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The building of King's College Theological Hostel in Vincent Square

by Richard Barton (2021)

In October 1976, at the age of eighteen, I arrived on the doorstep of King’s College Theological

College in Vincent Square. It became my home for two years before I moved on to the Catholic

Chaplaincy in Gower Street. I suppose I took the building for granted then but in more recent

years I have come to appreciate how fortunate I was to have experienced living at ‘The

Square’ with its chapel, elegant dining hall and convenient library. This brief account of the

construction of the building also gives me the opportunity to showcase a handful of postcards

and newspaper cuttings that I have collected over the years.

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‘With the approval of the Council and of the Bishops of London, Rochester and St Albans, a

Hostel was established in October 1902, under the wardenship of Professor Newsom, for those

Theological Students who wish for the advantages of a common life …’ (Calendar 1935-36)

The centenary history of King’s College, written by Hearnshaw, explains why the Hostel was

erected as well as how the project was achieved:

‘This same period, moreover, saw a noteworthy advance in the provision of hostel

accommodation for students of the college who could not live at home. The theologians

already had their hostel in Mecklenburgh Square. For ten years (1902-1912) it served an

invaluable purpose; but it was obviously a mere makeshift. It was too small; it was

inconvenient; it was not well situated. Hence the Council rejoiced when in 1912 they received

from the ecclesiastical commissioners the offer, on very favourable terms, of an excellent plot

of land in Vincent Square, Westminster. The offer was accepted; plans were prepared by Mr

Arthur Martin; a Mansion House meeting for the raising of a building fund was held on

November 4, 1912, and speedily £7000 was contributed – a small sum compared with the

lavish wealth that flowed in the direction of home science, but enough to warrant a start.’

The architect, Arthur Campbell Martin CVO FRIBA, was born on 20 August 1875. He was the

grandson of Dr George Moberly, headmaster of Winchester and later Bishop of Salisbury. He

was brother to William Keble Martin, and was also connected to John and Thomas Keble of

the Oxford Movement. His father had been appointed as the Rector of Dartington, near

Totnes.

Martin commenced independent practice as an architect in London, in 1898 and designed a

number of country houses and churches.

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Martin’s design for the hostel was substantial in scale, with elevations onto both Vincent

Square and Rochester Row. The left wing of the building, when viewed from Vincent Square,

was added in 1928-9. It was constructed in red brick, with substantial stone base and has a

somewhat eclectic architectural treatment, with Tudor Gothic influences, notably in the tall

chimney stacks and the eye-catching stone mullioned and transomed window on the splayed

northern corner elevation. On the Vincent Square elevation, some of the detailing exhibits

greater Classical influence, notably in the stone-dressed surrounds to both the doors on this

elevation.

The Building News: September 12, 1913: Theological Hostel, Vincent Square, S.W., For King’s

College, London

‘The contractors for the foundations of this building were Messrs. Dove Bros. and for the

superstructure, Messrs Foster and Dicksee. The materials are as follows: Facing bricks are 3 ¼

by 9in., varying in colour with red quoins. The stone is brown Portland. The Hostel is intended

for residential purposes only, and no lectures will be given there. Each of the sixty students has

a bed-sitting room, while there are ample common rooms and a large dining hall on the

ground floor. The east block, which is now being erected, contains a private house for the

Warden and rooms for two resident tutors are provided in the main building. The west block

will contain another ten rooms, a large library, and, on the top floor (sic), a chapel. Funds do

not allow for all this being built yet. The foundation stone was laid on May 6 last by H.R.H.

Princess Louise (Duchess of Argyll). The building is to be open for students on October 1. Mr.

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Arthur C. Martin, F.R.I.B.A., 11, Hart Street, W.C. is the architect. The foundations rest on

concrete piers reaching to ballast found 16ft below ground level. Basement level 5ft. below

ground, was as low as was possible, on account of the shallowness of the sewer. This drawing

was shown at the Royal Academy this Summer.’

