A modern (1994) steel-framed church building on a hexagonal plan, with attached parish hall.

The site was purchased in 1920 by the Vincentian Fathers and a new church built in 1923 to the designs of Fr Benedict Williamson and J. H. Beart Foss (the original drawings are preserved in the London Metropolitan Archive).  The builder was John Marsland & Sons Ltd. Aisles were added in 1935. In 1954 a new high altar was installed, in memory of Fr John Conran. This and a pulpit installed at the same time were designed by H. S. Goodhart-Rendel PPRIBA.

This building was demolished in 1994, together with the old parish hall, to make way for the present church/hall complex, which was designed by the PRC Partnership. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Vincent Nichols on 19 June 1994 and the first Mass in the new church held on Palm Sunday (9 April), 1995. The church was consecrated by Cardinal Hume on 25 September 1996. The Goodhart-Rendel altar was re-used in remodelled form in the new church

Description

The new church is not orientated and the sanctuary lies to the north. The church is a modern steel-framed structure, hexagonal on plan, the external walls clad with yellow brick and the tented roof covered in slate.  The side walls are pierced by rectangular windows with stone surrounds and mullions. On the north side a semi-circular projection marks the location of the sanctuary and on the adjacent west side is a cylindrical brick tower with a sloping top. Internally the walls are pale fair-faced brickwork and the tented ceiling is lined with the timber-clad trusses of the roof exposed. The church forms part of a parish complex and is separated by a wide corridor from the parish centre. Most of the furnishings were newly made, but the remodelled altar of 1954 by H. S. Goodhart-Rendel, the statue of the Risen Christ behind the altar (by Vincenzo Demetz Figlii of Ortisei, 1973) and the Stations of the Cross (presented in 1947) were brought from the old church.

Heritage Details