Whim or genius?

IT is nearly 50 years since I wrote a guidebook for St George’s,). It was not always so well regarded. During the 15 years of construction, neighbours complained about the mounds of earth piled against their properties, the ‘rabble who played in the church’ outside working hours and theft. Worse, the Church Commissioners had budgeted for £9,790, but the final cost was £31,000. This was partly due to Hawksmoor’s extravagant steeple, but more problematic was the fact that space for only 447 seats had been provided when 2,000 were needed—hence the installation of the west gallery. But few would now agree with a contemporary critic who complained that ‘the builder mistook whim for genius and ornament for taste’.