Roman Catholic Church of St Monica

A Roman Catholic church built in 1935–1936 to designs by Francis Xavier Velarde. The church is constructed of pale buff brick with painted-concrete dressings and a green pantile roof. It exemplifies a Modernist style influenced by the work of German architect Dominikus Böhm.

Setting and Plan

The church stands at the junction of Fernhill Road and Earl Road, north of Derby Park. It is aligned east–west with the entrance at the east end and the sanctuary at the west end. A later detached presbytery lies to the north, connected to the church via an enclosed walkway; both the presbytery and walkway are excluded from the listing. The following description uses liturgical rather than geographical references for orientation.

Exterior

The church is a substantial building, almost cathedral-like in scale. It comprises a nave with aisles, a narthex, a massive wide tower at the west end, and a sanctuary with a north chapel and south organ/choir loft. The nave and sanctuary have pitched roofs (the sanctuary roof being slightly lower in height), whilst the remaining sections have flat roofs with parapets incorporating brick rowlock-course copings. All windows feature square-patterned leaded glazing, most with pale pink and blue coloured glass. All windows except those in the clerestory and the narrow slit windows at the top of the tower have painted-concrete surrounds.

West End and Tower

The west end is formed by a flat-roofed narthex projection with a central entrance. The doorcase incorporates a canted tympanum panel decorated with a carved relief depiction of St Monica, probably by W L Stevenson. The doorway contains square-panel oak doors painted black on the external face but unpainted internally, fitted with slender vertical bronze handles. The entrance is flanked by two-light mullioned windows with angled sills. Below the narthex parapet is a series of seven small stones carved with symbols and a date stone inscribed 'JCF 1936'. A tall metal crucifix surmounts the narthex roof.

Rising above and behind the narthex is a massive west tower lit by exceptionally tall eight-light mullioned and transomed windows arranged in four rows of two, with a zigzag frieze and simple shallow flat hood above. Three windows face west and one window lights each north and south side return. All lights have round-arched heads and each is divided into six leaded panes, a pattern replicated in the church's other windows. Above the west windows are three identical, very tall and slender angel relief sculptures with bowed heads by the sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith. Above the windows on the north and south side returns are fin-like eagle sculptures. The uppermost part of the tower has four narrow slit windows with painted-concrete sills.

The tower is flanked by low flat-roofed north-west and south-west entrance porches. Their doorcases incorporate a zigzag and semi-circular relief frieze to the head, with windows lighting the side returns. Both porches have square-panel entrance doors in the same style as those to the west entrance. The south-west porch is larger than the north-west porch and incorporates a former baptistery, now a shrine.

Nave

The six-bay nave has near full-height aisles to each north and south side, lit by exceptionally tall eight-light mullioned and transomed windows arranged in four rows of two. The two uppermost lights have round-arched heads. The windows have a zigzag frieze above and a shallow flat hood in the same style as those to the tower. The side aisles have flat roofs and square-topped buttresses surmounted by triangular copings that rise above the parapet and connect to the nave roof. Each buttress is pierced transversely by a round-arched opening, forming a series of flying buttresses. Set behind against the nave wall is a clerestory formed of small paired lancet windows.

Sanctuary and Chapels

The sanctuary has a 21-light mullioned and transomed north window arranged in three rows of seven, each light with a round-arched head, and a blind east gable end. Projecting on the south side is a flat-roofed organ/choir loft lit by a similarly styled 12-light mullioned and transomed east window arranged in three rows of four.

A low flat-roofed chapel projects from the north side of the sanctuary with an entrance doorway in the same style as those to the north-west and south-west porches, but containing a single door. To the left of the doorway is a seven-light mullioned window and to the right is a single-light window; both windows have painted-concrete surrounds incorporating angled sills.

At the church's south-east corner is a low flat-roofed vestry and sacristy projection with an eight-light mullioned window with small-paned glazing to the east wall.

Interior

Internally the church has exposed brick walls and doors of waxed oak. The nave, side aisles, north chapel, organ/choir loft and vestry areas have parquet flooring in double herringbone and brick half-bond patterns, with square-basket parquet flooring to the sanctuary. The former baptistery, now a shrine to St Monica, has a green, white and blue patterned terrazzo floor, whilst a plainer terrazzo floor exists in the narthex.

Narthex and Tower

The narthex, which lies at the west end of the church, has been partitioned at each north and south end to create a disabled toilet and a small shop. A large round-arched east opening with glazed metal double doors leads through into the base of the tower and the nave beyond, which are also accessed via the north-west and south-west entrances. The tower has a flat ceiling with ribs arranged in a grid formation. A metal ladder stair with intermediary gantries is located at the north-east corner and provides access to the tower's roof.

