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Preliminary sketch of interior of St Paul's Church Harringay

Architectural Drawing
24/01/1985 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Located in a residential area of Harringay, North London, St Paul’s was designed by Peter Jenkins between 1988 and 1993 to replace a Victorian Gothic Revival church (built 1890-1) which was destroyed by fire on Ash Wednesday 1984.

Jenkins’ church combines traditional liturgical forms with contemporary design. The plan of the church is traditional, being narrow and rectangular with the entrance at the west end and the altar at the east. This was in part dictated by the confines of the site, but also by the church’s Anglo-Catholic liturgical tradition which preferred an axial, processional plan. This traditional plan is in contrast to the majority of contemporary churches, which locate congregations around a central altar in order to emphasise the participatory aspect of the Communion.

In scale, Jenkins’ design echoes that of its Victorian predecessor, which was built to a vast scale, able to seat 900, and visually dominated the area’s skyline. Despite being a much smaller church in capacity, seating just 140, Jenkins has maintained the church’s visual dominance, making it an architectural and spiritual focal point in the surrounding area. This aspect of the design generated serious opposition from the local council, which argued – unsuccessfully – that the new church should blend in with the surrounding architecture.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePreliminary sketch of interior of St Paul's Church Harringay (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink drawing on paper
Brief description
Preliminary sketch of interior of St Paul's Church Harringay, pen and ink drawing, Peter Jenkins, London, 24 January 1985
Physical description
Ink sketch depicting a preliminary rectilinear typological plan of St Paul's Church Harringay, with the west towers contained between the longitudinal diaphragm walls. Also two perspective sketches of the west end showing the organ and organ gallery, here supported by four columns to create a narthex.
Dimensions
  • Height: 100mm
  • Width: 175mm
Marks and inscriptions
24/1/85 (handwritten in ink bottom right)
Credit line
Given by Peter Jenkins
Production
Peter Jenkins was the architect on the project. Drawings were made by the architects of the project team working with Peter Jenkins: John Carter, Bob Edgar, Narendra Gajjar, Tim Godsmark, Terry McCarthy and Honor Thompson.
Subject depicted
Summary
Located in a residential area of Harringay, North London, St Paul’s was designed by Peter Jenkins between 1988 and 1993 to replace a Victorian Gothic Revival church (built 1890-1) which was destroyed by fire on Ash Wednesday 1984.

Jenkins’ church combines traditional liturgical forms with contemporary design. The plan of the church is traditional, being narrow and rectangular with the entrance at the west end and the altar at the east. This was in part dictated by the confines of the site, but also by the church’s Anglo-Catholic liturgical tradition which preferred an axial, processional plan. This traditional plan is in contrast to the majority of contemporary churches, which locate congregations around a central altar in order to emphasise the participatory aspect of the Communion.

In scale, Jenkins’ design echoes that of its Victorian predecessor, which was built to a vast scale, able to seat 900, and visually dominated the area’s skyline. Despite being a much smaller church in capacity, seating just 140, Jenkins has maintained the church’s visual dominance, making it an architectural and spiritual focal point in the surrounding area. This aspect of the design generated serious opposition from the local council, which argued – unsuccessfully – that the new church should blend in with the surrounding architecture.
Bibliographic references
  • Taken from notes by Peter Jenkins (Clare Lodge, Practice Archivist, 25/02/2016) Blue fountain pen ink sketch on 6"x4" punched paper, dated 24/1/85, by PJ showing a preliminary rectilinear typological plan with the west towers contained between the longitudinal diaphragm walls. Also two perspective sketches of the west end showing the organ and organ gallery, here supported by four columns to create a narthex. The gallery staircase in this version is in the south rather than the north tower as built and the font is on the south side of the narthex. In this small church with seating for a congregation of 140 people it was considered that the narthex had to be closely integrated with the nave for processional rites and additional seating for weddings, funerals and worship at the festivals of Christmas and Easter. In larger traditional churches the narthex is sometimes separated from the nave and related to the public realm of the parish, serving as a lobby or porch for the social interaction of parishioners as they come and go from services.
  • Seeley, John, 'Phoenix Rising, St Paul's, Harringay' in Church Building (Summer 1990), p. 45
  • 'Clare Melhuish reports on the new church' in Church Building (Summer 1990), pp. 46-47
  • 'Detail: St Paul's, Harringay by Peter Inskip & Peter Jenkins' in Architecture Today, 17 (April 1991), pp. 88-89
  • Glancey, Jonathan, 'A temple of simplicity to soothe the soul', in The Independent, Wednesday 4 August 1993, p.13
  • Dorment, Richard, 'Putting high art above the altar', in The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, August 25, 1993, p. 12
  • Maxwell, Robert, 'Sacred Space: Inskip and Jenkins in Haringey' in Architecture Today, 43 (November 1993), pp. 36-41
  • 'New Church of St Paul, Harringay (GB)' in Eurozinc (1993), p. 13.
  • 'St Paul's Harringay, Review by Clare Melhuish and Michael Jones-Frank' in Church Building, Issue 28 (July/August 1994), pp. 31-33
  • 'Spiritual Elevation, St Paul's Church, Wightman Road, Harringay, London N4', in Brick Bulletin (Autumn, 1994), pp. 18-20
Other number
STP (A) 49 - Previous owner's number
Collection
Accession number
E.101-2022

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Record createdMay 16, 2019
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