Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church (Church Of Scotland), 759 Argyle Street, Little Street, Grace Street, Glasgow, Glasgow, Glasgow

Description

Honeyman, Jack and Robertson, 1965-8; internal alteration by Honeyman, Jack and Robertson, 1976. 2-storey, square-plan church with prominent pyramidal roof and adjoining ancillary accommodation comprised of lower 2-storey office accommodation to north elevation, double-height, rectangular-plan church hall to northwest and roughly L-plan linking block between church and hall with distinctive shuttered and precast concrete slatted bell tower to east elevation; in centre of city housing estate. Reinforced concrete frame construction with facing brown brick infills. Cement render to office section. Glazing in bespoke timber frames forming strip of windows set below the concrete frame. Full height glazing to centre bays of east elevation of church.

Some timber framed tilt and turn windows to ancillary accommodation. Pyramidal roof of replacement anodised aluminium panels on timber structure. Flat roofed with asbestos felt to ancillary accommodation. Bespoke, pyramidal rooflights to church hall.

The interior, seen in 2013, is characterised by bespoke hardwood fixtures and fittings and brown brick walls. The church is located at the first floor and has a stepped rectangular dais composed of brown brick laid on in situ cast concrete with integral hardwood pulpit on brick base, hardwood communion table, pyramid roof with exposed hardwood timber frame. Hardwood and glazed partitions to church and meeting rooms. Screen walls at ground floor constructed of concrete blocks with open cross crosslet pattern.

Statement of Interest

Place of worship in use as such. Anderston Kelvingrove Church was designed in 1965 and completed in 1968 as part of the comprehensive redevelopment of the Anderston area in Glasgow. Situated at the centre of this inner city housing estate the striking pyramidal roof and shuttered concrete belltower makes Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church a focal point in the community. The building is an important example of a post-war place of worship, exemplified by its open plan form to the church and its Brutalist detailing. The exposed concrete frame structure with brick infill is punctured by strip timber windows, the detailing of which are continued in the interior in the rhythm of the hardwood upstands to the glazed screen walls.

The church was designed with service to the community in mind and the building had to accommodate an unusually diverse level of activities. Therefore aside from the principal worship hall, located on the first floor below the pyramidal roof, the building has a suite of halls and meeting rooms of various sizes as well as office accommodation and living quarters. The irregular plan of the building and the variety of the materials used externally and internally articulate these diverse functions but overall the building is a cohesive set piece, which is relatively unaltered. The community work has continued in this parish and over 800 people per week are known to use the building (2013).

The open-plan design of the church demonstrates the move to a less hierarchical form of worship occurring during this period following the principles set out by the contemporary Liturgical Movement. This major international movement reformed worship by examining its purpose and exploring the relationship of the congregation to God, to each other and the wider community. From the mid 1950s a number of Church of Scotland churches were constructed as part of their National Church Extension Programme. The Church of Scotland Committee encouraged architects to use modern construction techniques and innovative plan-forms, whilst still remaining aware of traditional church forms. These design principles are evident at St Columba's Parish Church in Glenrothes (1958-62) and Craigsbank Parish Church (1964-66) (see separate listings). In Glasgow, many churches of this period were constructed for the new housing estates providing a focal point to the community.

The congregation of Anderson Parish Church was created by the uniting of the congregation of Anderston Old, Anderston and St Peter's and St Mark's-Lancefield, which were demolished during the comprehensive redevelopment of the Anderston Cross area in the 1960s. The dedication service and the laying of the foundation stone of the new church was held in St Mark's-Lancefield in 1966, and the new church was completed in 1968 (Cooper, p45). The congregation was later joined by St Vincent Parish Church in 1977 and Kelvingrove Church in 1978.

Anderston Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) was one of 29 such areas planned within the city boundary of Glasgow, of which as only half of these areas were actually built. The CDA programme proposed to clear areas of structurally unsound buildings and tenements unsuitable for modern living and replace them with high density housing, although the majority of residents would be relocated. Anderston was priority area of its proximity to the proposed motorway. The Anderston CDA was submitted for public discussion in 1959 and work began in 1961. In 2013 much of the high density housing of the 1960s in Anderston has been replaced.

The church was designed by the Glasgow architectural practice of Honeyman, Jack and Robertson, created in 1947 when George William Robertson became a partner in James Maclaren Honeyman and William Archibald Park Jack's architectural firm. In the ensuing years the practice was involved mainly in factory work and in further jobs for the Ministry of Works, but their later works included churches and schools, such as St Mark's Church in Maryhill, Glasgow and Hillhead Church in Kirkintilloch. The practice's earlier industrial commissions may have inspired the Brutalist detailing of Anderston Kelvingrove Church and is therefore similar to Gillespie, Kidd and Coia's St Charles's Church in Glasgow (see separate listing). By 1953 the practice expanded to incorporate an Oban branch, and further branches were subsequently established in Kelso, Edinburgh and Stirling. The practice continues to work on a variety of projects throughout the United Kingdom.

Some alterations have been made to the building since its construction, such as the conversion of the cloakroom to another meeting room in 1976. This alteration was carried out by the original architects so this change is in keeping with the original design. The original roof consisted of dimpled copper sheets with dormered rooflights, however the dimpling effect creating microscopic cracking and consequently the copper sheets permitted water ingress. To alleviate the problem the sheets have been replaced in anodised aluminium and the dormers have been altered to provide more light to church.

External Links

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