Church Of St Sarkis (Armenian Church)

Church of St Sarkis (Armenian Church), Iverna Gardens, Kensington

This Armenian church was built in 1922-23 by the architectural firm Mew's & Davis, led by Arthur Davis. It was commissioned by the oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian, who funded construction on condition that the church be dedicated to the memory of his parents, designed in traditional Armenian style, and run by an established board of trustees. The spiritual leader Dr Abel Abrahamian had initiated the project after the Armenian community in London, previously concentrated in Manchester, required a dedicated place of worship. Holloway Bros. undertook the construction, and the church opened in January 1923, with a neighbouring vicarage built at the same time. Additions were made in 1937 (an apsidal baptistery on the north side and new entrance) and 1950 (a sacristy), with Mew's & Davis continuing as architects throughout. The church's decoration was undertaken by Paul Turpin. The building is closely modelled on the bell-tower of the monastery of St Haghpat in Armenia.

Externally, the church is constructed of Portland stone, including the roof. It follows a Greek Cross plan with a distinctive three-stage exterior in Armenian style. The upper stage comprises a seven-sided open belfry featuring round-headed moulded arches with chunky capitals, moulded gables to the conical roof (a characteristic feature of Armenian style), and a cruciform finial set on a drum at the octagonal crossing. The intermediate stage is octagonal, with the four main gables of the crossing each having paired round-arched windows between squat colonnettes, and tiny pierced oculi in each gable apex. The roofs are of banded ashlar, an unusual feature copying the Armenian prototype. These bays are linked by narrow lower similarly gabled bays forming the octagon and set above deep, decoratively moulded squinches, another typical Armenian feature. At ground level, the main entrance bay on the west is square in plan with a similarly gabled banded roof, while the transept and apses on other sides are polygonal with each face separately gabled.

The entrance frontage has a tall wide square-headed concave outer moulding to a round-arched doorway, in which is set a square-headed door with simple moulded orders. The tympanum carries an inscription in English recording the church's foundation by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian in memory of his parents "during the patriarchate of His Holiness George V Catholicos of All Armenians...in the Armenian Era 1372". Rising from the frame and filling the gable apex is an unusual window, copied from its Armenian prototype, featuring a stepped surround extending into quatrefoils to a deeply set lancet. The double doors are of wood, intricately carved in shallow relief with an interlace pattern. The side apses each contain a single simply deeply recessed round-arched window above a square-headed doorway, with an inscription in Armenian above the northern door.

A later south-east sacristy extension is constructed in the same style.

Internally, the church is faced in Stuc (applied stone aggregate), painted and scored, contrasting with grey clustered crossing piers supporting a shallow, unadorned saucer dome. Antae support the main arches, with attached columns carrying the outer orders, all featuring Byzantine-style capitals. Window and door surrounds are of grey material; the main entrance has a wide rectangular outer band of interlace, and round-arched doorways to the side doors feature slender shafts and tiny bulbous capitals. A carved foliage band defines the window arches and continues at impost level around three sides, excluding the piers.

The fixtures and fittings are of exceptional quality. A marble relief carving of a dove descending as the Holy Spirit stands in front of the stoup or font. A fine tiered electrolier of black and gilded metal with mock candles, made by the French firm Baguès, hangs in the interior. The high east platform is fronted by a marble panel decorated with shallow relief quatrefoils, with steps at each side. The baldacchino and altar set in the semi-circular apse is constructed of alabaster and marble inset with onyx and lapis lazuli, featuring gilded capitals on the columns, a sunburst over a painting of the Virgin and Child, and gilded relief carving of angels in the gable—it was produced by the Bromsgrove Guild. Radiators have decorative metal grilles, inner swing doors are leather-covered, and the church contains monuments to members of the Gulbenkian family. Following Eastern Orthodox tradition, there are no pews; later chairs were added instead.

This is a very rare example in England of an Armenian church, of particular architectural interest due to its distinctive design and the notable architects involved. The exterior is highly unusual, and the interior is finely appointed.