Church Of St John The Baptist (Greek Orthodox)

Church of St John the Baptist (Greek Orthodox)

Wightman Road, Harringay

This church, formerly known as the Church of St Peter, was designed between 1896 and 1898 by the architectural practice Brooks and Son (James Brooks, 1825-1901, and his son James M, 1852 or 1853-1903). The chancel and transepts were added between 1903 and 1905 by Brooks, Son and Godsell (George Herbert being the additional partner). The building replaced an iron mission church erected in 1884 that had served as a chapel of ease to the parish church of Hornsey. It was funded through the Incorporated Church Building Society and the sale of seats.

The church is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, those at ground level being painted. The roofs are tiled. The building exemplifies the Arts and Crafts Gothic style, though its symmetrical detailing creates a strongly regular rhythm. The exterior presents a plain appearance that belies the richness found within. The nave and chancel are distinguished only by the buttressed east gable of the nave, which slightly breaks the roof line. A clerestory runs the length of the church, comprising pairs of square-headed windows with twin lights, except on the chancel's south side where they are larger with transoms. The aisles are buttressed and feature large four-light windows with dropped tracery under hood moulds with head stops. The south transept has a transverse gable with parapet. The east window contains seven lights with transoms and panelled tracery, while the west window has four lights with bands of dropped tracery. Twin west towers of two stages are topped by a further polygonal stage crowned with slated spires that are somewhat disproportionately small, giving the façade a slightly unfinished appearance, though this was the architect's original intention. The church forms a group with an adjacent red brick vicarage, also designed by Brooks in 1899-1900, and there is an undistinguished stock brick church hall to the east.

The Plan consists of a five-bay aisled nave, a chancel with a north chapel, a south organ chamber, and southeast vestries. A lower pent-roofed west porch spans the width of the nave and aisles, with two west doors opening into the west end of the nave and two into the west ends of the aisles.

The interior is spacious and lofty. Originally the walls were exposed brick, but these were plastered around 1987 to accommodate wall paintings. The nave comprises five bays continuing into a two-bay north chancel arcade, with a single arched entrance to the transept on the south. A timber barrel vault with trusses rests on short corbelled posts. The nave arcades have moulded arches without capitals on polygonal piers. The chancel arcades are similar but enriched with fleurons, now gilded. The west end includes a narthex allowing the four entrance doors to function properly. The chancel arch is very high and wide, springing from a single slender detached shaft, now gilded. Painted details have been used to create additional architectural articulation, including a string course below the clerestory.

The principal fixtures and fittings include extensive wall paintings by Eleftherios Foulides, a well-known Greek icon painter born in 1948. These paintings, begun in 1987 and nearly complete by 2009, cover virtually every surface of the church in a traditional Orthodox style executed in a bright pastel palette with considerable use of gilding. The monumental figures follow Orthodox iconographic conventions. Nearly all of the 19th and early 20th-century fittings have been retained and many have been painted by Foulides. The font features foiled arches on stiff leaf capitals in Westminster Abbey style. The pulpit displays late Arts and Crafts tracery panels. A timber screen to the north chapel exhibits Arts and Crafts Gothic tracery with each panel differing from the next. Sedilia with three seats under arched cinque-foiled ogee heads stand in the chancel, now positioned in the Holy of Holies behind the iconostasis. The north chapel's northeast window contains a three-light stained glass memorial to George Gunnell, killed at Ypres in 1918, depicting a crucifixion with figures set against rich foliage backgrounds. The pews are simple late 19th-century wooden benches with shaped ends. A marble floor forms part of the Greek Orthodox refitting. An enormous gilt iconostasis, enormous gilt chandeliers, and numerous other furnishings have been imported from Greece.

In the early 20th century the church enjoyed a good congregation, and the extensions of 1903-1905 provided seating for over 1,000 people. The building was damaged during the Second World War and subsequently fell into disrepair. The congregation merged with Christ Church, West Green, Tottenham in 1977, and the church became redundant in 1978. The Greek Orthodox community took over the building in 1983, serving the large local Cypriot community among others. The church was repaired and refurnished to suit the new style of worship. By 2009, it again had regular Sunday congregations of 1,000, with attendance reaching up to 1,500 on feast days.