Oxford College seeks to solve conundrum of third chapel

St John the Evangelist is the largest of three places of worship entrusted to the care of St Stephen’s House, a theological college of Oxford University, since it moved to the buildings in 1980. It was built as the mission church of the Cowley Fathers, a pioneering monastic community devoted to social and educational work among the slums of east Oxforc as well as to a life of ‘poverty, chastity and obedience’. It has since remained in worship use along with the two other chapels attached to the buildings, the House Chapel (by Bodley and his pupil Ninian Comper) and the Founder’s Chapel, in which Dietrich Bonhoeffer is said to have resolved to return to Germany and oppose Nazism. However, the demands of caring for three historic chapels in a small college community are becoming increasingly difficult and St Stephen’s House has been forced to consider alternative uses for the grandest of their buildings, the huge Grade I-listed St John the Evangelist built between 1894 and 1902, towards the end of Bodley’s distinguished career.

‘This is an extraordinary situation,’ said David Garrard, Historic Churches Adviser of the Victorian Society. ‘A college with three separate chapels is rare enough. Add to that the fact that one of these is a Grade I-listed masterpiece by the leading church architect of the late nineteenth century and you can see how unusual the dilemma facing St Stephen’s House is. The college should be congratulated on having managed to keep all three chapels going for over 25 years.’

 Among the alternatives being considered for St John the Evangelist are converting the church into a library or into a venue for exhibitions and events. However the outstanding quality of the building means that any changes to its lay-out must be approached with sensitivity.

‘Any change of use must be considered very carefully,’ continued Mr Garrard. ‘Ideally, we hope that the necessary funding to keep St John the Evangelist in worship use can be secured. If that is not possible, the church will have to be found a new secular role in the life of St Stephen’s House. This will require great ingenuity to ensure that this Victorian masterpiece is preserved and kept accessible for future generations.’