Poole Methodist Church facts for kids
Poole Methodist Church is a historic church located on Poole High Street in Dorset, England. It is also known as Poole High Street Methodist Church or "The Spire." This church was built in the 1800s. A newer part added to the church was even nominated for a special award called the Carbuncle Cup in 2016. This award is given to buildings that some people think are not very attractive.
History of Poole Methodist Church
A Methodist chapel, which is a type of church, existed in Poole from 1793. However, it closed when the current Poole Methodist Church was built. The Poole Methodist Church was constructed by an architect named Charles Bell. Building started in 1878 and finished in 1880. It was built using special types of stone called Purbeck and Bath stone. The church officially opened in 1880.
The building has a Gothic style, which means it has tall, pointed arches and often a large tower. This church has a noticeable tall, pointed tower on its north-west side. A separate chapel building was added in 1893. For many years, from 1843 to 1985, this church was part of the Poole Methodist Circuit. This was a group of Methodist churches in the Poole and East Dorset area. During the Second World War, the church building was used as a schoolroom for children.
In 2005, five different Methodist churches in Poole decided to join together. They all became one big church family based at the Poole Methodist Church. Later, in 2011, the church was used as a polling station. This is a place where people go to vote on important issues, like the United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum.
Church Renovation Project
In the summer of 2009, the church had to close for safety reasons. Plaster from the walls inside the building started to fall off. Because of this, an application was made that same year to fix up and add to the building. The goal was to make it the main center for the Methodist community in Poole.
This big project was estimated to cost about £4 million. The plans were approved in 2010. The first part of the project was finished in 2014. This included adding a new café, which is a place where people can get drinks and snacks. The project received about £200,000 in funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation. Later, the church's windows were replaced with double-glazed windows. These windows have two layers of glass, which helps keep the building warm or cool.
The new extension to the church was completed in 2016. After this, the church started calling itself "The Spire." This new part of the church replaced an older chapel that was built in a Georgian style. In 2016, the new extension was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup. This is an annual award given to a building that some people consider to be the "ugliest" new building in the United Kingdom from the past year. A newspaper called The Guardian jokingly described the extension as looking like "a pile of site Portakabins they forgot to remove."
