The Metropolitan Tabernacle stands at Elephant and Castle in south London. The congregation was founded in 1650, with William Rider as its first minister. Charles Spurgeon began his ministry at New Park Street Chapel in 1854, and the congregation outgrew it.
William Willmer Pocock designed the main building, which was dedicated on March 18, 1861. It had an auditorium seating 6,000 people. Membership was about 5,500 in 1881. The congregation withdrew from the Baptist Union in 1887.
A fire burned the original building down in 1898. The rebuilt church was destroyed in World War II, in 1941. The original portico and basement survived the fires and the bombing. A new, much smaller building was constructed in 1957, which incorporated surviving original features. Peter Masters has been pastor since 1970.
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