Description

J Gillespie Graham, 1814-17. Neo-perpendicular,
rectangular plan church. Cream ashlar sandstone. Base
course; hoodmoulds to pointed arch windows.
S ELEVATION: 3-bay, gabled with semi-octagonal buttresses
to centre, rising to octagonal finialled turrets. Pointed
arch doorway with nook shafts and crocketted ogee
hoodmould above. 2-leaf timber segmentally arched,
panelled doors and pointed tympanum. Cill course below
tall nave window, 3-light and transomed with curvilinear
tracery; gable culminating in decorative corbelled gabled
niche with figure of St Andrew. Pierced, coped lattice
work skew parapet. Polygonal turrets flanking (see
above). Aisle bays with 3-light windows, detailed similarly
to nave window but smaller. Angle buttresses with
pointed, cusped panels, terminating in crocketted
pinnacles; crenellated skew parapets to aisles.
E ELEVATION: 6 symmetrical bays; 2-light windows with
quatrefoil tracery at head to each bay, divided by
buttresses; doorway in outer left bay below window, with
billetted architrave; 4 centre bays with canted flat-roofed
ashlar confessional boxes at ground, each with cusped
windows in chamfered sides. Coped crenellated parapet.
5 clerestorey 2-light windows to nave behind, with
intermediate buttresses and crocketted pinnacles.
W ELEVATION (TO FOX LANE): 6-bay, detailed similarly to E
elevation without the canted projections.
N ELEVATION: shallow canted apse projecting at centre with
tall 3-light windows on each face and coped crenellated
parapet; crowstepped blank apex to gable behind, with
cross finial.
Diamond lead-pane glazing; slate roofs. Decorative
gutter-heads retained.
INTERIOR: including alterations by the younger Pugin in
1871 and 1892. Central and side aisles; plaster fan vault
with ornate bosses; keel-shaped clustered columns with
capitals; painted and gilded chevron carving to depressed
chancel arch; marble reredos and canopied marble altar.
Fleur-de-lys finials to stalls; lattice panelling to
confessional doors. Decorative stained glass lights to
apse windows modern tripartite screen between vestibule
and nave, with some etched glazing. Lady Chapel and
Chapel of Our Lord with fine tripartite, Caen stone
altars, pierced, marble coped parapets and wrought
bronze gates. Ornate stone font; polychrome marble
pulpit; marble piscina.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Plan constrained

by narrow site, but successfully designed. Original

building cost $16,000 and the college, in a similar style,

which was originally intended to accompany the church, was

abandoned for financial reasons. Close parallels in the

composition of St Stephen's, Westminster, illustrated in

Carter and Capon's book on Westminster. The church became a

cathedral in 1889. Stone cleaning was carried out in 1982.

A modern hall adjoins the building at the NE angle, by the

paved square beside the cathedral.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• St Andrew's Cathedral at Wikipedia
• St Andrew's Cathedral official website
• Wikidata Q2002811

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

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)