St James's Church

St James’s Church stands at the western end of Sussex Gardens in Paddington, London. The long avenue of plane trees leads directly to its Gothic façade. It replaced an earlier church on Paddington Green, which had become too small for the growing congregation. The first building was designed by John Goldicutt in the early 1840s, but George Gutch completed it in a Gothic style after Goldicutt’s death. Within forty years the congregation had outgrown the church, so G. E. Street was commissioned to rebuild it in a fourteenth-century Gothic manner. The rebuilt church was finished by Sir Arthur Blomfield after Street’s death in 1881. Princess Christian laid the foundation stone in February 1882, and the church reopened in 1884. Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd here on 29 May 1884; a slate plaque now marks the spot. During the Second World War the church suffered bomb damage and its crypt served as an air-raid shelter. After repairs, Princess Marina reopened the church in 1958. Inside, visitors find stained glass by A. E. Buss of Goddard & Gibbs. The Te Deum window at the east end shows figures such as Alexander Fleming, J. M. Barrie and Lord Baden-Powell, alongside a scene from the Blitz. The organ, installed in 1882 by William Hill & Sons, has four manuals and has been rebuilt several times. Organists have included Harold Darke and George Thalben-Ball. The church remains an active parish church in the heart of Paddington.