Akeman Street Baptist Chapel

Akeman Street Baptist Chapel

This Grade II listed chapel faces east on sloping ground above street level. The building comprises an original 1832 structure with a square plan under a pyramid roof, together with a school hall added to the rear (west) elevation in 1897, and a single-storey extension added to the south side of the hall in the 1970s to provide lavatory facilities.

The façade is constructed of red brick with purple and brown brick side and rear elevations and bright orange-red brick dressings, under slate-clad roofs. The east-facing symmetrical façade is three windows wide, divided by four full-height brick pilasters, with a purple and brown brick moulded plinth. A central entrance rises up a flight of six stone steps, semi-circular on plan with round nosings. The recessed entrance is beneath a round arch of rubbed brick and has double-leaf, eight-panelled doors with panelled infill above. A stone tablet above the entrance is inscribed: 'ERECTED 41 by 35ft. 1808 REBUILT 51ft. SQre 1832'. The entrance is flanked by segmental arched three-over-three pane sash windows with wide middle panes, set in round arched recesses of rubbed brick. The three first-floor round-headed windows have a radial pattern of small panes with timber glazing bars. All window arches are of rubbed brick. The north and south elevations have the same composition and fenestration as the façade except that the ground-floor middle bays are lit by windows, and the south side has been rendered.

The rear section comprises a double-height school hall flanked by lower two-storey wings. The three-bay hall is divided by four brick pilasters and lit by three double-height, multi-paned windows with segmental arched upper sections under brick heads with Bath stone keystones. It is surmounted by a pedimented gable edged with moulded brick, with an entablature beneath that breaks forward with the pilasters. The central doorway has a late twentieth-century fire door. The two-bay flanking wings have two-over-four-pane sash windows on the ground and first floors, all under segmental arch heads, with those on the first floor directly under the eaves. They have corner pilasters and a dentilled brick cornice.

On the north side of the school hall is a small projection accommodating the staircase, with clasping pilasters and a pedimented gable edged with moulded brick. Each face is lit by a semi-circular arched window with a radial pattern of small panes under a semi-circular keyed brick arch. There is a string course at impost level and a moulded brick cornice. A prominent flat-roofed porch on the east side of this projection, added around 1908, is constructed of red brick with regular stone banding. It has a moulded three-centred arch doorway with alternating stone voussoirs and stone impost mouldings flanked by corbelled pilasters, surmounted by a moulded stone cornice and stone-capped brick parapet. The double-leaf door has three raised and fielded panels.

Interior

The principal east entrance opens into a small panelled lobby giving access to flanking quarter-turn timber steps leading up to the gallery. The lobby, probably modified in the 1900s, is separated by a draught screen from the double-height chapel, which has a first-floor tiered gallery around the north, east and south sides. The chapel has vertical timber cladding to dado height and exposed timber floorboards with two ducts running east-west with perforated iron grilles. Fixed pews, probably dating to the third quarter of the nineteenth century, are laid out in rows in front of the pulpit and either side of two central aisles. They are made of stained and varnished pine, flush with the floor, with backs of vertical tongue and groove boards and stepped moulded ends with chamfered corners. Those along the central aisles have brass umbrella handles.

The rostrum, dating to around 1908, is of stained and varnished pine with vertical panelling on the lower half and square panelling above, continuing around the sides and on the reredos. It is accessed by flanking staircases with turned balusters and square newel posts embellished with small panels. Doors either side of the rostrum give access to the school hall; the construction of which necessitated blocking two windows above. The south-east corner has been partitioned to form a small vestry.

The gallery is supported by timber columns, painted white, probably original as later pews have been fitted around them. The gallery, rebuilt around 1908, has a balustrade of timber uprights interspersed between undulating iron rails with a moulded timber handrail. Five tiers of fixed pine pews, stained and varnished, are laid out on the north, south and east sides; the front three rows of pews on the east side are curved. They have backs of vertical tongue and groove boards, higher than those on the ground floor, and stepped ends with chamfered corners. A large organ, added around 1901, is located on the east side of the gallery, encased in timber panelling of the same finish as the pews. It has three groups of pipes above and bears a plaque inscribed: 'Alfred Kirkland, Organ Builder, 113, Cottenham Road, London. N.'. The ceiling has a number of decorative circular ventilation grilles.

The double-height school hall has a canted ceiling with two plain timber trusses, vertical timber cladding to dado height, and parquet flooring. It is galleried on the north, east and south sides with a decorative iron balustrade and vertical cladding on the soffit, supported on the east side by a cast-iron pillar. On the ground floor there are two rooms on the north side and three on the south side. Those on the north side have corner fireplaces with plain timber surrounds; the fireplace in the west room is decorative cast-iron, whilst that in the east room has been boarded over. The rooms on the south side can be opened up to the hall by a series of full-height timber roller shutters, by which means the east room can also be partitioned to form two rooms. All rooms in the hall retain their panelled doors.

The gallery is accessed via a dog-leg staircase with elaborate cast-iron balusters and polished oak handrail, with vertical timber cladding to dado height. There are two rooms on the north side and one long room on the south side which can be partitioned to form three rooms by timber roller shutters. All rooms have fixed panelled timber shutters, the middle section of which can be opened up to the gallery for light and ventilation. Two of the rooms have decorative cast-iron corner fireplaces with plain stone surrounds, whilst the third has been blocked up. Large store cupboards have been added on the east side in the 1970s.