‘A call to restore this jewel in the crown of London’ Prof Kerry Downes, Hawksmoor Scholar
The Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields (1976–2018) was the charity which led the restoration of Hawksmoor's masterpiece. Starting in 1976, the Friends raised and spent £15 million on an award-winning restoration.
This Website is now an archive, as at December 2017. Please explore for the history of the church and its restoration.
The Archive of the Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields is housed at the Bishopsgate Institute. Cataloguing is underway, and once completed the archive will be free to access and open to all. The Trustees of the Friends are deeply grateful to the Bishopsgate Institute.
For more information please contact Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4QH library@bishopsgate.org.uk or visit their website www.bishopsgate.org.uk.
For more background information on the history of the Friends, please refer to the letter, dated 23 August 2017, from the trustees of the Friends to the charity's supporters. Final letter to Friends' Supporters upon closing the charity.
Christ Church Spitalfields venue:
tours and hiring
For information about tours or hiring the church please call Christ Church Spitalfields venue:
www.spitalfieldsvenue.org
Christ Church Spitalfields parish: church services
For further information about church services and opening hours for visitors please call 020 7377 2440 or view the congregation website: www.ccspits.org/heritage
1735 Richard Bridge organ
‘The Spitalfields organ by Bridge, 1735, is of the greatest importance’
Gustav Leonhardt
Supporters of the Friends will be pleased to know that this rare eighteenth-century instrument of international significance has been restored.More information
main image: View of west front of Christ Church Spitalfields from Brushfield Street.
photograph by CH Woodward
above: The restored organ case with gilded pipes.
photograph by SRB Humphreys