St Andrew's Anglican Church Moscow

History of St Andrew's

The windows in the cloakroom, where we have coffee, were filled with mosaics of coloured glass. Many of the gifts reflect the expat business community. "Draperies and fittings for nave doors" were given by Muir and Mirrieles, the Scottish Department Store we now know as Tsum, while the heating boiler, wrought iron church gates and railings were given by the Smith family who had a boiler making factory in Moscow. (We look forward to discovering one day if the old Smith boiler is still there behind the church)

Almost all the fittings are now lost: portraits, brass memorial tablets, the oak pews, the Bishop's chair, the Reredos, the Royal Arms for the Ambassador's Pew, the Pulpit and Lectern. The list is long and detailed, right down to "Church seal, small size" and "Translation of Russian Law on Wills."

The lights you now see hanging from the church roof must have been put there by Melodiya. The church was originally lit by gas standards, and electric lighting was installed in 1911; a photograph from 1912 shows standard lamps placed between the pews. More recently we solved the question of the unusual light fittings in the foyer; Melodiya employees explained that they are fake, and were put up for a film, so have nothing to do with the original church fittings!

Building the Parsonage

The new church had one major drawback; there was nowhere for the chaplain and his wife to live! They had occupied part of the old chapel building, and while the new church was being built, the committee rented temporary accommodation for them, intending that a parsonage should be built alongside the church. A fund was started for this in 1886, but money was slow to come in. The church had cost far more than had been anticipated, and there was little enthusiam for a second major appeal.

It became extremely inconvenient for the chaplain to continue living at "Some considerable distance from the church," so in 1894 Jane McGill, widow of Robert McGill who had been one of the most generous contributors towards the cost of the church building, paid for the cost of the parsonage. This was designed by the same architect who made the plans for the church, R. Knill Freeman of Bolton. If you look at the wall of the parsonage to the left of the front door, you will see the commemorative plaque to Jane McGill, who also gave the money for the governesses' hostel (now part of the Marco Polo Presnya Hotel) and a hospital, which Jennifer Louis has recently tracked down.

At every stage of the building and restoration of St. Andrew's, it was Jane McGill who provided both money and property to enable the work to go ahead. However, as a mere woman, she could not attend meetings or deal directly with the committee, and her brother, Charles Hastie, acted on her behalf.

Mrs. McGill died in tragic circumstances in 1918; Revolutionary Workers were billeted in her house, and the sick, elderly lady was confined to one room. When winter came, they threw her out into the snow to die. Fortunately she was recognised by passers-by and taken to St. Andrew's House, the hostel she had provided, and where she died a few days later aged 86. Her death certificate recorded "paralysis of the heart," the usual polite euphemism for death by starvation. Her brother died in similar circumstances two months later.

[Previous Page] [Next Page]
Page [1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11] of 11