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Smith Square Hall
Smith Square Hall (formerly St John's Smith Square) is a concert hall in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Its name was changed by its current operator, Sinfonia Smith Square, in 2024. Originally a church, this Grade I listed building was designed by Thomas Archer and was completed in 1728 as one of the so-called Fifty New Churches. It is regarded as one of the finest works of English Baroque architecture, and features four corner towers and monumental broken pediments. It is often referred to as ' Queen Anne's Footstool' because as legend has it, when Archer was designing the church he asked the Queen what she wanted it to look like. She kicked over her footstool and said 'Like that!', giving rise to the building's four corner towers. Ruined following firebombing in the Second World War, it was sold to a charitable trust and restored as a concert hall. History In 1710, the long period of Whig domination of British politics ended as the Tories swept to po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Archer
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque architect to show evidence of study of contemporary continental, namely Italian, architecture. It is said that his work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Life Archer spent his youth at Umberslade Hall in Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire, the youngest son of Thomas Archer, a country gentleman, Parliamentary Colonel and Member of Parliament, and Ann Leigh, daughter of the London haberdasher, Richard Leigh. The exact date of Archer's birth is unknown, but can be inferred from the two documentary sources that mention his age. One is an entry in the Oxford University register recording his matriculation at Trinity College on 12 June 1686, aged 17; the other, his epitaph, survives in the parish church of Hale, Hampshire. If these records are accurate, he must have been born between 12 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Wren The Younger
Christopher Wren (1675–1747), of Wroxall Abbey, Warwickshire was a Parliament of Great Britain, Member of Parliament and the son of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. Life Wren was the second but first surviving son of Sir Christopher Wren and his first wife, Faith Coghill, daughter of Sir John Coghill of Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire. He was educated at Eton College, Eton and Pembroke College, Cambridge, Cambridge, where his father had built the new Pembroke College, Cambridge#Chapel, college chapel, his first completed work. His son entered the college in 1691, but left without a degree. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1693. He entered the Middle Temple in 1694. In 1698/9 he travelled in Europe making an architectural tour of France, Italy and Holland with Edward Strong the Elder, Edward Strong the Younger whose father was his father's main building contractor. This trip may indicate a friendship over and above a simple working relationship. On his return, Wren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Finch (priest)
Robert Poole Finch (1724-1803) was an English divine. Life Finch was the son of the Rev. Richard Finch. He was born at Greenwich 3 March 1723–4, entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1736, and was admitted a member of Peterhouse, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. in 1743, M.A. in 1747 and D.D. in 1772. He was ordained as a deacon in 1744, and appointed a curate at Greenwich in 1748. On becoming a priest he was chosen to be chaplain of Guy's Hospital, a position he held for 37 years. In 1755 he was appointed to the lectureship of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, which he continued to hold to the time of his death. He was a preacher of some eminence. He published numerous sermons, and, in 1788, a treatise entitled ''Considerations upon the Use and Abuse of Oaths judicially taken'', which passed through many editions and became a standard work among the publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In it he insisted that oaths should be administered with solemnity, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Blair (priest)
John Blair FRS, FSA (died 24 June 1782), was a British clergyman, and chronologist. Life He was born and educated in Edinburgh. Leaving Scotland as a young man, he became usher of a school in Hedge Lane, London, in succession to Andrew Henderson, author of a well-known history of the rebellion of 1745. In 1754, he published, 'The Chronology and History of the World, from the Creation to the Year of Christ 1753, illustrated in fifty-six tables.' It was dedicated to the lord chancellor (Hardwicke), and was published by subscription. In the preface he acknowledged great obligations to the Earl of Bute. The plan and scope of the work originated with Dr. Hugh Blair's scheme of chronological tables. The 'Chronology' was reprinted in 1756, 1768, and 1814. It was revised and enlarged 'by Willoughby Rosse in Bohn's 'Scientific Library,' 1856. In 1768, Blair published 'Fourteen Maps of Ancient and Modern Geography, for the illustration of the Tables of Chronology and History ; to whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Willes (bishop)
Edward Willes (6 March 1693 – 24 November 1773) was an Anglican bishop who was Bishop of St David's and later Bishop of Bath and Wells and one of the most prominent English cryptanalysts of his time. Life He was born in Warwickshire son of the Rev John Willes and his wife Anne (or Mary) Walker, daughter of Sir William Walker, Mayor of Oxford. They belonged to a junior branch of the long-established Willes family of Newbold Comyn; Sir John Willes, the long-serving Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was his brother. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford and graduated with a BA degree in 1712. While there he learned cryptography from William Blencowe. In 1716 he became a Decipherer for George II, and distinguished himself by deciphering messages between Swedish diplomats which were sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. He was rewarded by the government by being granted the living of Barton in the Clay, Bedfordshire, which he held between 1718 and 1730. He subsequently deciph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gee (priest, Born 1657)
