Previous buildings During the early 19th century,
Nonconformist meetings were held in private houses. Places of worship were later fitted out or built at Hope Chapel Skipton Road around 1813, Cross Chapel Smithy Hill around 1821 or 1823, and Providence Chapel James Street around 1831. Providence Chapel was built on the corner of James Street and John Street from the fabric of the demolished St John's Church on whose site
Christ Church was built in 1831. facing
The Stray at the junction of Victoria Avenue and West Park Street in
Harrogate. When completed as West Park Congregational Church in 1862 the building could be seen from all of
Low Harrogate; To take advantage of this, the developers Victoria Park Company bought up a tract of land, including the new railway station site and abutting The Stray, and called it Victoria Park. The company made Victoria Avenue its main thoroughfare and planned to line it with churches to attract the visitors. The two most prestigious plots, at the gates of Victoria Park and facing onto The Stray, were given to West Park Congregational Church and to "rich banker" John Smith for his new Belvedere Mansion. In 1972 the church was renamed West Park United Reformed Church, having joined a new amalgamation of
Presbyterians, Congregationalists and
Churches of Christ. Between 1991 and 2005 the church formed a Joint Pastorate with Bilton Grange Church. Following a service and a
sermon "remarkable for the power and elegance of its diction" by Reverend G.W. Conder, at the Independent Chapel, the company including twenty priests and three judges processed to the new site. A "large concourse of persons ... including a considerable number of ladies" awaited them. Under the cornerstone was placed a
time capsule in the form of a sealed bottle, containing documents, newspapers and coins. Using his presentation silver trowel, Crossley laid the cornerstone over the cavity and sealed bottle. The company was treated to an address on the history and benefits of
Nonconformism. A feast then took place for 130 ladies and gentlemen, followed by speeches and fund-raising for the church; they had so far raised about half of the estimated cost of £5,000. Francis Crossley (3a).png|Francis Crossley MP George William Conder.jpg|Rev. George William Conder
Opening The church opened at 11.00 a.m. on 13 August 1862. At the opening service, the church was full to the extent that extra seating was included in the
aisles. Present were "a number of the leading Nonconformist gentlemen of the county [of Yorkshire]." These included
John Crossley, Edwin Firth, Judge William Willans,
Thomas Freeman Firth, Henry Brown, William Milnes, John Wade,
William Scholefield,
Dr John Greenwood, Miles Illingworth,
John Peele Clapham JP, John Northorp, William Hartley Lee, John Shaw, Jabez Howell , George Brown, R. Gallsworthy,
Henry Francis Lockwood, Rev. Dr
Thomas Raffles, Rev. S. Martin, Rev. J.G. Neall, Rev. G.W. Conder, Rev. J.H. Morgan, Rev. W. Howes, Rev. R. Harris, Rev. F. Barnes, Rev. Henry Simon, Rev. Joseph Croft, and Rev. Horrocks Cox. Rev Raffles preached a "powerful
sermon" which brought in a respectable collection of £89 6s. 3d.
At the opening John Crossley.jpg|
John Crossley MP William Scholefield 3.png|
William Scholefield MP John Greenwood MP.jpg|
John Greenwood MP Henry Francis Lockwood.JPG|
Henry Francis Lockwood, architect Portrait of Revd Raffles (4669900).jpg|
Rev. Thomas Raffles John Peele Clapham.jpg|John Peele Clapham JP ==Building==