Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3105SE ELM GROVE
577-1/28/279 (North side)
19/07/85 Church of St Joseph and attached
steps and walls
(Formerly Listed as:
ELM GROVE
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church)

II*

Roman Catholic church. 1880-1906. The original design, by W
Kedo Broder, was for a church with a polygonal chancel flanked
by outer apsidal chapels, nave, transepts, and a tall west
tower and spire. The nave and chancel were completed by 1880
to this design; the south transept and chapel were opened in
1885 to the design of JS Hansom; the west front, designed by
FA Walters, was completed by 190l, and the north transept and
north chapel by 1906. Kentish rag with Bath stone dressings,
roof of slate.
PLAN: chancel, side chapel, shallow transepts, nave.
EXTERIOR: the east end has an apse of 5 sides with windows of
2 lights with trefoiled tracery, and gabled buttresses
between; south-east and north-east chapels are 5 sides of an
octagon with similar windows under hoodmoulds, buttresses with
one offset. Shallow transepts with 2 windows of 2 lights with
sexfoil above under hoodmoulds, and gabled buttresses with one
offset to either side, 3 stepped lancets in the gable.
Single-storey vestry to north-east side. 2-bay nave with low
unwindowed aisles under a lean-to roof; clerestory has 3-light
windows with trefoiled tracery and 2 gabled buttresses with
one offset. The west end has a gabled porch, the flat-arched
entrance set under a pointed arch with the mouldings of the
archivolt dying into splayed reveals; the double doors have
elaborate hinges and there is a statue of St Joseph in the
tympanum; 2 pointed-arched windows above, each of 2 lights
with a cinquefoil above and under a single hoodmould with a
vesica-shaped window in the spandrel; 3 stepped lancets to
gable, also under a single hoodmould; stair tower to left of
porch, square in plan; buttress to right. Steps up to west
porch in 2 flights, with flanking walls crowned by a spiked
rail.
INTERIOR: apsidal chancel of 7 bays with vault-shafts of Bath
stone, vaulting of white Beere brick; multi-shafted chancel
arch combined with 2-bay arcade to transepts, the columns to
the south with foliage caps, those to the north uncarved; slim
columns to transepts with foliage capitals and sexpartite
vault to crossing; nave of 2 major bays relating to the
vaulting of the roof, of stone and brick as in the chancel,
and 4 subsidiary bays relating to the arcade to
passage-aisles, which consists of circular columns carrying
abaci only. Organ gallery to west end.

Listing NGR: TQ3192605284

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Joseph's Church, Brighton at Wikipedia
• St Joseph's Church, Brighton official website
• Wikidata Q7593825

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)