1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



137 



TRANSITIONAL CHURCHES BUILT OF LATE YEARS IN 

 AND ABOUT LONDON. 



Tlie following are extracts, in a condensed form, from a paper in tlic 

 EccUsiologixt reviewing the ;ircliitecture of those metropolitan 

 churches which exhibit ;i progress in the knov\ledge of mediiEv;il 

 architecture ; these churches are rather happily called "Transitional." 

 We have taken the liberty of marking in it.ilics some of the solecisms 

 and inaccuracies of languagi* which appear in the orijjinal notice. 

 This we have done, not iu an invidious spirit — for the arciiitectural 

 criticisms we for the most part highly approve of — but because it 

 seems intolerable that a work having the academical character which 

 the EcclesiologisI possesses should be disgraced (as by the by are 

 most of the writings in any degree attributable to the Cambridge 

 Camden Society), by constant violations of the rules of English 

 grammar. 



" St. Paul's. Knighlsbridge, is 3 most commendable instance of liberalily oii 

 the part of its incumbent, which, had ii been met as it should liavc Uiii, 

 standing as it docs in perhaps as opulent a region as the wide world ctmtaiiis, 

 by similar munificence from others, and by adequate experience on the part 

 of those to whom the constructional p:irt apiwrtained, might have been a fair 

 and admirable monument of the Christian zeal of the Nobles of the grealcst 

 empire of modern ilays. And yet it would be wrong to ileny that it is a very 

 great thing lor the fashionable inhabitants of Uelgrave Square to h:ive a 

 church of ihe degree of gooilness which this has attained, to resort lo, and to 

 Iiave so many opportunities of so doing. And there certainly is something 

 striking in the view of ihe interior of this building, when we remember wliat 

 London congregations are for the most part condemned to. To consider this 

 church more systematically, one cannot but at once perceive that the nave 

 and chancel are totally disconnected, ihough both assuming to be "Third 

 Pointed,' that the latter is most obviously an after-thuught appended to what 

 for its o«n sake was totally undcBerving of such an aiUlition, and of wlwsc 

 demerits the worthy priest who has made the cliuich what it is is totally 

 guiltless. As no one, we trust, will think of imitating or of admiring the 

 nave, a va»t Lc-galletied hall, we pass it oyer sicca peilc. The chancel we 

 need hardly say is wanting in depth, though of praiseworthy height (to Ihe 

 exposure of the dimcnsiens of the nave), and it differs from ancient chancels 

 in the absence of any side light to relieve Ihe east window. — The service is 

 not performed in the chancel, but in a sort of long narrow peninsula project- 

 ing from it into the nave, [a»r/J containing the prayer-desk and the lettern, the 

 former looking south and the latter west, beneaih and opposite »hich are 

 seats for the choir, a crowded and unchurch-like arrangement; and on tlie 

 south side stands the pulpit, of carved oak. — Tlie east window of the church 

 is to be entirely filled with stained glass representing Scriptural pieces in 

 many small compartments, and arranged in a chronological order; among 

 which, from the drawing of it as it will be when completed, now hanging U|i 

 in the vestibule of the church, we perceive the Crucifi.\ion occupying a most 

 obscure corner. The men of old would never have done such a thing. The 

 remainder of this windoiv, and those in the nave, are glazed with a sort of 

 opaque golden coloured glass, which is at least an improvement upon the old 

 ground glass heretofore employed in modern churches. The material of the 

 church is white brick. To conclude, .St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, is a remarka- 

 ble and gratifying 'fact,' but at the same timecjuite unserviceable in all respects 

 as a model for future church builders. 



Chritl Church, Broatlu/at/, in Wealmlnsler. — A modern church rebuilt on the 

 site of a former chapel, consisting of an apse, nave, aisles, and north-west 

 tower, of the First Pointed style. The arrangement of the west front is very 

 faulty, consisting of an Early Middle Pointed window, of three lights, sur- 

 mounted by a First Pointed triplet. The roof however is of a good pilch ; 

 the church is lofty, measuring sixty-eight feet to the summit of the cross, 

 and open internally to the top, and the material is stone, — all gratifying 

 things to tell. Knlering, as \ierforce we must, at the west end, the nave piers 

 first attract our attention, from being of cast-iron, almost of the bulk of stone, 

