The Scott Memorial Chapel replaced an earlier Wesleyan chapel which had stood on the site in Horseferry Road since 1813. The architects were Messrs. Wilson and Wilcox and the builder Mr. Callum of London. The total cost of site, building and extras was nearly £20,000. Services began on Thursday 11th April 1872. It was reported in the South London Press, 13 April 1872 that the accommodation of the old chapel “was so wretched that it only served for the students of the Training College, their tutors, and a few church members, so that there was not the least scope for the development of Wesleyanism in this densely populated part.” The article described the accommodation in the new chapel:
“So far as the exterior of the chapel – or church we might almost call it – is concerned, there is not much more to be desired. It is a neat Gothic structure, and is as situated as to be a very prominent architectural feature in this part of Westminster. The principal frontage is in Horseferry-road, facing Regent-street, along the whole length of which it can be seen; but extending back as it does to Medway-street, it has also entrances in that street. The interior however, is scarcely in keeping with the exterior, as it is plainness itself. The object of the architect has evidently been to provide as much accommodation as the limited space and funds would permit him; and as one result, the gallery seems to extend too far into the body of the chapel. Ornamentation is conspicuous by its absence; still the chapel is well adapted to meet the purpose for which it is intended – viz., the seating of some 1500 worshippers.”
“Underneath the chapel there is ample provision made for working a large Sunday school in the most perfect manner, there being a large and well-lighted central schoolroom, capable of accommodating 500 children, a capital infant school, and several excellent class-rooms.”
Ordinance Survey Sheet: London VII.93 Published 1895. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
The building was not a success. Writing about Methodism in Westminster in the Methodist Times of 22 January 1885 Charles Mansford, B.A., began “There are few chapels in London or elsewhere which have had a more discouraging history than the Scott Memorial Chapel, Horseferry Road, Westminster. Other large chapels, however desolate their present condition, have had their day of prosperity. No such consolations gladdened the memories of those who have watched over the few and evil years of the life of the Westminster Chapel.” His article describes a number of the problems affecting the chapel not least of which was that it was too big. He continues “To those who remember the old chapel, the new one, noble as it really is, seems as bare and cheerless as a railway station.” Another problem was that it was regarded as the College Chapel. “All the other parts of the original scheme have been steadily ignored by the public, and everybody insists, whether we will or no, in regarding this as the “College Chapel”… Putting all things together, the general result is that the society has diminished by one-half since the chapel was built, and the pew rents by more than one-half.” Mansford makes three conclusions: (1) In poor localities the chapels should be small; (2) Services should be adapted to the character of the congregation; and (3) deserted chapels should be treated as mission stations.
The Wesleyan Training School had been built on Horseferry Road in 1851. It’s first principal was Rev. John Scott in whose memory the chapel was named no doubt fuelling the belief that it was the “College Chapel”. In 1915 the Australian Imperial Force took over the buildings for the use as its Administrative HQ. Later in the war the Australian YMCA took over the chapel. The schoolroom was used for a Canteen for all soldiers while the chapel itself was converted to provide reading rooms, a lounge, and a cinema/theatre.
The Australian War Memorial website has a number of photographs of the chapel taken during the war. Some of these provide glimpses of the interior.
In November 1927 the chapel was controversially sold for conversion into a Roman Catholic church. The Church of the Sacred Heart, attached to the Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Devotion, opened in March 1928. Both church and the training school were destroyed by enemy action in 1944.