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Summary

Description

Ross, Doak and Whitelaw, 1955-7. Roughly Z-plan, 'Festival of Britain Style' church, comprised of double height, rectangular-plan church to N with double height, rectangular-plan hall adjoined perpendicular to S and 2-storey, rectangular-plan small hall and church officer's accommodation adjoined to W of halls; single storey entrance hall block to NW re-entrant angle; on a corner site adjacent to a post-war housing estate. Church with exposed aggregate concrete base course and cavity brick walls with brown and grey facing bricks in stretcher bond; slate window surrounds. Church halls and church officer's accommodation predominantly brick at ground floor with cement render above; terrazzo cills. 'Festival of Britain' Style interior decorative scheme including distinctive tiling to entrance vestibule.

W (WESTER HAILES ROAD) ELEVATION: church to left; canted with full-height Broughton Moor slate cladding panels section to centre flanked by single glazed strip. 7-bay church hall to right of church; advanced ground floor with glazed panel to outer left incorporating stained glass light and N return with pair of entrances in concrete surround; concrete panel with figurative relief carving to right of entrances (see NOTES). 2-storey, advanced gable to far right (small hall and church officer's accommodation); N return with deeply recessed vestibule with distinctive-patterned, square, coloured and glazed tiles; entrance doors to returns.

N (CALDER ROAD) ELEVATION: church with full-height, wide, canted glazed section to centre, composed of narrow opaque lights. Chancel stepped back to far left with full height glazing separated by timber fins.

E ELEVATION: chancel wall with brick in enlarged basket weave bond and advanced brick detail. Open sections to top left at belfry. Slightly advanced single storey, flat roofed block to left (garage and session room).

S (SIGHTHILL LOAN) ELEVATION: 2 storey, 3 bays to far left (small hall and church officer's accommodation) with linear glazing at ground floor and recessed vestibule to right with doors to return. Double-height brick gable to left (church hall); 4-bay return to E with multipane glazed clerestory and bays separated by square concrete columns. Church, set back and to right of church hall, with geometric glazed saw-toothed clerestory and reinforced concrete belfry to right; advanced single storey section at ground with 2-leaf timber entrance doors with sidelight and fanlights set within recess to right

INTERIOR: (seen 2013). 'Festival of Britain Style' decorative scheme throughout characterised by original timber fixtures and fittings, hardwood and softwood flooring to church, halls and session room and terrazzo tiles to circulation areas. Church with timber pews, square pulpit and chancel wall with coloured relief panelling representing the tearing of the temple veil; unusual choir and organ gallery to W supported on a pair of chamfered concrete supports and independent of the W wall to appear as free-standing, raked seating and slatted timber balustrade to gallery; roof supported by painted concrete bison beams and square pilasters. Large hall with vertically boarded timber to dado and S gable wall. Inner vestibule doors (from S elevation) timber with coloured glazed insets. Original door furniture.

Bespoke metal frames to church and large church hall; casement windows to other sections. Pitch roof, copper sheet; tall and slender ventilator, ridge finial to church.

Statement of Special Interest

Place of worship in use as such. St Nicholas Church is a good and rare example of a Festival of Britain Style church building, characterised by its varied used of materials and unusual detailing. This detailing includes abstract glazing, brick work detail to the chancel, slate cladding emphasising the canted sections and distinctive tiling to an entrance vestibule. Building materials were restricted following the Second World War until 1953 and the design of the church embraces the lifting of these restrictions. Internally the church retains many of its original fixtures and fixtures. The open-plan design demonstrates the move to a less hierarchical form of worship occurring during this period following the principles of the contemporary Liturgical Movement, exemplified in Basil Spence's Coventry Cathedral. The church is prominently located on a corner site on the northern edge of a post war housing estate and adjacent to a principal thoroughfare for those entering the city of Edinburgh.

The building was designed by Archibald Mackintosh Doak and Alexander Robertson Whitelaw in a competition judged by the eminent architect Robert Matthew, Church of Scotland Architect Harry Taylor and Reverend Professor JG Riddell. Doak and Whitelaw were working for Keppie and Henderson at the time, but after winning the competition they established the new practice of Ross, Doak and Whitelaw, with David John Alexander Ross. Their other churches include St Mary's, Drumry, Glasgow (1954-7) and Garthamlock and Craigend Church, Glasgow (1955-7), which is now demolished.

Held in 1951 the Festival of Britain was a nationwide programme of events to celebrate Britain's contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts and put forward an optimistic and progressive view of Britain's future, especially in the aftermath of WWII. The centrepiece of the festival was the exhibition around the south bank of the Thames, London, and the only permanent building erected was the Royal Festival Hall by Leslie Martin, Peter Moro and Robert Matthew of the London County Council Architects' Department. Modernist architecture was at the forefront of the Festival and was influential in the design of the buildings which followed it. The Festival Style for church architecture is rare but is evident at Christ Church, Coventry (1954-58) by Alfred Gardner.

The brief for the new building was for a church designed to hold 450, a church hall for 300 and of a height sufficient to play badminton, as well as ancillary rooms including a small hall, 3-bedroom quarters for the church officer and a session house. The building is also known as the Children's Church, because every Sunday school child in Scotland was challenged to give a penny per quarter to raise money for its construction. This appeal raised £51,000 and the building was officially opened on 9th September 1957. Adjacent to the principal entrance is a commemorative concrete panel with figurative reliefs of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, and the gifts of money from children.

References

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