A church of modest architectural interest, designed for the Dominicans by a local architect and built by Frederick Bradford, a Leicester builder who was a prominent figure in local Catholic church building in the mid-twentieth century.

The first Mass in Aylestone was held in a private house in 1915. Shortly after the First World War the Dominicans decided to establish a permanent place of worship and purchased the present site. The church was built by F. J. Bradford of Leicester from designs by Mr Clement Stretton of Leicester, and opened in 1922. The church was designed to seat 250 and cost approximately £2,500. The parish was transferred by the Dominicans to the diocese in 1937.

Description

The church is a very simple structure, essentially a single principal volume with red and buff brick walls and a pitched roof covered with Welsh slate. At the west end is a red brick porch across the whole front with a lean-to pitched roof and a central entrance under a small gable. The side walls are divided into seven bays by battered brick buttresses and each bay has a large four-light timber window with simple tracery in the head. The lower parts of the side walls are red brick, the upper parts buff brick, perhaps a result of some later repair work.

The interior is a single space with plastered walls and an open timber roof. The large clear-glazed rectangular timber windows have secondary glazing. At the west end is a substantial timber organ gallery. There is no structural sanctuary and the tabernacle is set in a large round-headed recess in the east wall. This is flanked by doorways leading to the sacristy and to the new church hall. There is a modern freestanding marble altar; the timber nave benches are probably original to the church.

Heritage Details