Methodist Central Hall

Methodist Central Hall stands in the City of Westminster, at the corner of Tothill Street and Storeys Gate. It faces Westminster Abbey across the road and sits beside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. The building mixes a Methodist church with a conference centre, an art gallery, a restaurant and office spaces. Formerly it housed the Methodist Church of Great Britain’s headquarters until 2000. Inside are 22 meeting rooms, the largest being the Great Hall which seats 2,300. The hall has played a part in national and international events. In 1946 it hosted the first session of the United Nations General Assembly. Suffragette meetings took place here in 1914, scenes of which appeared in the 2015 film Suffragette. Famous speakers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mikhail Gorbachev and Winnie Mandela have addressed rallies in the main hall. In 1966 the Jules Rimet Trophy was displayed here before the World Cup. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat had its first public performance in 1968. The architecture combines elaborate baroque cladding with an early reinforced concrete frame. The Great Hall’s domed ceiling is said to be the second largest of its kind in the world. Inside, the organ has 57 stops and 3,789 speaking pipes. The exterior spandrels feature angels designed by Henry Poole. The building remains an active place of worship, conference venue and public enquiry centre.