Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street

About

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, also known as Farm Street Church, is a Catholic parish church run by the Society of Jesus in Mayfair, Central London, England. Its main entrance is in Farm Street, though it can also be accessed from the adjacent Mount Street Gardens. Sir Simon Jenkins, in his book England's Thousand Best Churches, describes the church as "Gothic Revival at its most sumptuous".

Foundation: In the 1840s, when the Jesuits first began looking for a location for their London church, they found the site in the mews of a back street. The name 'Farm Street' derives from 'Hay Hill Farm' which, in the eighteenth century, extended from Hill Street eastward beyond Berkeley Square. In 1843, Pope Gregory XVI received a petition from English Catholics for permission to erect a Jesuit Church in London and plans were accepted.

Construction: The original intention of the Superior of the English Jesuits, Fr Randal Lythgoe, was for the church to have a capacity for 900 people. When this was found too expensive the church was built for a capacity of 475. The cost was £5,800 which came from multiple private benefactors. In 1844 the foundation...