Tabernacle

The Tabernacle stands in Powis Square, Notting Hill, a Grade II-listed building with a curved Romanesque façade of red brick and terracotta. Built in 1887 as a church, it has two towers with broach spires on either side. Today it functions as a cultural arts and entertainment venue with a theatre, meeting rooms, music studio, art gallery, bar and kitchen, conservatory and a garden courtyard. The building began as the Talbot Tabernacle in 1869, founded by former barrister Gordon Forlong to serve as a non-sectarian Church of Christ. Forlong had preached at Victoria Hall in Archer Street and raised capital for a temporary iron church that seated around 1,000 people. The present structure was designed by architects Habershon and Fawckner and completed in 1887 during the ministry of Frank Henry White. In the 1970s it became a community arts centre leased by local enthusiasts from Kensington and Chelsea Council. Bands such as the Mangrove steel band used the venue ahead of the Notting Hill Carnival. In the 1990s The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd rehearsed here. After a £4 million refurbishment in 1998, it reopened with a new hall, studios, art gallery and bar. The Carnival Village Trust now runs the venue on behalf of the Royal Borough.