Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church and vicarage

Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church and Vicarage

This Grade II listed building comprises a church and attached vicarage, constructed in an eclectic neo-Gothic style using sandstone bricks with buff bricks to the rear elevations and the north-west elevation of the vicarage. The roofs are slate with some fish-scale tiling.

The church is rectangular in plan, aligned south-west to north-east, with its entrance facing onto Upper Brook Street. The vicarage is attached to the north-west, set back from the street frontage.

The church's most distinctive feature is a large polygonal entrance porch with rose windows and a circular window above containing tracery based on an Armenian cross, with stained glass depicting the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet representing 'Father of God'. A gable cross sits above. The nave windows have pointed heads and intersecting tracery; there are two to the north-west and four to the south-east, separated by full-height buttresses and featuring plain leaded glazing. A dentilled eaves cornice runs along these elevations. The rear of the church features a tall semi-circular apse with a rectangular plan ambulatory attached, incorporating polychromatic brickwork to the pointed arch windows and cogged brickwork to the apse eaves.

The vicarage is a two-storey building with attic and basement, comprising two bays. Its main elevation faces south-west, with an entrance to the left flanked by a window above, both set within square-headed, chamfered surrounds. The second bay contains a full-height gable with a dormer, featuring windows at each level: the ground floor has paired windows with side lights, the first floor has paired windows with a stone mullion, and the attic has a single window. All windows and the door are modern, as is an inserted skylight. The north-west gable end is blind. The rear elevation displays scattered windows and a door beneath polychromatic brick segmental heads, though one has been altered; all windows and the door are renewed.

The church interior is open plan except for a lightweight modern draft porch. The nave is simple and whitewashed, with free-standing pews on either side. A low arcaded screen in pitch pine separates the choir from the pews. Ceiling ribs are supported by marble column corbels, with a chandelier hanging from a ceiling rose featuring a foliage-like motif in the central bay. A marble baptism basin occupies the north-west wall. A 2008 memorial on the south-west wall commemorates Armenians who died during the genocide, incorporating a recess housing bone fragments from Syria. At the eastern end, an arch is flanked by two polished marble columns with inscribed bases commemorating their donation by a member of the Turkish Government. The rounded apse contains the high altar on a platform, ornately decorated with twisted columns with Corinthian capitals, gilt detailing, and electric illuminations. A painting of the Madonna and child sits at the centre, though this is not the original. Two niches with marble shelves behind the apse house the Communion vessels. An ambulatory runs around the apse rear, providing access to the altar. Internal access connects the vicarage to the church via a door to the left of the baptism basin.

The vicarage contains a dog-leg stair with stick balusters to the north-west. The ground floor comprises two rooms and a bathroom. The front room accesses the church and retains original plasterwork and a red marble fire surround; rear rooms are largely modernised with a removed fireplace. The first floor front room has been subdivided but retains original plasterwork and a green marble fire surround with grate; a modern bathroom and kitchen have been inserted and the fireplace lost. The attic stairs have been boarded in on the landing, resulting in handrail loss. Attic rooms are entirely modern in character. All doors are four panel; those to the lower two floors have chamfered panels while attic doors are plainer.

A basement, accessed internally via the vicarage stair hall and externally from the front of the church and south-east, houses kitchens and bathrooms to the north-west. The area beneath the church is largely open-plan, with the ambulatory used for storage. Windows are renewed.

The plot is surrounded by a low brick wall with renewed railings. Three sets of chamfered sandstone gate piers with rounded tops are present; the gates themselves are renewed.