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Summary

Description

Pugin and Pugin, 1894; later additions. Small basilican-plan, gothic style church; later presbytery linked to N via small sacristy. Bull-faced sandstone coursers; sandstone ashlar dressings; ashlar and bull-faced base course. 3 hoodmoulded pointed arched reticulated windows to E (principal elevation) above later rectangular-plan masonry porch. Segmental-arched side windows to N and S. Gablet skewputts. Brick and rendered presbytery, Alexander McNally, 1934. 2-storey, rectangular-plan house, linked to church.

CHURCH: E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: flat-roof masonry porch, stepped and pedimented parapet with large masonry cross finial, transomed and mullioned bipartite window, timber double-leaf doors to right return; large central hoodmoulded pointed window with reticulated tracery with smaller flanking reticulated windows; small hoodmoulded pointed traceried window to gablehead; masonry cross finial to gable apex. N ELEVATION: 8 bays. Segmental-arched traceried windows (smaller windows to far right and left). Advanced bull-faced masonry, single storey vestibule to far left linked to 6-bay plain brick hall (obscuring most of N elevation but not directly linked to church); later brick-built garage adjoining hall to far right. W (REAR) ELEVATION: central reticulated hoodmoulded pointed window, flanking square-plan buttresses; small hoodmoulded pointed traceried window to gablehead; masonry cross finial to gable apex. Late 20th century single-storey pitched-roofed extension to right incorporating sacristy and linked to presbytery.

S ELEVATION: 8 bays. 6 segmental-arched windows (2 to far right smaller); 2-bay pitched-roof bull-faced masonry porch to far left.

Stained glass to principal windows to E and W and to NW (at sanctuary); diamond panes to secondary windows; boarded timber doors. Pitched roof, grey slates; straight stone skews; gablet skewputts.

INTERIOR: small timber-framed entrance porch with diamond-paned tinted glass panels. Timber beamed and bracketed roof. Pine pews. White marble gothic-style pulpit with cusped panels and green marble colonnettes; white marble altar similar to design of pulpit; small white marble reredos with mosaic and painted panels depicting saints, prominent central pinnacled and columned tabernacle niche; octagonal white marble baptismal font, green columned pedestal; mosaic stations of the cross of similar design to altar mosaics (all installed 1941-1952). Large stained glass windows depicting Nativity to W (1941-1952) and Sermon on the Mount to E by Shonna McInnes (1984-1894); smaller windows to NW depicting Eucharistic themes (1984).

PRESBYTERY: Alexander McNally, 1934. 2-storey, wide 3-bay, rectangular-plan house. Narrow brick-work to ground floor with vertical brick banded cill courses; painted wet-dash 1st storey. W (GARDEN) ELEVATION): wide, full-height canted central 5-light window; flanking bi-partite windows to ground and 1st floors; slightly recessed single-storey pitched bay to far left (former service wing). S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: central brick pilastered and entablatured doorway; 2 small flanking windows; 1st floor bi-partite window centred above; 2-bay single storey extension to right forming later 20th century sacristy. E (REAR) ELEVATION: 7 bays. Regular fenestration; some windows blocked to far right (to former service wing). N ELEVATION: slightly advanced central breaking eaves parapeted doorway with decorative brickwork crucifix above door; bi-partite window to left.

INTERIOR: most original interiors remain with oak veneered and panelled dining room; Art Deco timber chimney pieces; Streamlined brass staircase banister; Art Deco brass ironmongery and some original light fittings. Piended roof; concrete pantiles. 2-pane plastic windows.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND GATES: stepped low coped bull-faced coursed wall with later cast-iron railings and octagonal-plan gatepiers fronting church; low coped tooled bull-faced masonry wall to N boundary.

Statement of Special Interest

The chosen site for St Aloysius was that next to the original chapel school, serving the Roman Catholic community in the small village of Chapelhall, which founded a Catholic parish in 1857. The commission for St Aloysius was completed by the highly important firm of British architects, Pugin & Pugin, who are recognised primarily for their prestigious church commissions throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Under the direction of Peter Paul Pugin (1851-1904 - youngest son of A W N Pugin [1812-1852]), the Pugin & Pugin practice of architects held a virtual monopoly of church building for the archdiocese of Glasgow in latter part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Significantly, St Aloysius is one of the few smaller churches built by the practice at a cost of #2,500. A number of alterations have occurred during the 20th century, including the demolition of the original sacristy and the addition of the E porch (using the stone from the sacristy). However,these alterations have not unduly affected the character of Pugin's composition. Typical of Peter Paul Pugin is the use of texture and massing (e.g. 'A' form of entrance elevation), the unusual tracery patterns and the dominant W (in this case E) fronts.

Peter Paul joined his brother Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875) in practice and after his death in 1875 formed a new firm with his brother Cuthbert Welby Pugin (1840-1928) and G C Ashlin (1837-1921). Peter Paul was in sole charge of the practice after 1880 when C W Pugin and Ashlin left. From this date until he died in 1904, P P Pugin designed circa 28 new churches in Scotland, the bulk of which were executed in the last 10 years of his life. The practice also executed many alterations and refurnishings of existing Scottish Catholic churches, presbyteries, schools, etc. Peter Paul's first commission in Scotland was for St Francis Church and Friary, Cumberland Street, Glasgow (1878 - see separate listing), probably initiating his long-term association with the Glasgow Diocese. This commission coincided with the restoration of the Scottish Catholic Hierarchy of 1878 which coincidentally launched an extensive church and school building programme. However, cementing his relationship with the Glasgow Diocese was his design for St Peter's College, Bearsden (1889 - demolished) through which he developed a close relationship with Archbishop Charles Eyre, who oversaw most of the Pugin & Pugin commissions, including St Aloysius, Chapelhall. St Mary's, Coatbridge is one of a number of Pugin & Pugin churches in the area, including St Augustine, St Peter, and St Mary, Coatbridge (see separate listings). The great rise in population at the end of the century saw the influx of thousands of Irish Catholic immigrants who came to Airdrie and Coatbridge area to work in the numerous local iron and coal manufactures. (The population had almost quadrupled since 1851.) As at St Aloysius, Catholic chapel-schools were first established around the mid 19th century, but once the Catholic population expanded to sustainable numbers towards the end of the century the Glasgow Archdiocese, with the support of resourceful local parish priests were able to provide the religious and educational buildings the community required. (This note was compiled primarily from J Saunders, "Pugin & Pugin and the Diocese of Glasgow".)

The 1934 Moderne presbytery was built following the expansion of St Aloysius school which saw the demolition of the existing presbytery found in the grounds of the school to the S of the church. It is interesting for its detailed brickwork and some fine period interiors, in particular, the veneered dining room.

References

Bibliography

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