A functional square-plan church of the 1970s, with a top-lit pyramidal roof and an open, welcoming internal space. 

Moss Side is a suburb of Manchester which became built up with by-law housing from the mid-nineteenth century.  Some older housing survives, but most of the area was redeveloped with low-rise council estates during the 1970s. The area has been subject to regeneration projects during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. A Catholic parish was erected in 1949 and a simple brick church-cum-parish hall built in 1951; this was included in the Compulsory Purchase Orders associated with the 1970s regeneration of the area, and the new parish centre, comprising church, hall and presbytery was built to replace and augment it.

Description

All orientations given are liturgical. The building is of red brick with a tile roof faced internally with grey brick and timber boarding. The sub-rectangular plan has at its heart a square worship space with clerestory lighting and additional light from a centrally placed lantern with a pyramidal roof surmounted by a slender cross. The main entrance on the southwest side leads to a narthex with views into the main space, where freestanding chairs replace the original benches.  Sanctuary furnishings with a forward altar appear to be original, slightly reconfigured.

Heritage Details