West Park URC

Quoted to be ‘undoubtedly one of the most significant monuments in the locality’. Tsarina Alexandra of Russia resided at the hotel (now Cathcart House) at the side of the church and was known to have worshipped here when she came to ‘take the spa waters’.

In 1860, with the coming of the centrally sited railway station, the Victoria Park Company was founded to link up the two Harrogates into a uniform, modern town.

At the heart of this project was the construction of a splendid show Avenue, Victoria Avenue, which ran from West Park, overlooking the Low Harrogate valley, as far as Queen Parade, which backed on to High Harrogate's prestigious Queen's Hotel. Victoria Avenue was intended to be a potent demonstration for the Victoria Park Company, so it is understandable that the company decided to sell its two most important sites on the avenue, at its junction with the very fashionable West Park, to the rich banker John Smith, and the southeastern corner to the Congregational Church. The Victoria Park Company intended to line Victoria Avenue with churches and chapels for the leading faiths of the time, to encourage as wide a section of the population to move to Harrogate, preferably by means of the railway, whose central station stood at the heart of the Victoria Park company's lands.

The Baptists, Catholics, Christian Scientists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians were all encouraged to purchase sites, and by way of inducement, the company ensured that the very first building on the avenue, the Congregational Chapel, was built in as imposing a manner as possible. Designed by the famous Bradford partnership of Lockwood and Mawson, in the early decorated style of English architecture, the chapel includes a tower which rises to an octagonal lantern and is topped by an elegant spire, 130 feet high.

The main building of the chapel possesses many beautiful and original features.