Lock up your churches
I SUPPOSE the Church of England is tak- ing it out on the City. Its investments have taken a tumble, so blame all those advisers and commissioners who work there, and shut their churches. Lord Templeman, asked to advise, says that two dozen of them should be put into reserve and, if no one has any better ideas, made weather- proof and locked up. Left like that, as any developer could tell you, buildings run into bad luck. They leak, they crack, they are vandalised, they catch fire or (like poor St Ethelburga's) get blown up. Never mind, life, as Lord Templeman tells us, is like that — dry your eyes and develop the site. In Lombard Street, Barclays pulled down a church to build its head office, which has now been pulled down and replaced with an even larger head office in cinemosque style, known to its neighbours as the Islamic Cultural Centre. Some people in Barclays don't think it is big enough, and want to pull down Lombard Street's other church. (It is, of course, on Lord Templeman's reserve list.) The City Corporation sees this report as a splendid opportunity to think of new uses for churches. I rather think that Wren and Co. had the right idea in the first place, but for that, the churches are going to need friends. I can help them. When the IRA bombed St Ethelburga's, one of the City's financial markets conceived the idea of restoring the church and adopting it. Even if it turns out to be past praying for, many others suggest themselves, together with their natural supporters. Lloyd's of London, more in need of prayer than most, should take on St Andrew Undershaft, in memory of all those who have been undershafted. As for the Islamic Cultural Centre, Barclays should pull it down and build a church.
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