Edward Gee (1657–1730) was an English churchman, known as a controversialist, and later successively Dean of Peterborough and Dean of Lincoln. Life The son of George Gee of Manchester, a shoemaker, he was baptised at Manchester Collegiate Church on 29 August 1657. After attending Manchester Grammar School, he was admitted a sub-sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, on 9 May 1676. He graduated B.A. in 1679 and M.A. in 1683. He was incorporated in his master's degree at Oxford 4 March 1684. Subsequently, he is styled D.D., a Lambeth degree from 1695. He took a prominent part in the anti-Catholic controversy towards the end of James II's reign. In May 1688 he was appointed rector of St Benet's, Paul's Wharf, London, and soon after he was called chaplain in ordinary to William III and Mary II. On 6 December 1701 he was installed prebendary of Westminster. Twenty years afterwards, on 9 December 1721, he was instituted dean of Peterborough, but he resigned that office for the de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Jennings (priest)
John Jennings (1798 – 26 March 1883) was Archdeacon of Westminster from 1868 until his death in 1883. ''Alumni Cantabrigienses'' previously identified the John Jennings educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge as "doubtless" the Rector of St John's and Archdeacon of Westminster, but now states that this is a mistaken identity: Archdeacon Jennings was educated at Trinity College Dublin, graduating B.A. 1820, M.A. 1832. After a curacy at West Meon, Hampshire, Jennings moved to St John's, Smith Square as a curate to Canon H. H. Edwards, succeeding Edwards as rector on Edwards's resignation in 1832. He became a canon of Westminster Abbey in 1837, Rural dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ... of St Margaret and St John, Archdeacon of Westminster in 1868, and Sub-Dean. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100. Although the origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks was on the site by the mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor, who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III. The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar – a Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I. The abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 becaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southbank Sinfonia
Sinfonia Smith Square (formerly Southbank Sinfonia) is an arts organisation and orchestra formed out of the merger of Southbank Sinfonia and St John's Smith Square. The organisation primarily comprises a venue, Smith Square Hall, and a youth orchestra. The Sinfonia Smith Square orchestra is formed of 34 graduate musicians, who are unpaid but receive an undisclosed bursary to take part. Musicians are involved roughly 3 days a week for a 40 week period. The orchestra collaborates with other artists and groups, including productions of Amadeus and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the National Theatre. On 14 May 2023 the orchestra made an appearance in a YouTube video made by Max Fosh, where he played the triangle during one of their performances of Finlandia. The orchestra was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Ensemble in 2016 and in the Concert Series and Festivals category in 2017. Sinfonia Smith Square runs and promotes a festival held in the town of An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restoration As A Concert Hall
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state. This may refer to: *Conservation and restoration of cultural property **Audio restoration **Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property **Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Ecological restoration Restoration may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Restoration'' (1909 film), a film by D.W. Griffith starring Mary Pickford * ''The Restoration'' (1910 film), an American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company * ''The Restoration'' (2020 film), a Peruvian comedy film * ''Restoration'' (1995 film), a film by Michael Hoffman starring Robert Downey Jr * ''Restoration'' (2011 film), an Israeli film by Yossi Madmoni * ''Restoration'' (2016 film), an Australian science fiction thriller by Stuart Willis * ''Restoration'' (TV series), a BBC TV series * "Restoration" (''Arrow''), an episode of ''Arrow'' History *Kenmu Restoration (1333) in Japan *Portuguese Resto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picture Of Note Describing The Bombing Of St John's Smith Square In 1940
An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a projection on a surface, activation of electronic signals, or digital displays; they can also be reproduced through mechanical means, such as photography, printmaking, or photocopying. Images can also be animated through digital or physical processes. In the context of signal processing, an image is a distributed amplitude of color(s). In optics, the term ''image'' (or ''optical image'') refers specifically to the reproduction of an object formed by light waves coming from the object. A ''volatile image'' exists or is perceived only for a short period. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of a camera obscura, or a scene displayed on a cathode-ray tube. A ''fixed image'', also called a hard copy, is one that has been r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
