The Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King, Plymouth, City of Plymouth

Description

PLYMOUTH

740-1/0/10132 ARMADA WAY
24-APR-09 (Northwest of)
The Roman Catholic Church of Christ th
e King

II
Roman Catholic Church with attached presbytery and hall. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and constructed posthumously by his office in 1961-62; the presbytery and hall by Richard Gilbert Scott were added in 1963. The complex has a simplified Gothic style with Italianate influences to the exterior.

MATERIALS: The buildings are constructed from sandy-coloured brick in English bond with dressings of stone and concrete. The windows to the presbytery and hall have galvanised metal frames.

PLAN: The buildings are aligned north-south and make the best use of the sloping ground which rises up towards The Hoe by having a linear plan. The church has a traditional plan with a tall nave with narrow aisles, entered through a low, flat-roofed narthex; baptistery; and the sanctuary flanked by a Lady Chapel and a sacristy. The nave and the sanctuary are under one roof, and at the north east corner is a campanile. The attached presbytery is up-slope of the church with the hall beyond.

EXTERIOR: The nave and the sanctuary are under a continuous pitched roof of Roman clay tiles with overhanging eaves. The low narthex in the north front (liturgical west end) has paired double doors with diamond-shaped panels set within a square-headed moulded surround flanked by moulded pilasters with moulded caps that rise slightly above the head. Over the doorway is a panel with relief carving of the Lamb of God. The west window has a pointed head and deep reveal. Its mullions take the form of fins which rise above the transom slightly and the lights have cusped heads with leaded panes of tinted glass. At the north east corner is the tower with a saddle-backed roof. There is a continuous stone band to the belfry stage with unglazed north and south openings that replicate the design of the nave windows. Its west and east walls have unglazed openings of five-lights under square heads at eaves level. At ground level is further a square-headed mullioned window of three-lights; there are matching windows in the east wall of the narthex. The aisle windows which are set within deep reveals have pointed heads and fin-like mullions. The sanctuary is narrower than the nave with paired five cusped lights under square-heads set high in the east and west walls. The liturgical east end is windowless; the tile hanging was added in the early C21. Against the west side of the sanctuary is the single storey, flat-roofed sacristy which has two windows with chamfered mullions to its east elevation, and an entrance and two-light window to the north return. The Lady Chapel to the west of sanctuary is also single storey and projects out beyond the nave. It has a lean-to roof and square-headed mullioned windows.

The presbytery and hall to the south were added a year later in 1963. They are also of brick and have metal-framed windows with basket-headed concrete lintels; although one window to the presbytery has been replaced in uPVC. The presbytery is an L-shaped building consisting of a two storey cross wing with a north range that connects with the church. The east elevation of this single storey range has full-height windows with metal glazing bars and a loggia of five bays supported on brick piers and an entrance to the far left. To the sloping ground the cross wing of the presbytery and the single storey hall beyond are under a continuous roof. The east side of the hall is lit by tall windows with marginal glazing with are part-glazed entrance doors to the right which have vertical metal fins that mirror the fins of the nave windows. The west elevation of hall has narrow horizontal windows set high in the walls.

INTERIOR: There is a deep organ gallery at the (liturgical) west end of the nave, accessed by a staircase beyond the west end of the south aisle, and the baptistery occupies the ground floor of the tower. A vertical platform lift has recently (2007) been installed in the entrance foyer, but does not impinge on the historic fabric. The nave is of four bays with pointed-arched openings to the aisle bays and the arcade mouldings die away into lozenge-shaped piers which have no capitals. There is no clerestorey and the narrow aisles rise almost as high as the nave and are no more than walkways under lateral vaults behind the high arcades. Beyond the pointed chancel arch is the narrower sanctuary which is lit from tall windows to the sides, concealed from the congregation. It is of simple design, ending in a blank wall carrying a large crucifix with a canopy above overhanging the High Altar. The original altar remains in situ against this background in the sanctuary, which is raised on three steps, but another altar has been erected in the forward position. Both nave and sanctuary roofs have exposed timber beams with boarded soffits all painted blue and grey with red, gold and black embellishments of medieval origin via the Arts and Crafts tradition. This decorative scheme, together with the plain plastered walls and cream-coloured stone piers and chancel arch, highlights the quality of the Arts and Crafts style fittings such as the octagonal font, chandeliers, oak pews, reredos to the Lady Chapel, carved timber altar rail, the marble-fronted altar and the door furniture which are all of a piece.

