Description

TQ 2581 NE CITY OF WESTMINSTER ROWINGTON CLOSE, W2
39/1 (north side)
25.9.51 Church of St Mary Magdalene
(formerly listed under
Woodchester Street)
GV I
Church. 1867-78. By G E Street. Crypt Chapel of St Sepulchre 1895 by Sir
Ninian Comper. Red brick with ashlar spire, dressings and banding. Welsh slate
roof. High Victorian Gothic. Misorientation and unusual plan dictated by site.
(Description refers to liturgical rather than compass east). 6-bay nave with
south aisle and quasi aisle to north, south-west porch, south transept, apsidal
chancel and tower with spire to east of transept. Nave: lancets with trefoil
heads, continuous sill band and hoodmould. To clerestory, 3-light windows under
continuous hoodmould. South transept gable-ended with gabled porch, trefoil
niche above doorway containing relief carving representing Noli Me Tangere. Rose
window above. 5-stage tower with tall bell stage with ashlar banding. Staircase
turret. Spire with lucarnes. Chancel has 3-light windows with intersecting
tracery, to apse 2-light windows with Y tracery and Geometrical tracery to east
window. Continuous sill and hoodmould. Ashlar banding to jambs. Interior:
west wall arcaded with roundels in spandrels. Ashlar banding to upper wall. 2
2-light windows with Geometrical tracery with a roundel above, grouped under a
hoodmould. South arcade: clustered columns on waterholding bases with moulded
capitals, pointed arcade of 2 orders with dogtooth moulding. Similar arcade to
north wall, except octagonal,piers, intermediate slender columns to each bay
support paired narrow arches with roundel above. Relief roundels to west and
north walls represent the Stations of The Cross. To spandrels of north and south
arcades canopies containing statues. Aisle walls below windows have decorative
marble inlay and encaustic tiles. Clerestory: 3-light windows with intersecting
tracery in 2 layers, the outer glazed and the inner supported on freestanding
coloured marble shafts. Pointed barrel vault with painted scheme by Daniel
Bell. Chancel arch on dark marble shafts on stiff-leaf corbels. East end
arrangements raised to present level in 1920s. Diaperwork to walls set with
hexagonal mosaic panels by Salviati of Venice. Alabaster panelling above.
Shafted windows and dark marble shafts to rib vault. Sedilia and piscina.
Reredos by Earp. Stained glass designs by Henry Holiday. Crypt Chapel: groin
vaulted. Highly decorated with Perpendicular and Flamboyant tracery, original
fittings including screen and altar with tester.
Victorian Architecture : R Dixon and S Muthesius 1978, pp 211-212 and pl.202.

Listing NGR: TQ2573181947

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary Magdalene, Paddington at Wikipedia
• St Mary Magdalene, Paddington official website
• Wikidata Q17527215

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair