Notre Dame de France is a French Catholic church in London's Soho. It is located on Leicester Place just north of Leicester Square. The origins of the church date back to the mid 1800s, however, the building itself is older. In 1861, Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, asked the Marist Fathers to establish a mission to support the large French communit…
Notre Dame de France is a French Catholic church in London's Soho. It is located on Leicester Place just north of Leicester Square. The origins of the church date back to the mid 1800s, however, the building itself is older. In 1861, Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, asked the Marist Fathers to establish a mission to support the large French community in the area, and placed Father Charles Faure in charge of the project. On 25 March 1865, Father Faure purchased a circular building off Leicester Square. It was known as Burford's Panorama and was an early form of visual entertainment in the West End, built as a tourist attraction in the early 1800s. Faure employed the services of French architect Louis-Auguste Boileau, an early promoter of cast iron architecture, to transform this building into a church. He retained the rotunda, hence the circular shape of the present building. Upon consecration in 1868, it was the first cast-iron church built in London.
Save
Share
More