A strongly individualistic building in the New Brutalist style, with some furnishings of note.

The church was built as part of the huge expansion of Liverpool suburbs into the Childwall  Valley  in  the 1960s. The priest favoured a rectangular  building  with  a traditional liturgical arrangement, but the character of the building is far from traditional. The top of the tower was removed in 2006, when the windows were replaced and the interior redecorated.

Description

St Pascal Baylon was designed by Sidney Bolland and erected in 1964. The complex comprises a large rectangular church, with a side chapel, now converted to form a meeting room, a sacristy, presbytery and parish centre. The bell tower, which was never fitted with bells, was demolished in 2006. The building is in the New Brutalist manner, with high massy walls of brick and concrete, and windows deeply recessed, so as to be almost invisible from outside. The brickwork of the north and south walls is  taken  up  to form  a  series  of  freestanding  panels  separated  by  the  recessed windows, and on the south side there is sloping glazing at the lower level to light a series of small side chapels.

The interior has the character  of  a barn or  industrial building,  with a high roof supported on a complex arrangement of cross trusses. Narrow side aisles are formed behind colonnades of circular piers supporting shallow arches. A cantilevered west gallery has similar arches. The sanctuary, which occupies the full width of the nave, has been extended out into the nave, making it too large for the furnishings. These are dignified objects of stone and concrete, the font in particular is a fine piece with figures of an angel and the devil carved in relief.

Heritage Details