Description

Hippolyte J Blanc, 1894-5. Perpendicular Gothic. Snecked red sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. Rectangular-plan church with south east transepts and south west octagonal tower. Door in W gable end under 4-centred arch, with moulded reveals and ogival hood mould. 2 narrow flanking lights 5-light window with perpendicular tracery above, the lower part blind and stepped over entrance arch. Angle buttress to NW with crocketted finial. Octagonal 2-stage tower, with corbelled shafts at the angles to the upper stage flanking bipartite belfry louvered lights. Battlemented parapet with truncated pinnacles at angles.

INTERIOR (information from photographs, 2012). Timber pews, pulpit and communion table. Segmental-arched roof with timber detail; hammerbeams and brackets with carved decorative infill above hammerbeams. Panelled timber gallery to W end above timber and glass screen. Several stained glass windows, depicting Biblical characters and scenes.

Statement of Interest

Place of worship in use as such. This well-detailed, gabled church by the well-known architect Hippolyte Blanc has a distinctive octagonal tower, and is a good addition to the streetscape of Stevenson. The timber decorative detailing to the interior roof is a distinctive feature and the decoration is similar to the tracery in the external windows.

The church was originally built as a United Presbyterian church, using red sandstone from the nearby Ballochmyle quarry. The memorial stone was laid in 1894 and the church was officially opened in 1895. The church merged with the Church of Scotland in 1929. A spire was planned for the centre of the tower, but was never built. There were originally pinnacles to the tower parapet and these were removed in the 1940s, after storm damage.

Hippolyte J Blanc (1844-1917) was an eminent and prolific Edinburgh-based architect who was perhaps best known for his Gothic revival churches, including Coats Memorial church, in Paisley (see separate listing). He was also a keen antiquarian and many of his buildings, as here, evoke an earlier Scottish style.

List description updated, 2012.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56646394

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2