St Christopher's Church
Round Green, Luton
Church Construction
May
1936
The first plans have been issued for the new St. Christopher’s Church,
which the children of the diocese are providing for the Round Green District.
Except for a small modification in length, they show the final design.
It is hoped to lay the foundation stone in June or July. The architect,
Professor A. E. Richardson, F.R.I.B.A., has combined simplicity and a
low cost with a design imposing enough to dominate the hill-top. The church
will be in domestic Gothic with a low, sloping roof and wide, slightly
pointed windows. The spire is modelled in that of Amiens Cathedral, and
its tapered fleche will be visible all over Luton. It is proposed to build
the nave as a separate section before completing the church. The nave
alone will hold over two hundred people and cost £4,000; it should
be finished by the beginning of next year.
“We
are very much more pleased with the present design,” the Rev. Gerald
Hawker told a “News” reporter
The only modification proposed is in length. It has always been intended
that the new church should stand parallel with the existing building,
leaving space for a vicarage between, but the site measures only 132ft.,
while the new church is 132ft. by 140 ft
The only way it could be accommodated is diagonally from Felix Avenue
to Stockingstone Road, which would be a waste of space and leave no room
for a vicarage. The church will therefore be slightly shortened. It is
hoped that a Luton firm will secure the contract when tenders are invited.
The style would be ‘domestic Gothic', it would be cruciform in shape with a thin spire “to crown the hilltop”, and its most appealing features were the big windows set in warm coloured brick.
For
various reasons, especially the outbreak of
World War II in September 1939, within three years these plans were to
be modified but the building of the nave would start soon and the children
would be involved in this.
Sketch of the final design for
St Christopher's Church, Round Green
Sketch and a model of the original design for St Christopher's.
This design rather resembled that of Cambridge College Chapel, with no spire, a high roof and an elaborate system of buttresses. The cost of this was however, prohibitive, and it was not considered very suitable for a “children's church”,
Children
helping to unload bricks
from a lorry.
View from 'inside' the church looking
at the base of one of the arches.
Building took place during the winter of
1936/37 so newly laid bricks were covered to protecte them from frost
damage.
Constructing the wall on the
south side.
Note the use of arch formers for the window arches.
These photographs show the wooden arch former in position with the brickwork started. This supported the bricks until the arch was completed. Then it could be removed leaving the arch to support itself. The former was then used again for the next arch.
Growing again in 1959
The architect said that if the church was completed to the original plans i.e. cruciform, that is with transepts and a choir, plus a steeple, the cost would be £30,000. It will be remembered that in 1937 the total cost had been estimated at £10,000. Inflation, caused by time and war, had taken its toll.
With regret the plans had to be modified, and were reduced to the plain addition of choir and two vestries. This was to cost £6,000 - £7,000.
The following photographs show the building of the extension to the church in 1959.
The original vestry was removed and the line of the building continued with a new choir and vestries built behind the east wall.
The feint shadow of the original vestry can still be seen inside the church today.
The wooden former for the brick arches was either kept somewhere after the original construction, or was re-made for the purpose.
© Luton St Christopher 2008