Description

Gratton & McLean, 1957-58. Rectangular-plan, ark-like church with curvilinear roof and opposite elevations mirrored. Steel frame with brick facing, projecting header patternwork at ground, rendered and jettied above with dividing canopy course; boarded timber sections. Curtain wall glazing at intervals.

ENTRANCE ELEVATIONS: doors to centre with broad, segmental canopied porch on slender pillars. Advanced rendered and vertically panelled section behind, each panel with pointed head (creating chevron effect). Recessed corner sections (stair halls) in timber with windows, in deep band to upper section with vertically glazed lights (that to left of main entrance replaced with modern glazing departing from original pattern).

SIDE ELEVATIONS: curtain window under canopy to centre, with jambs at 90?. Further windows to outer corners under upswept canopy. Jettied upper stage with dominant vertically-glazed window to taller centre section under curvilinear roof, central mullion and upper transom used to include crucifix motif, each light with pointed arch head, continuing chevron detail. 6 narrow lights in horizontal line flanking each side (echoing port holes), each with ventilating panel above under eaves and below above canopy course. Outer corners glazed timber returns of entrance elevations.

Coloured and mottled opaque glass in metal-framed windows. Box-like rainwater hoppers in re-entrant angles. Steel roof covered in copper. Metal filigreed and chevroned fleche with attenuated mast and cross finial. Loud-speakers(?) at foot of fleche.

INTERIOR: lower hall (echoing ship's hold). Upper church with central aisle, rendered walls, boarded timber to window recesses, and dado to chancel. Grid pattern glazed staircase screen with key panes blocked in colour, etched glass to 2-leaf doors. Fixed panelled pews with corniced stall ends, painted white.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. A powerful composition, redolent of Festival of Britain detailing, echoing, for example, the lines of the Royal Festival Hall, London, 1951, and with the fleche following a form popular at the time, as on the extension to Coventry Cathedral, also of 1951. The design makes clear and effective reference to a symbolic 'ark' and apparently the church is referred to as such.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17813430

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas