Church Of St Gabriel

SUNDERLAND

NZ35NE SAINT GABRIEL'S AVENUE 920-1/4/206 (East side) 08/05/50 Church of St Gabriel

GV II

Formerly known as: Church of St Gabriel CHESTER ROAD. Parish church. 1912. By CA Clayton Greene. Snecked tooled limestone with ashlar plinth and dressings; roof of graduated Lakeland slate with stone copings. Aisled chancel with E undercroft, and N vestry with organ chamber over; aisled nave with transepts; W vestibule and porch. Art Nouveau modification of Tudor style. EXTERIOR: E gable has large 8-light window with 2 principal mullions high in wall over 4 deep-set 3-light stone mullioned windows; octagonal stair turrets at sides have set-back at level of E window sill, string at eaves level and squat turrets above with blind traceried panels; aisles have low-pitched gables, 2 undercroft windows and single light at outer edge above. N and S elevations have 2-light mullioned windows, plain below and the upper with tracery under straight heads. Raised crossing behind transepts has paired N and S windows; transepts have large N and S windows and smaller traceried windows in E walls; smaller windows also in nave aisles, with 4-centred-arched doors at W ends. W one-storey porch has 4-centred arch with hollow chamfered surround, stiff-leaf ornament, and wide overlight, flanked by paired 2-light windows with ogee heads. High 8-light W window. Buttresses, octagonal at E and W aisles, shallow and paired to transepts and aisles, angle to crossing, tall and shallow to chancel above aisles. All tracery curvilinear between full-height mullions; all gables and parapets have hollow-moulded coping. INTERIOR shows probable influence of St Andrew, Roker (qv) in use of large nave piers to allow aisles beneath; very wide nave; large crossing piers; roof trusses of kingpost and tie beam over windows, of raised cruck-shapes between, all on stone corbels. Panelled sanctuary with high quality oak furnishings; Small rooms with half-glazed screens flank W entrance; W passage has panelled doors with patterned glazed strips of bevelled glass; groined ceiling. Stained glass in E window by Marion D Grant. Watercolour hanging in W passage shows church as planned, with octagonal crossing tower with needle spire. (Corfe T and Milburn G: Buildings and Beliefs: Sunderland: 1984-: 33).

Listing NGR: NZ3792156365