All Souls Church's unique spired vestibule

All Souls Church, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone, at the north end of Regent Street, is a conservative evangelical Anglican church in the City of Westminster. Designed by John Nash, favorite architect of King George IV, the church was completed in December 1823 at a final cost of £18,323 10s 5d. It was consecrated 'with solemn grandeur' on 25 November 1824 by William Howley, Bishop of London, later Archbishop of Canterbury. The church features a prominent circular-spired vestibule, which is composed of seventeen concave sides encircled by a peripteros of Corinthian columns, making two separate sections.

As the church stands directly opposite Broadcasting House, the BBC often broadcasts from the church. As well as the core church membership, many hundreds of visitors come to All Souls, bringing the average number of those coming through its doors for services on Sundays to around 2,500 every week. The church is built of Bath stone and its idiosyncratic spire serves as an eye-catching monument at the point where Regent Street takes an abrupt bend westward to align with Portland Place.

The church was one of only two Commissioners' churches to be built to John Nash's designs. Nash's design was not met with universal praise, and a reviewer for The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction 2 August 1828 wrote a critique of the design.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons