The late-11thc church of St Mary-le-Bow was rebuilt by Wren in 1670-83, but retains its Romanesque crypt, now in use as a restaurant and wine bar. Wren's church has a wide nave with narrow 3-bay aisles forming a square plan, to the N of the N aisle is a rectangular vestry alongsiode the two E bays of the aisle, while a square vestibule adjoins the W bay. To the N of the vestibule is a tower, square in plan but slightly canted to face Cheapside. The church is of brick with Portland stone dressings.
The crypt dates from the late-11thc. It consisted originally of a wide nave and narrow aisles. The nave was subdivided by columns with cushion capitals into three parallel vessels of four square bays, each bay groin vaulted with tranverse and longitudinal arches resulting in 12 compartments. Each aisle was also vaulted in 4 bays, the same length as the nave bays from W to E but wider from N to S.
Of this original material approximately 60% remains today. Only the four E columns with their cushion capitals survive, the W end of the nave having been partitioned into smaller rooms. Also, the interior is dominated by plain, heavy concrete arcades installed after the church was bombed in World War II. The present arrangement is that the S aisle has been separated from the rest of the crypt by partly blocking the arcade arches and inserting doors or screens in the blocking. It forms a chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. The nave and N aisle were converted to a restaurant in 1989 (now called the Humble Grape) The S aisle is the bar, approached via a staircase from the vestibule, while the nave itself is occupied by the restaurant's dining room.
