A Visit To Methodist Central Hall: Where History Happened

There are so many incredible historic buildings in a relatively small area in Westminster. Many, quite reasonably, are focussed on Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament and do not pay a huge amount of attention to Methodist Central Hall. It is just on the other side of the road from Westminster Abbey and is worth a second look, because it has an important history, not just to London, but the world.

Methodist Central Hall opened in 1912, but previously on the site was a building called the ‘Royal Aquarium’. 

The Royal Aquarium

The Royal Aquarium, Summer Garden and Winter Garden, to give it its full name, opened in 1876. It was, as you can see from the illustration above, highly ornamental in design and was huge, measuring 340ft long and 160ft wide, designed by Alfred Bedborough.

It was also never really an aquarium. The building was intended as a sort of variety entertainment venue, with art exhibitions, concerts, competitions and more, all around a central hall.

The hall also contained thirteen water tanks. These were intended to contain sea creatures, but due to very high operating costs, they were never stocked. In 1877 a whale was brought over but died shortly after arrival, so they just displayed the dead whale instead.

The proprietors wanted to achieve the ‘​​moral elevation of the people by the contemplation of the wonders of nature’. It ended up being rather more low-brow than they had intended. 

Human Cannonballs To Shaving Competitions

Instead of scientific lectures and classical music, sensational circus acts were performed. One of the most famous was Zazel, the first ever human cannonball. Real name Rossa Matilda Richter, aged 17, she was the first person to be fired out of a cannon in 1877. 

Below are a few artworks that give you an impression of the wide-ranging entertainments.

The building also incorporated a theatre, initially called the Aquarium Theatre, later the Imperial Theatre.

The Royal Aquarium also apparently got a slightly dodgy reputation as a pick up joint, ‘unaccompanied’ ladies promenading through the hall in search for male companionship. 

By the early 1900s the owners went bankrupt and the place closed. The Royal Aquarium was demolished in 1903, the theatre kept going until 1907.

Methodist Central Hall

In 1904 the site of the Aquarium was purchased for the construction of Methodist Central Hall. In 1891 the Wesleyan Methodist Twentieth Century Fund was launched to mark the centenary of founder John Wesley’s death in 1791. The aim was to fund a new hall to commemorate this.

It became known as the Million Guinea Fund, launched at Wesley’s Chapel on City Road in Islington. It aimed to raise one million guineas from one million Methodists across the world. The idea was that regardless of wealth, an individual was only allowed to donate one guinea. They ended up raising £1,075,727.

The building was completed in 1912, designed by Edwin Alfred Rickards in this Viennese baroque style, contrasting with the Gothic of Westminster Abbey.

At its heart is the grand domed hall.

Rickards used new reinforced concrete and iron ribs running through the dome. It is therefore self-supporting and was the largest of its kind in Europe. 

80 Years Since A Pivotal Meeting

It was of course intended primarily as a church, but also as a public meeting space for all people regardless of religious persuasion. Some of the meetings of the Suffragettes took place here for example, in 1914. 

Most notably, it is where the first ever meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations took place from the 10th January 1946. 2026 therefore marks the 80th anniversary of this historic moment. 

The world was emerging from the Second World War, 100 million were dead and many cities and towns lay in ruins. It was decided that the first meeting of the UN should be in war-torn London, so that the devastation of war was clear to those attending, starkly displaying what the meeting hoped to stop from happening in the future. Delegates were taken on tours of bomb-damaged areas and even given temporary ration books and clothing coupons. 

Why Was Methodist Central Hall Chosen?

Methodist Central Hall was chosen because it was not badly damaged, it had even sheltered people in its basement regularly during the Blitz and a church, a place of peace and worship, was seen as an appropriate venue. Ernest Bevin, the UK Foreign Secretary said, “there could be no better place than a House of God, with the atmosphere of prayer already there”.

51 delegates and around 800 journalists from around the world gathered. Enemies often sitting side by side, relations fragile, but determined to stop something like this ever happening again. 

The meetings went on until the 14th February. The first President and Secretary-General were elected and immediate issues were addressed such as atomic energy and refugees. 

The history of the world emerging from the devastation of World War Two and countries coming together to avoid conflict and solve issues cooperatively feels ever more important in today’s world.

A Trophy Lost And Found!

As many of you will know, the Football World Cup was last held in London in 1966.

A few months before the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was on display at the Methodist Central Hall for people to be able to see it. On Sunday 20th March 1966, the security guard went on a circuit of the building at around midday. They returned to find the rear doors to the building open, the display case broken and trophy gone.

The head of the Football Association received a call and a ransom note, demanding £15,000 in return for the trophy. 

An undercover police officer went to meet a man called Edward Betchley, who had been calling himself Jackson, with a briefcase full of fake money. They arrested Betchley, however he denied being the brains behind the operation and that he was just a middle man. He also did not have the cup on him. The trophy turned up a week later wrapped in newspaper under the wheel of a car in South London.

It was found by a black and white dog called Pickles, snuffling around on a walk with his owner David Corbett. Corbett was given a financial reward, Pickles was given a silver medal by the National Canine Defence League, a year’s free supply of dog food and became a bit of a celebrity, even appearing in a film. 

England went on, of course, to win the World Cup that year. Methodist Central Hall told me that they would be very happy to host the World Cup Trophy again in the future as it is clearly a good omen… 

Other Purposes

The building has hosted many famous speakers over the decades from Mahatma Ghandi, to Winston Churchill to Nelson Mandela. 

Bizarrely in 1968, the hall hosted the first ever performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat. His father William Lloyd Webber was the organist at the church. 

It also used to host the BBC’s New Year’s Eve concerts, so Robbie Williams, Queen, Nile Rogers have all performed here. 

Visiting Methodist Central Hall

If you are keen to visit Methodist Central Hall, they do offer tours on Thursdays. I am told you should email [email protected] if you would like to organise that.

Wesley’s Cafe on the ground floor can visited from 8am-4pm on weekdays and 10am-4pm on weekends. Find out more here.

Otherwise they always open for one weekend of the Open House festival in September, run by Open City, so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s historical treasures below!