A Grade II* listed church in north-west London has been destroyed by fire overnight.
80 firefighters were deployed to St Mark’s Church in Hamilton Terrace, St John’s Wood at 23:20 GMT on Thursday.
Videos on social media showed the entire two-storey building engulfed in flames, while witnesses said the roof of the ornate Victorian building had collapsed.
London Fire Brigade said there were no casualties and the cause of the fire was not known and was under control.
The National Churches Trust has declared St Mark’s an “architectural and historical treasure”.
The building, which is more than 150 years old, belonged to the author Lewis Carroll and Prince Leopold, son of Queen Victoria, and is located close to Abbey Road Studios and Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The vicar of St Mark’s, the Reverend Kate Harrison, tweeted that she felt “broken” by the fire.
Sophia Tennant, who witnessed the blaze, said she was getting ready for bed when she looked out the window and saw flames shooting from inside a building she later realized was a church.
After calling the fire brigade, he said he “came in and it was really on fire, mostly the roof”.
“You can see the fire inside the church going up what would have been a stained glass window on the east end, so it’s pretty devastating,” he said.
Another resident said: “I got up and looked out of my bedroom window and the road outside was full of fire engines.
“I just put my coat on, came out the front door and just saw the church next door on fire.
“It’s terrible, the whole church was on fire – there was smoke everywhere. It’s very sad because it’s a very old church and now it’s destroyed.”
Another witness described seeing “a lot of flames” that “became huge before the roof collapsed”.
More than 10 fire engines were dispatched to the scene, with crews from North Kensington, Paddington and West Hampstead working to extinguish the blaze.
Firefighters used three ladders to spray water on the building, including two 34m (111 ft) ladders and one 64m (209 ft) ladder, the tallest of its kind in Europe.
Eddie Tulasiewicz, from the National Churches Trust, said it was a tragedy that such a “beautiful, historic church” had gone up in flames, but he hoped “much of the interior can be saved”.
“Churches are full of wood and most have fire extinguishers, but what they need is a sprinkler system,” he said.
