A solid interwar church, built in Italian Renaissance style. The interior volume, finishes and acoustics are of high quality.

The parish was established and the church built in 1937. After the demolition of F.X. Velarde’s church of St Alexander, that parish was amalgamated with St Richard’s.

Description

Medium-sized church in Italian Renaissance style, red brick with stone dressings, pantile roof.  The church comprises one single aisleless space, with an apsidal east end and a western porch. The front elevation has a central gabled or pedimented projection with pilasters at the corners and a round arched window. There are pedimented entrances to either side, a central Venetian window above and stone banding alternating with courses of brickwork in the main gable. The flank elevation facing Wadham Road consists of six bays, each with a round arched window, with the bay divisions marked by brick pilasters. At the east end the windowless semicircular apse and east gable have stone banding alternating with courses of brickwork, with a stone cornice and felt-covered hemispherical roof to the apse.

The entrances lead into a small narthex area, from which gives off a small repository housed in the western projection.   Pedimented oak doors give access to the main interior, which is plastered and painted, and consists of a single volume of six bays. There is a high clerestory window in each bay, each containing stained glass roundels (northern saints on the north side, sacraments on the south side). The bay divisions and the apsidal sanctuary are marked by Doric pilasters, with an oversailing cornice and a barrel vaulted ceiling with ribs marking the bay divisions.  Confessionals give off the south side of the nave, with pedimented oak doors and doorcases. The liturgical furnishings are not of special note, apart from the circular granite font.

Heritage Details