All Souls Church Lamp

[SP02] (Size: 10 1/2"D x 20"H)
Ebony, pink ivory, boxwood, curly maple, 24k gold-plated bronze. This piece was commissioned by Dr. Joseph A. Smith of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA. On his business travels to London, he took note of the striking architecture of this church designed by the architect, John Nash (1752-1835). Scaled from photographs and a picture postcard, I designed this lamp base to utilize different woods and to be in close proportion to the original structure.

Ebony was used for the base and to establish each section deck. Pink ivory was used for the columns with boxwood for the capitals. The central drums are of curly maple and the 12-sided, or dodecagon, steeple is milled of bronze, and then gold-plated. There are 12 columns in each of the upper and lower colonnades. They are tapered in the Greek style with Ionic capitals. The railings on the 2 decks are of boxwood and are an intricate series of cuts done with a drilling instrument to simulate the open baluster work. All in all, a very complex piece of many parts which would have been impossible to achieve without ornamental turning techniques. See details-4.

A bronze plaque on the church in London reads:

THE CHURCH OF

ALL SOULS

LANGHAM PLACE

This church, designed by John Nash to
complete his scheme for Regent Street,
was consecrated on 25th November 1824.

It was severely damaged and made
unusable by aerial bombardment on
8th December 1940 and re-opened for
worship on 29th April 1951.

A major reconstruction took place from
1st May 1975 including the provision
of the new Waldegrave Hall and the
Church was re-opened on 2nd November 1976.

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