Description

W M Mackenzie, 1834-6 with additions by James Smart, 1891 (see Notes). 3-bay, rectangular-plan, Neo-Classical former church surmounted by pedestal with rotunda based on Lysicratic Choragic Monument (see Notes). Polished ashlar to principal (E) elevation, lower part chanelled; rubble to sides and rear.

E ELEVATION: Steps to 3 tall, narrow 2-leaf timber doors in round-arched doorpieces with fanlights set in moulded over-arches. Horizontal recessed panels above denoting attic. Cornice and blocking course. To roof: central pedestal flanked by swept consoles with scroll carving. Above, rotunda (blocked) with Corinthian columns surmounted by moulded cap with floral-type finial at apex.

N and S (side) elevations with 2-tier fenestration; round-arched windows at upper tier. Rose window to rear (apse) elevation, flanked by full-height round-arched windows in canted angles.

INTERIOR: recast and extended (1891) with addition of apse. Slender cast-iron columns support D-plan gallery, now with later suspended ceiling. Raked fitted timber pews at upper level. Stained glass: predominantly glass circa 1836 with resurrection scenes to left wall and later geometric patterned glass in apse, probably 1891.

Statement of Interest

St Leonard's is a well-detailed Classical former church mixing Greek and Italianate influences. Built as a chapel of ease, the building provides an eye-catching terminus to the axial view from Charterhouse Lane, adding considerably to the wider streetscape. It is characterised by its bold symmetrical massing and its distinctive version of the Choragic Monument denoting a belfry stage. It originally seated 950.

The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens was built in 334 BC to commemorate a win in a choral festival and was one of the first structures built according to the Corinthian Order. It became an icon in the Greek Revival Movement in Britain and reached its height in Scotland during the 1820s and 30s. The Lysicrates Monument motif was utilised at the Burns Monument in Alloway and the Art Centre in Aberdeen's King Street (see separate listings).

Prominent local architect W M Mackenzie was influenced by the Neo-Classicism of Thomas Hamilton and John Soane in England. He revised the feuing plan for King Street in 1830 to provide sites for individually commissioned villas. He also designed the former County Infirmary (now A K Bell Library and Lodge - see separate listings). Local architect David Smart added the apse to the W in 1891 which includes some notably colourful high Victorian stained glass. St Leonard's is currently (2009) in use as an auction house.

List description updated at resurvey (2009).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• St Leonard's Parish Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17848759

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)