St Christopher's Chapel, Great Ormond Street Hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital was built from 1871 to 1876, and the chapel was completed in 1875.[1][2] It had been designed by Edward Middleton Barry who donated his work to the hospital in memory of one of his children who had died in infancy.[1][3] The chapel cost £60,000 to build.[4] The chapel is a small rectangle with an apse at its east end.[1] Its interior is highly decorated.[5] The chapel was consecrated on 18 November 1875 by Canon Alfred Barry, later Bishop of Sydney and Primate of Australia.[4]

On 10 March 1980, the chapel was designated a grade II* listed building.[1]

Due to its listed status, the chapel could not be demolished when the old hospital building was knocked down in the 1980s.[2] It was decided that the whole chapel would be moved to a new site.[2] This was done by encasing the chapel in a large, water-proof box and underpinning with a concrete raft.[2][6] Having emptied the interior of all its furniture and removed the stained glass windows, the now encased chapel was lowered from the first floor to the ground floor.[2] It was then moved by hydraulic rams to its new location;[2] this is "thought to be the largest en bloc transportation of a structure ever undertaken".[6] Six years after it was moved and after extensive renovation, the chapel was re-opened on 14 February 1994 by Diana, Princess of Wales.[2]

Present day

The "Teddy Bear Choir" behind the altar.

The chapel is open at all times.[7] There is a service of morning prayer at 10:30am during the week (Monday to Friday), and a service of Holy Communion on Wednesdays.[8]

Along the rear of the chapel is a row of teddy bears and other soft toys, provided by families of ill children, known as the Teddy Bear Choir.[5] In addition, the chapel has a prayer tree where messages of hope and support can be written for sick children at the hospital, and placed on the tree.[9]

The doorway leaving St Christopher's Chapel

The chapel has been described as of the Franco-Italianate style and was influenced by the Renaissance Revival.[1][3] The chapel "is divided by four columns, and has a central dome, with an apse at the east end".[5] The terrazzo floor was designed by Antonio Salviati, an Italian mosaicist, and is said to be influenced by a pavement in St Mark's Basilica, Venice.[2]

The interior is highly decorated with many of its images referring to childhood.[5] The central dome is "painted with musician angels around the rim and pelican in piety" in its centre.[1] The apse windows are stained glass designed by Clayton and Bell, and depict the childhood of Jesus Christ.[1] The ceiling of the apse is decorated with eight angels (Faith, Truth, Patience, Purity, Obedience, Charity, Honour and Hope) with a central roundel depicting the Lamb and flag.[1]

There are a number of Bible quotes with accompanying murals decorating the walls. These include "Suffer little children to come unto me" (Luke 18:16) and "feed my lambs + feed my sheep" (John 21:16).[1][5] Above the door it states: "I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the House of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1)

There are a number of memorial plaques on the walls of the chapel. They include:

• Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet (1860–1937), novelist and playwright, author of Peter Pan. He gave the copyright to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1929.[10]
• William Henry Barry (1823–1880), who endowed the chapel[4]
• Charles Dickens, author and early fundraiser for the hospital.[11]
• Lt Col Alexander Simpson-Smith, RAMC (1900–1942). He was a surgeon at the hospital but volunteered for the British Army during the Second World War. He died in 1942 while serving in Egypt.[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Christopher's Chapel, Great Ormond Street Hospital.

• Great Ormond Street Hospital chaplaincy