Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bermondsey Street
Beside the parish church and the church of St Mary Rotherhithe (full of interest as a
fine early Georgian church of a riverside, boat-building village), there is the church of St
James in the Jamaica Road, a Grecian church by Savage, the architect of the Gothic St
Luke's, Chelsea. Savage's Grecian design is as impressive as his Chelsea Gothic; the great
space of the interior with its coffered ceiling and Ionic columns is of exceptional quality. It
dates from 1827 to 1829. Opposite the narrow streets leading to the river by Tower Bridge
are more of those barrack-like blocks of nineteenth-century flats, which, like the Peabody
blocks, are wonderfully evocative of the period. Devon Mansions on Jamaica Road are
typical, but they have recently been painted in modern colour schemes. The iron railings,
once a nondescript colour, are now pale blue, and the window-frames also, and pinky-grey
