Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/06/2026 01:45:00

St Mary le Strand is a Church of England parish church standing on a traffic island in the middle of the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. A celebrated example of English Baroque architecture, it was the first of the churches built under the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, the early-18th-century scheme of "Queen Anne churches" that followed the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral. The present church was designed by the Scottish architect James Gibbs, for whom it was the first major commission after his return from studying in Italy. Construction began in 1714, the steeple was completed in 1717, and the church was consecrated on 1 January 1724. Gibbs had originally planned an Italianate design without a steeple, but the scheme changed after the death of Queen Anne, producing the elongated, richly detailed building seen today. A Grade I listed landmark on the historic processional route between Westminster and the City, St Mary le Strand has strong associations with literary and naval history - the parents of Charles Dickens were married here, and it serves as the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service. It remains an active place of worship as well as a much-photographed feature of the Strand streetscape.