Roman Catholic Italian Church Of St Peter And Presbytery

The Roman Catholic Italian Church of St Peter and its presbytery, located at 136 Clerkenwell Road, were built between 1862 and 1863 by architect John Miller Bryson, based on an earlier design from 1853 by Francesco Gualandi. The church features a loggia and a campanile, added by Francis W Tasker in 1891. The exterior of the church is mostly concealed but is constructed of grey stock brick reinforced with hoop iron. The red-brick front facing Clerkenwell Road showcases a stucco-faced loggia in the quattrocento style, which includes two open round arches and three niches with statues, including one of St Peter. Above this, the upper storey is designed in the English Renaissance style with stucco dressings and a pediment that encloses papal arms. Inside the loggia, there is a vaulted roof, wooden panelled doors, and memorials dedicated to the First World War and the Arandora Star.

The interior of the church follows a basilican plan inspired by San Crisogono in Rome, featuring an unfinished nave with six bays, aisles, transepts, and three apses facing west. The nave is supported by an Ionic colonnade made of stone, painted to resemble marble, which carries an entablature topped by a round-arched tribune that was previously open, along with a clerestory. There are round arches leading to the chancel and the apsidal sanctuary. A baldacchino with marble columns is positioned over the high altar. An organ is located at the west end on a gallery, flanked by piers topped with urns, installed by Mssrs Walker in 1959, incorporating earlier elements. The church features painted decorations created by two Piedmontese artists, Arnaud and Gauthier, between 1885 and 1886, though these have been altered since the 1950s, losing the surrounding painted architectural framework that once enclosed them. The presbytery, also designed by Bryson but completed by Wylson and Long between 1862 and 1865, is styled in an Italianate manner with stucco dressings, and its windows were replaced in the late 20th century.