Architectural open house in Barnet

9:10am Saturday 13th September 2008

The curious will be able to take a sneak peek into some of the most interesting buildings in the borough this weekend, whether they are churches, arts centres, private homes or museums.

On Sunday there will also be guided walks around Hampstead Garden Suburb Artisans’ Quarter, looking at its informally laid out terraces and picturesque Arts and Crafts vernacular cottages.

One of the buildings that will be inviting in visitors is the Golders Green Unitarian Church, in Hoop Lane, Golders Green.

The Grade II listed church, designed by Reginald Farrow, was built in 1925 specially for the Unitarians, who had broken away from Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel in Hampstead several years earlier.

Unitarians are a denomination of Christians who believe in one God, rather than the doctrine of the Trinity.

The building’s most celebrated feature is a mural by landscape painter Ivon Hitchens, which was presented to the church as a memorial to a son lost in the First World War.

Jim Corrigall, chairman of the congregation, says: “Although it’s called a church, it has the intimacy of a chapel. Unitarianism is a very open, outward-looking religion, and I think that’s reflected in the church. For example there’s a picture in the church of Rammohun Roy, the Indian social and religious reformer.”

One of the idiosynchrosies of the building is that its official address is number 31-and-a-half, Hoop Lane.

Other features include murals in the arts and crafts tradition, a stained glass window, and a wooden pulpit made by Belgian refugees during the First World War for Cardinal Mercier, a prelate of the Roman Catholic church, that somehow came into the hands of the congregation’s early benefactors.

There is also an Eastern-influenced peace garden adjoining the church that will be open to visitors.

The church is open on Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm.

The walks around Hampstead Garden Suburb will meet outside Barclays, on the corner of Finchley Road and Hampstead Way, at 1pm and 2pm, and at the car park of St Jude on the Hill, in Central Square, at 4.30pm.

Open House London takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 20 and 21. Admission to all buildings is free.

For more information call 07986 215 663. For more information, see www.openhouse.org.uk