 raised on blocks, so as to show their pedestals above the seats ; more we need 

 not say about them ; as a set-olf however the seats are not only all open, but 

 alike in construction, ornament, and comfort, for rich and poor, — a very gra- 

 tifying proof of Christian feeling, and one as yet but little regarded else- 

 where in our 'Transitional' churches, e.g. Ihe area of St. Paul's, Knights- 

 bridge, is apportioned between long pews and open sittings, and as we shall 

 see, .St. Gile's, Camberwell, has two classes of open sittings. The galleries 

 have open iron fronts, to make them lighter,— an experiment which we think 

 has totally fail&l ; and to accommodate them, liberties of an unjustifiable 

 nature have been taken with the aisle windows : those at Ihe side (couplets 

 very broad, and to describe them by an expressive bull, splayed at right an- 

 gles to the wall) being depressed below the level of the galleries ; and to 

 diminish still more their height, their heads, which are externally marked by 

 a Wank trefoil, being internally left perfectly bare, and the single lancets at 

 the east end of the aisles being pushed op so as to enlighten the aerial [lor- 

 tion of the congregation. It is really intolerable to see an architect spoil 



his church for ever to accommodate these intruding eye-sores ; better let the 

 galleries span windows which may some day be emancipated, than leave the 

 in<lilible brand of disgrace upon them even should the cause of it be ever re- 

 moved. The prayer-desk and lettern are in the nave, on the south side, with 

 the pulpit (unpretending by Ihe way, and therefore not bad, Ihough standing 

 disjointedly, when it should have been attached to a pier) facing them. The 

 church terminates in an apse, an arrangement, we need not repeat it, un- 

 authorized in an English parish church, but one which in this instance was 

 adopted in consequence of the church being rebuilt in an old burial ground, 

 and considerable jealousy existing even about the encroachment w liicli the 

 apse made upon it. The apse being assumed, we must allow great credit for 

 the prominence given lo the altar, a most redeeming point. Approached by 

 a llight of several steps, it forms Ihe crowning point of the church, and by lis 

 height is defended from painful proximity which, when a good chancel and a 

 protecting screen cannot be attained, is the tiling which should be aimed at. 

 (In this respect St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, is deficient; there is no screen, 

 and yet the altar is non-apparent.) The altar itself is remarkable for the 

 richness of its embroidered anlc-penilium, a good attempt, but reprehensible 

 in that the central monogram is worked in black, an unheard-of colour for 

 such an object. The apse is enriched with tlecorativc colour, chiefly by Mr. 

 Willement, and one window glows with his painted glass. We understand 

 inoro will very soon be added as a fiirllier instalment. The mural cross is of 

 praiseworthy dimensions. The seals in the chancel are of the same nonde- 

 script character as those v»hich we found fault with in Christ Church, Albany 

 Street. On the whole wc think that this church displays more Catholic feel- 

 ing on the part of its than any projector other new parish church in London. 

 (-'ollige of Si. Murk, at Chelsea, for the training of schoolmasters. The col- 

 lege cbapel is one of the mest complete instances we have yet observed of 

 consiilerable ecclesiastical feeling in the original conception, unaccompanied 

 by suflicicnt ecclesiological know ledge on the part either of originators or of 

 architect lo give that feeling a satisfactory development, and as it were 

 translate it into grammatical language. After this general character, it 

 would be unkind to Ihe excellent proi'Osers of St. Mark's college to enter 

 very deeply into an architectural examination of the building. Something 

 bo« ever must be said. The style adopted is Romanesque. 'The plan of the 

 cbapel is cruciform, consistmg of a nave and transepts, without aisles, and 

 an apsidal chancel, with an aisle running all round it, the apse being circular. 

 One great and obvious defect i.'-. that the breadth of the chancel (which is 

 raised; together »ilh its north and south aisles, is precisely that of the un- 

 broken nave, thus showing the stilled butt-ends of aisles to the nave in a 

 way noHliere, we might almost venture to assert, seen in an ancient church ; 

 a ludicrous turning to account of this bail arrangement shall soon be told. 

 The chancel is, we said, raised, and no one can be other than pleased with 

 the dignity given to the Holy Altar, which is indeed the redeeming point of 

 the internal arrangement. Altogether the chancel fails from over-ambition ; 

 neither in height, breadth, nor length does it come up to what the chancel of 

 a small parish church should be, and yet this tiny space contains all the fea- 

 tures of the eastern limb of a vast cathedral ; it has its apse, its encircling 

 aisle, its triforium, its clerestory, and its vaulted roof. All these of course 

 are on a microscopic scale, and Ihe altar-chairs and pulpit, being perforce of 

 the natural size, make a rather ridiculous contrast ; the two former well nigh 

 fill up the apse, and the latter is fitted into the butt end of Ihe northern aisle. 

 The windows however of the chancel are nearly all filled with stained glass, 

 and this, combined with the gloominess of ihe day, gave, we must liooestly 

 confess, a solemn appearance to the chancel Ihe last time we visited the 

 chapel, not but that it was then that we realised to the full the mistakes of 

 this arrangement. At the extreme west end of the chapel, to the right and 

 left of the door, stalls are placed, showing by their position that the designer 

 had not clearly realised the distinction betH ecu nave and chancel. Indeed 

 the whole building manifests a conlusion between those two very dissimilar 

 structures, a college chapel and a parish church. It is true that St. Mark's 

 lulfils the double purpose; but would it not have been better to have given 

 each object its legitimate development, ihan to have attempted an impossible 

 union of their distinctive features ? The nave might well have been reserved 

 for the laity, and the members of the college have been provided with a spa- 

 cious and correctly-arranged choir, from which, day after day would have 

 ascended with increased beauty that solemn service which so honourably dis- 

 tinguishes Ihe college of St. Mark. 



•■ St. Giles', Camberwell, a large cross church, with aisles, north and south 

 porches, central spire, and well developed chancel, of the Middle Pointed 

 style. The altar isuf stone, and of Ihe correct shape of a table standing upon 

 legs ; unhappily however, instead of Ihe rich canopied sedilia we might have 

 looked for, it is flanked with altar-chairs. 'The reredos, which is ot stone, is 

 over heavy. The risers of the altar are panelled with porcelain. The east 

 window is as yet but partially filled with stained glass. The chancel, which 

 is paved with encaustic tiles (with which however we were not quite satisfied,) 

 has stall-like benches for the choristers (and a quasi episcopal ihrone lor the 

 incumbent); these choirlers .' are failures, being of heavy workmanship, and un- 

 real, inasmuch as they lave a ranjje of canopies over an unbroken bench. The 



