Church House - Definition and Overview

Church House is the building that serves as the headquarters of the Church of England, occupying the south end of Dean's Yard next to Westminster Abbey in London.

The current building, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, is a 1930s replacement of the original building, commissioned in 1902 by the 1888-formed Corporation of the Church House to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee of 1887. Though delayed at first by the recession of the early 1930s, the foundation stone was laid by Queen Mary on June 26, 1937, and the building was official opened by King George VI on June 10, 1940.

After the building's Assembly Hall was directly hit during the Blitz and yet suffered little damage, Winston Churchill requisitioned the building for use as makeshift Houses of Parliament. The first meetings of both the United Nations Security Council and United Nations Preparatory Commission both took place in the Hoare Memorial Hall on November 27, 1945.

The building was listed in 1988, and is currently used as a conference centre when the general synod is not in session.

This is only one of a number of 'Church Houses' A fine example of which can be found at Church House South Tawton and another at Widecombe, both in Devon.

External links

• The Corporation of the Church House (http://www.churchhouse.org.uk/)
• The Church of England (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/)
• Church House's conference centre business (http://www.churchhouseconf.co.uk/)
• South Tawton's Church House 15th Century (http://www.thechurchhouse.org.uk/)
• Streetmap (http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=530000&Y=179500&width=700&height=400&gride=529948&gridn=179325&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=pc&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=SW1P3NZ&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&zm=0&in.x=7&in.y=13&scale=10000) showing the location of Church House, from multimap.co.uk

Example Usage of Church