Church of St Luke

Details

59/0/10097

GIBBON ROAD
CHURCH OF ST LUKE

24-NOV-06

II
Church, 1888-91, by Edward Birchall and John Kelly. Brick, five bay aisled church with an apsidal east end, a large tower to the northeast, and the vestry and parish room to the south. Steep pitched roof with grey slate tiles.

In the Early English style which emulated the ecclesiastical architecture of the C13. The style is Gothic, rather than Italianate (viz. other Kelly churches), because the church was Anglican, not Roman Catholic.

EXTERIOR: The west end features five lancet windows set into a pointed arch. Beneath is a blind arcade of five bays with the doorway set into the central (slightly wider) arch. The stone tympanum is carved with a winged ox, the symbol of St Luke, and the door is flanked by single stone columns with still leaf capitals.

The north and south elevations have lancet windows, with buttresses at aisle level and blind windows in the clerestory level, marking the bays. Each window is set in a moulded pointed arch and there are corbelled insets in the brickwork alongside each opening. The porch, to the north, has stone steps leading to a pointed arch doorway flanked by two stone columns and five corbelled brick insets of the gable.

The apse has five bays of simple tracery windows separated by buttresses. The northeast tower has the same detailing as the body of the church. It has angle buttresses and rises in five stages: a two-light lancet window set under a moulded arch; two lancet windows; five corbelled insets in brickwork; two lancets in the belfry, which also contains a clock; a spire flanked by four pinnacles. A foundation stone on the south side records the date of the church and the patronage of Princess Mary Adelaide and Lady Wolverton.

INTERIOR: Exposed brick with stone detailing, braced arch wooden roof. There are clustered stone piers with stiff-leaf foliage capitals dividing the nave from the aisles. Carved stone heads adorn the spandrels in nave arcade, said to be the likenesses of donors to the church building fund. Single stone columns mark the bays of the clerestory and the apse, as well as the chancel arch. The chancel screen, which is of wrought iron and was inserted in 1908, has a stone base carved with trefoils. The stone tympanum above the west door is carved with a scene of Christ blessing the children. The tracery in the Lady Chapel and the apse is also in stone. The original parquet flooring, the choir stalls and the majority of the wooden benches survive. A 1960s platform has recently been removed from the east end of the nave, enhancing the interior and restoring the liturgical arrangement of the late C19.

There is late C19 stained glass by Alfred Hemming in the Lady Chapel. The lower part of the central lancet in the west window is stained glass, inserted in memory of the Church's first vicar George Isaac Swinnerton. The other windows in this elevation are clear glass.

The original font and pulpit survive: the former is in rose-coloured marble and stands on a stone base; the latter is of carved wood in a pointed gothic style. There is an organ by TC Lewis and Company.

The walls and roof timbers of the Lady Chapel are painted white, and an Edwardian wrought iron gate separates the Chapel from the south aisle. There is a parish room and vestry to the north, both of which retain their original fitted cupboards; the former also has a simple fireplace.

HISTORY: St Luke's Church was built in 1888 to serve the railway workers whose houses form the surrounding streets, situated to the north of the railway station in Kingston. The parish was poor but, through the well-connected wife of the first vicar, received sponsorship from society figures, most notably Princess Mary Adelaide, granddaughter of George III and mother of Queen Mary, consort of George V. This allowed for the prominent church which stands today, the spire of which was completed in 1891 following a further donation of funds by Lady Wolverton. A painting showing the original design for the church survives and shows that the building was constructed largely as it was intended by the architects, with only the design of the spire being slightly modified and a clock inserted into the tower.

The church was designed by Edward Birchall (1839-1903) and John Kelly (1840-1904), an architectural partnership based in Leeds who specialised in churches. Kelly went on to design several churches of note, including the striking Roman Catholic Church of St Patrick, Soho Square, London (listed Grade II*), the Church of All Saints, Richmond-upon-Thames (listed Grade II) and the Roman Catholic Church in Hove (listed Grade II). Kelly's Roman Catholic churches are all in a distinctive Italianate style, with large campanile and Romanesque features. Birchall's other work includes Tylney Hall, a country house of 1879 (listed Grade II*).

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: St Luke's Church has special architectural interest as an 1880s suburban church, a single-phase composition, surviving with no significant alterations or extensions. The church's most striking feature is the north-east tower and spire which dominate the skyline in this suburban landscape of low-level terraced houses. The composition is balanced, and the proportions of the body of the church are enhanced by the tower. John Kelly was an accomplished church architect who went on to design the Grade II* St Patrick's Soho Square. St Luke's is not as exuberant and lavish as this consciously Italianate church, but was an earlier commission and for an Anglican parish, so it is not surprising to find a more conventional architectural style. St Luke's Church is listed for its confident scale, balanced composition, streetscape impact and connection with an important turn-of-the-century architect, John Kelly.

Legacy

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