Former Church of St Luke is a Grade I listed building in the Islington local planning authority area, England. First listed on 29 December 1950. Church. 13 related planning applications.
Former Church of St Luke
- WRENN ID
- tall-truss-acorn
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Islington
- Constituency
- Islington South and Finsbury MP: Emily Thornberry (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 29 December 1950
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Former Church of St Luke, Old Street, EC1V 9NG
- OS grid reference
- TQ 323 824
- Coordinates
- 51.52521, -0.09401
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The former Church of St Luke, now a ruin, was built between 1727 and 1733. The authorship of the design is disputed, with the main body of the church possibly by John James and the west tower, spire, and flanking staircase wings attributed to Nicholas Hawksmoor. The church is constructed with brick facing ashlar and stucco. Originally, the church comprised a chancel, nave, aisles, and a west tower with a spire and flanking staircase wings. Now, only the outer walls of the chancel, nave, and aisles remain. The east end features a central Palladian window set upon a slightly projecting plinth, with a lower square window featuring a plain architrave and double keystone, and an upper round-arched window, also with a plain architrave and double keystone, on either side. The north and south elevations display corresponding upper and lower windows across five bays. The easternmost bay on the north side incorporates a single-storey stuccoed vestry, while the corresponding bay on the south side has an entrance with an architrave and floating cornice. A dentil cornice runs along the top. The staircase wings each have entrances to their south and north sides, featuring an architrave, floating cornice, and an oculus above. Their western sides have a square window with a plain architrave, double keystone, and oculus above, with a moulded eaves cornice. The tower's base has a round-arched west entrance with an archivolt and keystone framed by pilasters supporting an entablature with a triglyph frieze, and an oculus above. There is a storey band, and large oculi on three sides where the tower fronts the body of the church. The bellstage has round-arched openings, followed by another oculus stage, and finally a fluted obelisk spire. The remaining interior consists of a domed vestibule beneath the tower and staircases within the side wings.
Local climate
Former Church of St Luke sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 5 transactions since 2013
- Related listed building consents — 13 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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