An economical design of 1986, fit for purpose, well-lit and spacious but of low heritage significance. 

A Mass centre from St Austin, Stafford (qv) was established at Leasowes primary school in 1963, to serve a new housing estate on the southeast side of the county town. The parish was created in 1964, with a presbytery initially in Bodmin Avenue.  A dual-purpose church and hall on Lynton Avenue, designed by Sandy & Norris to seat 200 people, opened in 1966. Soon after 1970 a presbytery was built behind the church. The school adjacent opened in 1968. The present church was built in 1986-7 from designs by Horsley & Currall, the successor practice to Sandy & Norris.

Description

The roughly square building is arranged with the sanctuary to the south side of a single volume, and an entrance lobby to the north; in this description liturgical compass points will be used. The building is steel-framed and faced in a pale orange brick laid in stretcher bond, with pairs of plain pilaster buttresses containing the downpipes, and narrow uPVC windows to the east elevation. The two-tier hipped roof has deep eaves and clerestory windows, with a metal cross to the apex and plastic rainwater goods.  The gabled entrance porch to the west end has diagonally boarded double doors, recessed between deep buttresses.

The plain interior has fair-faced concrete block walls, painted steel columns to the roof and upper ceilings lined with exposed timber rafters. The floor is laid with carpet. The main source of natural light is the clerestory, with horizontal glazing on all sides.  The raised sanctuary has late-twentieth century liturgical fittings in white marble and pale wood. Upholstered pews face the sanctuary with loose seating to the south and north sides. Timber doors on either side of the sanctuary lead to the sacristies.

Heritage Details