The unfinished domes
Bare black brick hanging over chapels of marble and gold mosaic - a contrast unlike any other church in London.
Frank Kovalchek — CC BY 2.0 · Bain News Service, publisher — Public domain · Robert Lamb — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Robert Lamb — CC BY-SA 2.0
More than a century after it opened, the domes are still bare black brick. That is not neglect but a story: John Francis Bentley began building in 1895 in a Byzantine manner borrowed from St Mark's in Venice, the church opened in 1903, and the money ran out long before the mosaics could climb to the ceiling. The result is odd and moving at once - side chapels ablaze with marble and gold mosaic, and above them a solemn darkness that swallows the light. Anyone expecting a fully gilded vault as in Istanbul or Ravenna will be surprised, but the surprise is exactly what makes the place stick in the memory. Confusing it with Westminster Abbey is a common mistake, and the difference matters. The Abbey is Gothic, Anglican, hosts coronations and charges around GBP 30 to enter; the Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, sits about 800 m to the west, and is entirely free with an optional donation. Outside, a red-brick facade striped with white Portland stone rises to a slender 87 m bell tower over the piazza; inside is a nave said to be the widest of any church in England, and the Stations of the Cross carved by Eric Gill, one of the great British sculptors of the twentieth century. Boris Johnson married here in 2021 in a ceremony so small that journalists only learned of it afterwards. For many visitors the strongest reason to come is the lift up the tower: it carries you some 64 m to an open gallery looking over Buckingham Palace and its gardens on one side and the towers of Westminster and the Thames on the other, for GBP 10 per adult (5 concession for students and seniors, 22 for a family ticket) - roughly a quarter of the London Eye, with virtually no queue. Tickets are sold in the cathedral shop, open Wednesday to Sunday 10:30-16:30; the lift does not run in high winds nor on Mondays and Tuesdays. The gallery is small and open to the weather, so bring something against the wind even in summer. Practically, the cathedral makes a 30-60 minute stop between Victoria station (a 3-minute walk; Victoria, Circle and District lines) and Buckingham Palace (10 minutes on foot). The main door is step-free, so pushchairs go in easily, though the side chapels each have a few steps. Mass is said several times a day, and during services visitors are expected to keep silent and cover shoulders and knees; the freest time to wander is between about 13:30 and 17:00 on weekdays. In London's dark winter it is one of the few sights still open until 19:00, and it is warm and hushed inside while the piazza out front is slick with rain.
Bare black brick hanging over chapels of marble and gold mosaic - a contrast unlike any other church in London.
A lift to 64 m opens up Buckingham Palace and the Thames for GBP 10 with no queue to speak of.
Fourteen stone panels carved in stark, simple lines that have become the cathedral's most celebrated artwork.
42 Francis Street, Victoria, London SW1P 1QW
Westminster AbbeyNo monarch of England or Britain has been crowned anywhere else since 1066. The 12 minutes walk4.5
Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament)The building you know from a thousand photographs is not a medieval palace at al14 minutes walk4.6
Big BenBig Ben is not the tower. The name belongs to the Great Bell, roughly 13.7 tonne15 minutes walk4.7
Trafalgar SquareFour bronze lions guard a column some 52 metres tall, and on top of it a one-arm20 minutes walk4.5
SEA LIFE London AquariumBeneath the old headquarters of London's county government, in basement corridor20 minutes walk4.2Yes, if you can spare half an hour, because it is a completely different experience: Byzantine rather than Gothic, free rather than GBP 30, calm rather than crowded. If your day is already packed, stick with the Abbey - and skip the tower here if you are doing the London Eye or the Shard, since the view from the gallery is lovely but narrower and lower.
For a short visit, yes: pushchairs go straight in through the step-free main door, and the lift up the tower keeps small children entertained for ten minutes. But it is a place of prayer where silence is expected, so do not count on it to fill an hour with restless kids, and do not build the trip around the tower on a Monday or Tuesday, when the lift is closed.