Editing Georgian architecture (section)

===Churches===
[[File:St Martin-in-the-Fields, July 2011.jpg|thumb|[[St Martin-in-the-Fields]], London (1720), [[James Gibbs]]]]
[[File:The courtyard of Somerset House, Strand, London - geograph.org.uk - 1601172.jpg|thumb|Courtyard of [[Somerset House]], from the North Wing entrance. Built for government offices.]]
Until the [[Church Building Act 1818]], the period saw relatively few churches built in Britain, which was already well-supplied,<ref>Summerson, 57–72, 206–224; Jenkins (1999), xxii</ref> although in the later years of the period the demand for [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Non-conformist]] and Roman Catholic places of worship greatly increased.<ref>Summerson, 222–224</ref> Anglican churches that were built were designed internally to allow maximum audibility, and visibility, for [[preaching]], so the main [[nave]] was generally wider and shorter than in medieval plans, and often there were no side-aisles. Galleries were common in new churches. Especially in country parishes, the external appearance generally retained the familiar signifiers of a Gothic church, with a tower or spire, a large west front with one or more doors, and very large windows along the nave, but all with any ornament drawn from the classical vocabulary. Where funds permitted, a classical temple portico with columns and a pediment might be used at the west front. Interior decoration was generally chaste; however, walls often became lined with plaques and monuments to the more prosperous members of the congregation.<ref>Jenkins (1999), xx–xxii</ref>

In the colonies new churches were certainly required, and generally repeated similar formulae. British Non-conformist churches were often more classical in mood, and tended not to feel the need for a tower or steeple.

The archetypal Georgian church is [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] in London (1720), by Gibbs, who boldly added to the classical temple façade at the west end a large steeple on top of a tower, set back slightly from the main frontage. This formula shocked purists and foreigners, but became accepted and was very widely emulated, at home and in the colonies,<ref>Summerson, 64–70</ref> for example at [[St Andrew's Church, Chennai]] in India. And in Dublin, the extremely similar [[St. George's Church, Dublin]].

The 1818 Act allocated some public money for new churches required to reflect changes in population, and a commission to allocate it. Building of [[Commissioners' church]]es gathered pace in the 1820s, and continued until the 1850s. The early churches, falling into the Georgian period, show a high proportion of [[Gothic Revival]] buildings, along with the classically inspired.<ref>Summerson, 212–221</ref>