Lunchtime tourism: The wonder that is St Stephen Walbrook
This new regular feature will bring you a guide to the best hidden spots you can visit in your lunch break, by Chris O’Donnell. This week: St Stephen Walbrook
Sometimes a lunchtime walk is best done alone. Without the well-meaning chatter of a friend or colleague, you can better hear the story that a place like St Stephen Walbrook is trying to tell you.
Built in 1672, it replaced a medieval church that burnt down in the 1666 Great Fire. That old church lives on in the recycled stones that you see on one flank.
Before going in, have a look down. The lost River Walbrook runs in a conduit under your feet, surging past Bloomberg, and then flattening slightly on Cannon Street, where an old Roman bridge sits under the level crossing. She then runs past the Skinner, Tallow Chandler and Dyer Halls, before eagerly throwing herself into the arms of her Father Thames down at the Wharf.
Christina Inglesias has her public work ‘Forgotten Streams’ just there: a serene place to take a sandwich lunch.
But back to our church. First impressions are mixed. The Starbucks looks incongruous against the historic brickwork, The Portland Stone fascia is patchy. But then, look up and see the spire. Looming next to it, the Rothschild HQ designed by the aptly named Rem Koolhaus. Move your eyes from one to the other to see how Rem’s building genuflects to the Christopher Wren creation. The width and perspective of both towers are almost identical. In that moment, one modern day architect nods gracefully to his predecessor.
Now walk slowly up the stairs into the wonderful interior. At lunchtime you might hear a recital. At day’s end Rush Hour Jazz lifts the post work spirit.
Whatever the background noise, you will catch your breath at Wren’s clever use of space and light. Here he experimented for St Paul’s Cathedral, with its floating dome, golden leaf and marble flooring. Added to that is an artistic flourish: a beautiful central Henry Moore altar, a controversial addition at the time, now a beloved feature.
Now look right. In a modest case is a telephone that changed the charitable world. In 1953, the reverend Chad Varah, lately a priest here, buried a 14-year-old girl who had killed herself when her periods started, wrongly believing she had a sexually transmitted disease.
He was deeply traumatised. His research showed that on average three people a day were dying by suicide in London and he saw that there was no real support structure for people in mental trouble.
So, he published his own Mansion House phone number, MAN 9000, and promised to answer it any time of day or night. He was overwhelmed. Assistants were recruited and then trained to listen.
An impressed Daily Mirror ran a headline ‘The Good Samaritan’. The accompanying picture showed Chad with his phone, and a global charity was born. Today, The Samaritans take over 10,000 calls a day in the UK, and many more across the world.
• To book a tour guide go to guideconcierge.com or email [email protected]. Call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org