The Sphere, May 3rd 1913: Changes in Old Westminster – A new Theological Hostel among

Ancient Almshouses

‘King’s College Hostel for theological students is now rapidly rising on the site of some old

houses recently pulled down in Rochester Row.’

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Illustrated London News, 17th May 1913, 716: Laying of the Foundation Stone

‘“Not in Iona, but at Westminster”: Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, laying the Foundation-

Stone of the new King’s College Hostel for Theological Students in Vincent Square. The

ceremony took place on May 6. The Dean of the Theological Faculty of King’s College, Dr.

Caldecott, in his address, said that the hostel was “not conceived in the spirit of the cloister. It

was not situated in Iona, nor in Lindisfarne … but at Westminster.” The Duke of Argyll later

made a humorous allusion to this remark. He said he was sorry to hear it mentioned, as a

matter of congratulation, that they were not located at Iona. He could promise them as much

rain there, and perhaps cheaper land, and he would promise them free land if they wanted a

library at Iona.’

Hearnshaw: ‘The foundation-stone of the building was laid on May 6 1913, by the Princess

Louise, and so rapid was the progress made that on November 8 of the same year fifty-two

students were able to go into residence. The formal opening took place on February 26, 1914,

when the Bishop of London presided over a distinguished assembly. Of course only a portion

of the projected building was then completed, and even this cost £4000 over and above the

subscriptions in hand; the estimated cost of the whole was over £28,000. The completion of

the architect’s fine design has had to wait for sixteen years: it is one of the outstanding

features of the centenary alterations.’

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Dr Gordon Huelin mentioned, in his sesquicentennial history of King’s College, London, that

the iron railings around the hostel were removed to help the war effort. After hostilities ended

the new Dean, Eric Abbott, approached the architect, Mr. Martin, to have the temporary

unsightly fence replaced by a stone wall with a gateway. For this major improvement the

Hostel was awarded an architectural prize.

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It is said that the architect’s overall design for the Hostel was so highly thought of, as also was

his work at Sandhurst, that he was given the contract for the new St Olave’s in Mitcham. This

church took its dedication from the redundant church of St. Olave’s, Tooley Street. The church

building, consecrated in 1931, was never completed as its architect intended: his proposed

design incorporated a further bay at the west end of the nave, an Italianate bell tower and a

Lady Chapel. The completed church would have seated about five hundred people. Another

church of his, also in south London, is St Luke, Pentridge Street, Camberwell. This is a late

work, built from 1953 and finished by others, but like St Olave’s it is large, brick [and]neo-

Byzantine. But there is a proper tower over the crossing, and it gives the later building a single

strong vertical element that is absent at St Olave’s in its present state.

Other ecclesiastical projects include work at St John the Baptist, Egham; St Mary Magdalene,

Flaunden and St Mary the Virgin, Clifton Reynes. Arthur Campbell Martin died on 2 July 1963.

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Chapel 1976

The Chapel, 1976

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Dr Gordon Huelin commented on the chapel at Vincent Square in his sesquicentennial history:

The Chapel forming an important part of its life has over the years undergone a number of

alterations and improvements, the most recent of which involved the re-modelling of its

sanctuary, with the provision of a free-standing altar-table, symbolic silver cross and

candlesticks being the work of Mr Louis Osman F.R.I.B.A., and made possible through the

Goldsmiths’ Company.’

The mantrap Cross was commissioned in 1967 by Sydney Evans, the Warden of the Hostel

and Dean of King’s College. Jenny Moore, has written about it in her 2006 book, ‘Louis Osman

(1914-1996)’:

‘Louis made this mantrap to hang above a bean-shaped silver and Perspex altar (which he also

made) for the chapel in Vincent Square for King’s College theological students. The chapel was

plain and the Osman trio of altar, candlesticks and cross made an astonishing impression...

During Lent each year, the palm frond, which holds the spring of the cross, is removed and the

jaws of the cross snap shut. It is then replaced for Easter, as Christians celebrate the

resurrected Christ once more separating the jaws of evil.’

‘The Man Trap’ from Jenny Moore's excellent book