The interior of the presbytery has a fairly compact plan but its fittings are largely unremarkable and it is of lesser interest. The principal entrance to the church hall opens onto a full-height lobby with walls of exposed brick. It has an open-well, open-tread staircase that leads through to the presbytery. The roof of the hall is supported on pre-cast concrete structural piers and this, and the lower parts of the walls, is clad in timber.

HISTORY: The Church of Christ the King was built in 1960-62 to the designs of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and was originally intended to be an auxiliary church for the use of all the Roman Catholic parishes in Plymouth. It was built on a site at the southern end of Armada Way which formed the focus of Patrick Abercrombie's `Plan for Plymouth', an ambitious plan for the reconstruction of the city following the devastating bombing of WWII. The church is situated within the area initially zoned for hotel development within the Plan, but a lack of interest from developers led to this key site on Armada Way being given to the Roman Catholic Church.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) established himself as one of the most accomplished and sophisticated ecclesiastic architects in Britain, designing for both Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes. One of his most famous commissions, Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, was a massive undertaking that was to occupy Scott throughout his life. Scott also designed many secular buildings, including Battersea and Bankside Power Stations in London, and the K6 telephone box in 1935. He continued to design churches in the post-war years which, although superficially conservative, reveal a continuing interest in internal structural expression. The Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King is his last work; Scott was working on the design when he was admitted to hospital for cancer treatment in 1960. The church was built posthumously by his office in 1961-62. It was paid for by an anonymous donor on condition that the design was simple yet eye-catching. Scott modified his original design to appease the client, making the building more conservative and more Gothic in character, and more characteristic of his own approach to church design. The foundation stone was laid on 17 September 1961 by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth, the Right Reverend Monsigneur Cyril Restieaux. The building, which cost some £60,000, was consecrated on 19 September 1962 and could accommodate about 250 worshippers. The attached presbytery and hall to the south were designed by Scott's son, Richard and constructed in 1963. In 1988 the church became the Catholic Chaplaincy for students studying at the University of Plymouth. The church and its attendant hall and presbytery have remained almost entirely unaltered since their completion.

SOURCES: Gavin Stamp, The Roman Catholic Parish Churches of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (2007), Ecclesiology Today, vol. 38, pages 63-80
Gavin Stamp, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (2004-08), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Jeremy & Caroline Gould, Plymouth Planned. The Architecture of the Plan for Plymouth 1943-1962 (2000)
Sally Woodhead, Illustrated Guide to the Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Plymouth (1992), pages 174-75

REASON FOR DECISION: The Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King and attached presbytery and hall are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is an accomplished and well-handled design in which every element has a consistency of approach, and every detail is carefully considered and crafted
* It is a spare composition that is simple and light, yet a very strong design whose lack of ornament gives it a strong cohesion
* A high level of intactness and the retention of original fittings
* It impresses as a coherent whole and is simple in conception both inside and out
* Although perhaps a conservative design for its time, it is a building that sums up Scott's whole career as a church architect
* The presbytery and hall, designed from similar materials to the church and in a complementary style, enhance the special interest of this group of buildings as a harmonious ensemble

Reasons for Listing

The Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King and the attached presbytery and hall have been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is an accomplished design in which every element has a consistency of approach, and every detail is carefully considered and crafted
* It is by an acknowledged and important architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
* It is a spare composition that is simple and light, yet a very strong design whose lack of ornament gives it a strong cohesion
* A high level of intactness and the retention of original fittings
* It impresses as a coherent whole and is simple in conception both inside and out
* Although perhaps a conservative design for its time, it is a building that sums up Scott's whole career as a church architect
* The presbytery and hall, designed from similar materials to the church and in a complementary style, enhance the special interest of this group of buildings as a harmonious ensemble

External Links

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