On its east side the tower opens to nearly the full width of the nave with a giant round-arched opening. Later structural supports have been added at the arch apex on each east and west side. Located off the north end of the tower is a former baptistery, now a shrine to St Monica, which has a round-arched entrance and chrome Art Deco gates, now painted.

Nave and Aisles

The nave is an exceptionally tall space with a flat ceiling incorporating thin steel ribs that continue across the sanctuary ceiling where they are partly gilded. The original pendant lights were removed and replaced by spotlights, which have since been replaced by pendant lights installed in 2016, brought in from another church and altered to be sympathetic to the interior of St Monica's.

Round-arched arcades exist to each north and south side of the nave and are formed of tall internal buttresses separated by transverse tunnel vaults. The aisles are pierced through the internal buttresses; that to the south is a full aisle, whilst that to the north is a passage aisle only. A shallow clerestory exists above.

Low-relief Eric Gill-style stations of the cross by W L Stevenson adorn the buttresses, whilst large stone angel reliefs affixed to the nave's north and south walls at the east end of the nave arcades are probably also by W L Stevenson. The reliefs are set above low arched openings leading to the north chapel and the vestry and choir loft access on the south side.

Block-like oak bench pews provided by the builders L H and R Roberts exist in the nave and south aisle. Both aisles have radiator recesses containing a mixture of original cast-iron radiators and modern heaters, with narrow chrome mantels to each recess. Confessionals lie towards the west end of the south aisle, each one with square rooflights, now boarded over. One of the confessionals has been knocked through to create access to an enclosed external walkway connecting to the presbytery. The presbytery and walkway are not of special interest and are excluded from the church's listing.

A lady chapel lies at the east end of the south aisle with an altar and a near life-size Eric Gill-style sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, reportedly by W L Stevenson.

Sanctuary Area

At the east end of the nave is a large stepped, T-shaped dais/platform surmounted by a geometric blockwork stone altar and lectern, which were formed from the original altar that was moved forward in the 1980s and reduced in size. An octagonal font lies to the south-west of the altar platform.

North Chapel

A north chapel is accessed through a tall round-arched opening at the east end of the north aisle, and has full-height chrome Art Deco gates, now painted. The chapel is a narrow space with a ribbed barrel-vaulted ceiling and an external doorway in the north wall. The chapel's south wall incorporates a seven-light internal window with round-headed lights and an Art Deco metal grille in the same style as the chapel entrance gates sandwiched between side-hung casements. The window looks through into the sanctuary and lies opposite the chapel's external north window.

At the east end of the chapel is a terrazzo altar platform with a stone altar with metallic red panels to the front, surmounted by a 1938 painted triptych depicting English martyrs. A timber wall panel behind is decorated with gold relief stars and crowns.

Sanctuary

The sanctuary, which lies beyond a squared arch, has Art Deco polished-chrome rails with a terrazzo floor set behind in the same style as that to the narthex. A round-arched doorway on the south side, which leads to the vestry, has a square Art Deco clock mounted to the wall above left. A flight of low grey-marble steps leads up to the main body of the sanctuary, which has an east wall composed of raised off-white panels arranged in a rectangular chequerboard pattern with fluted gold-painted Ionic pilasters. Affixed to the wall are six angel reliefs by W L Stevenson painted gold.

Set to the centre in front of the east wall is the original stepped altar platform with a pedestal made from the original stone altar, which is surmounted by the tabernacle. A high baldacchino above is suspended from the ceiling on metal chains incorporating stars, and has a white, gold and yellow coffered underside incorporating square and eight-pointed star motifs. The baldacchino also incorporates decorative gold finials in the form of pierced roundels containing a star with ribbons set below.

The sanctuary's north window incorporates three black outline drawings of St Gregory, St Augustine and St Aidan on glass by Mrs W G Holford, Rome scholar, which consist of a double layer of glass with the drawing set in between. The south wall of the sanctuary has a massive 21-light unglazed internal mullioned and transomed window in the same style as the external window on the north side of the chancel. An organ/choir loft exists behind, which houses an organ by J W Walker and Sons.

Vestry and Ancillary Spaces

The vestry rooms contain some original built-in cupboards and a small late-20th-century kitchenette. A concrete open-well stair with a metal balustrade leads up to the choir/organ loft and a toilet above, where there is ladder access out onto the roof.