one of the first Catholic buildings permitted in Britain after the Reformation. Father Arthur O’Leary organised the earlier chapel in the 1790s before the present church was built. During a major renovation between February 2010 and May 2011 the building was closed and services moved to the nearby Chapel of St Barnabas. The inscription above the door reminds worshippers of the link between Irish and Roman Christian traditions. Inside, the long nave leads to a simple altar under a high ceiling. The brick walls and large windows give the space a calm, dignified light. The porch’s Corinthian columns frame the entrance with quiet grandeur. Visitors step from the busy square into a place of stillness and order. The building shows how Catholic worship returned to London after centuries of restriction.