In September 1967 I moved into the All Souls Rectory at 12 Weymouth Street, W.1. Built in 1780, thus Georgian, by the original Portland Estate, it was designed by Robert Adam who was the architect for much of the area. It is the only original house in the block and is abutted by the British Institute of Architects on Portland Place and a modern apartment building. On the other side of Portland Place at the corner of Weymouth Street is the Chinese Embassy outside of which many demonstrations took place, notably I witnessed one when the British Embassy in Beijing was burnt down during the Cultural Revolution in 1967.

The neighborhood on the west side was Marylebone with embassies on Portland Place, the medical district of Harley and Wimpole Streets, with the London Clinic and King Edward VII’s Hospital used by the Royal family, the De Walden Estate of residences and shopping in Marylebone High Street.

On the east side was Fitzrovia with flats, restaurants, wholesale decorators and clothing traders, Fitzroy Square and the Post Office Tower. On the south side was the Central Synagogue, the BBC, All Souls Church, the Langham Hotel, Oxford Circus, the Regent Street Polytechnic, the Middlesex Hospital and the many department stores of Oxford and Regent Street.

On the north side is Park Crescent with its elegant terraced houses designed by John Nash who was also the architect for All Souls, and Park Square Gardens which provides a private communal space for residents. Across Marylebone Road is Regent’s Park which occupies 410 acres and contains gardens, lakes, an Open Air Theatre, the London Zoo and bordered by Regent’s University and the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador.

The Rectory consisted of a basement with kitchen, dining room, and furnace, a ground floor with John Stott’s study and a bedsitting room for the housekeeper, Margaret Shinn. The second floor was composed of a large living room which also served as the office for John’s secretary, Frances Whitehead and a guest room. The third, fourth and fifth floors each had two bedsitting rooms. There were bathrooms on each floor. Since John was a bachelor he let out the other rooms to single men. Apart from myself over the years there were a variety of boarders. We had an English social worker, an Australian insurance actuary, a Spanish student, a Kenyan, a South African, another New Zealand friend who was studying at the Royal College of Music, the All Souls business manager and the senior curate.

Behind the rectory in Bridford Mews was our garage where John and I housed our cars. It contained a second floor flat where an Australian student couple lived. It was eventually turned into a flat for John when he retired from being Rector of All Souls. John’s car was serviced by the Countess Helle Frijs of Denmark, cousin to Isak Dinesen, who wrote Out of Africa and Babbette’s Feast. Her home was Frijsenborg, a castle near Aarhus, on the east coast of Jutland. She had come to Christ at a Guest Service at All Souls and became a fixture at the Rectory. In her past she had been a steeplechase jockey, a pilot, and an automobile mechanic. She fussed at me for not keeping my Mini Morris clean! I can well remember her bringing us a rich chocolate cake from the luxury bakery of Fortnum and Mason on Good Friday after services when we broke our Lenten fast because John always gave up chocolate for Lent. The Countess had a small flat near the Rectory and was one of the many characters at All Souls. What an interesting crowd we were as I began my public ministry there. What a fascinating London neighborhood to live in.