History of English Churches in Switzerland – Aigle
History of St. John the Evangelist, Aigle
The Grand Hôtel des Bains at Aigle was a hydro-electrotherapy establishment of more than a hundred rooms, built by the architect Louis Bezencenet and inaugurated on 12 August 1872. It drew enough British visitors that summer seasonal services were being held there by 1885.
A chapel named St. John the Evangelist was built in the neo-gothic style in the grounds of the hotel and inaugurated on 21 June 1888. It could seat 70 to 100 people. The church closed in 1914 and did not reopen.
The local paper covered the opening the day before it happened. Le Messager des Alpes of 20 June 1888 announced that the inauguration would take place “jeudi 21 courant à 3 1/2 heures de l’après-midi”, and that the ceremony would be presided over by “les révérends anglais M. Hordern et M. Tasker”. It also named the people who had put the building up: “Cette charmante construction entreprise par MM. Chessex & Emery, propriétaires du Grand Hôtel, avec l’aide de la colonie anglaise et de quelques habitants d’Aigle et de la contrée, a été édifiée en deux mois et demi, sous la direction de M. l’architecte Jaquerod, entrepreneur.” Two and a half months from start to opening — and the paper admitted the chapel was “loin d’être parachevée”, far from finished, but that services would begin officially on the Thursday regardless. A paid notice on the same page repeated the time.
Four years later the visitors’ paper of the Vaud Riviera listed, among the English guests at the spa, “Le Révérend Carson, Chapelain de l’Eglise anglaise, Aigle-les-Bains” — the only chaplain of this church we can yet name by his post rather than by the occasion.
The hotel was sold to the Commune of Aigle after the Second World War and demolished in 1947. The chapel outlived it — by then it was being used for storage — and stood, in the words of the notreHistoire.ch record, “sans entretien et sans usage” until 1986, when a fire broke out just as consolidation works had finally been undertaken. That was the end of it, and the building was demolished.
Date of first Chaplaincy: 1885
Church dates: 1888-1914
Patron: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG)
Hotel: Grand Hotel des Bains
Current Status: Demolished in 1986
Sources
Anglicans in Switzerland, Past and Present, Paul Schniewind
Balades dans les rues d’Aigle, Caroline Dey
Le Messager des Alpes, 20 June 1888
Journal et liste des étrangers de Montreux et environs, 17 September 1892
Digitised newspapers consulted at Scriptorium, Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne (scriptorium.ch)
Further Reading
Grand Hotel des Bains, Aigle
Questions answered
- Was there an English church in Aigle?
- Yes. A chapel named St. John the Evangelist was built in the neo-gothic style in the grounds of the Grand Hôtel des Bains and inaugurated on 21 June 1888. It could seat 70 to 100 people. Summer seasonal services had been held in the hotel itself since 1885.
- Who built the English chapel at Aigle, and who opened it?
- It was built by Chessex & Emery, proprietors of the Grand Hôtel des Bains, "avec l'aide de la colonie anglaise et de quelques habitants d'Aigle et de la contrée", under the direction of the architect Jaquerod — and put up in two and a half months. Le Messager des Alpes reported that the inauguration on Thursday 21 June 1888 at half past three was presided over by two English clergymen, a Mr Hordern and a Mr Tasker, and that the building was still "loin d'être parachevée" when it opened. A Revd Carson is listed as chaplain of the English church at Aigle-les-Bains in September 1892.
- What happened to the English church at Aigle?
- The church closed in 1914 and did not reopen. The hotel was sold to the Commune of Aigle after the Second World War and demolished in 1947; the chapel outlived it and was used for storage. It stood unmaintained until 1986, when a fire broke out just as consolidation works had begun, and the building was demolished.