Christ Church

Christ Church is a Gothic Revival church built in 1861–2 by Arthur William Blomfield on Crouch End Hill, North London. It was constructed to meet growing Anglican worship needs in this expanding area. The building was expanded and altered over subsequent decades: the South aisle was added in 1867, the steeple in 1873, the West narthex (former baptistry) in 1881, and the North aisle was enlarged by W A Pite in 1906.

The church is constructed of ragstone with limestone dressings. The roofs are slate with crested red clay tile cappings to the ridges. The plan comprises a nave, chancel, North and South aisles, a porch to the Northeast part of the North aisle, a Northeast steeple, a West narthex, and North and South vestries.

The building's architectural style draws from late 13th-century church architecture, freely interpreted for the 19th century. Its most dramatic feature is the Northeast steeple, positioned to the North of the chancel. The tower is three stages tall: the two lower stages are plain, while the third stage, the belfry, features pairs of two-light windows with Geometrical tracery on each face. The spire is of broach type and has a single tier of lucarnes on the cardinal faces at the level of the tops of the broaches. The East window comprises five lights with Geometrical tracery. The aisles, each under their own separate gables, have two-light side windows. Those on the South display unusually detailed, robust plate tracery, while those on the North have more conventional windows verging on plate tracery. The West end has a pair of two-light windows and above them a circular traceried window. The porch is positioned unusually to the Northeast, a placement determined by the church's approach from the East. The chancel is notably short for a church of the 1860s.

The interior was originally decorated with polychrome wall colouration but was whitened in the 1930s, a treatment that obscured Blomfield's strong and characterful design. Even the piers are now painted beige. The nave and aisles are divided by five-bay arcades. The easternmost arch is wider and higher than the others, simulating the opening into transepts. The piers are round with very ornate foliage capitals in the style of circa 1200. The carving was sponsored by individual congregation members; the second capital on the North from the East bears the name of sponsor William Block along with the date 1861. The arches have a small chamfer, and evidence of bare brick whitewashed over exists above them. The four Western bays contain short two-light clerestory windows. The three arches to the West narthex/baptistry have been blocked following the conversion of this area into a chapel in the 1980s. The roof over the nave is arch-braced to a collar; that in the chancel is canted. In the West part of the South aisle, an area has been divided off to create office space.

The principal fixtures are exceptionally fine. The most lavish feature is the reredos and flanking panels, which make extensive use of opus sectile. The reredos depicts Christ in a mandorla flanked by angels, with angels standing under gabled-headed canopies flanking the reredos. The pulpit is a particularly fine piece: round, vigorously detailed with Veronese-style marble panels punctuated by shafts of other marbles, it stands on a small, corbelled-out base. At the East end of the North aisle is a fine tripartite bronze First World War memorial featuring a central figure of a knight by L F Roslyn. The East window contains good stained glass by Lavers and Westlake, dated 1874. The North aisle window depicting Hope and Charity was created by Selwyn Image in 1908.

Arthur William Blomfield (1829–99) was one of the most active and successful church architects of the Gothic Revival. He was the fourth son of Bishop Charles J Blomfield of London (bishop 1828–56). Blomfield was articled to P C Hardwick and began independent practice in London in 1856. Christ Church was his first church in this area, of which he subsequently built many. His early work is characterised by a strong muscular quality and the use of structural polychrome, often with continental influences. He became diocesan architect to Winchester, which secured him numerous church-building commissions throughout the diocese. From 1883 he served as architect to the Bank of England. Blomfield was knighted in 1889 and was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1891.