Church Of St Luke

The Church of St Luke is a parish church constructed between 1953 and 1954. The designs were by Arthur Campbell Martin, and completed after his death by Milner and Craze. The church is built of red brick with limited stone decoration, featuring a concrete vault and roofs which are not visible. It sits near a cruciform plan, encompassing a nave, broad transepts, and a chancel arranged around a central, square, domed crossing. The building has pronounced corner angles, with one corner forming a porch and another featuring a semi-domed apse flanked by a vestry and Lady chapel. The architectural style is Byzantine, reminiscent of the 1930s rather than the austere modernism of the early 1950s. Stone cornices adorn the chancel and Lady chapel, the former topped with a cross, while narrow, round-headed lancet windows are set within brick surrounds, some appearing in pairs or groups—five to the nave. Longer windows are present in the transepts and feature double-curved heads. Stone architraves frame the apse windows, and a long, blind lancet is located on the west side. The main entrance is from the south, accessed through a double round-headed porch with a central stone column and cushion capital, leading to simple double timber doors. A foundation stone reads “LAUS DEO, 28th March 1953.”

The interior is characterized by its height and spaciousness. The three-bay nave has narrow aisles defined by round arches and columns with cushion capitals. An organ is located in a recess at the west end, alongside an octagonal font with shallow moulding and a matching cover, and original chairs. Narrow passage aisles extend through the chancel, connected by an ambulatory around the transepts, demarcated by arched openings and paired arched openings positioned between paired columns. The chancel includes choir stalls and steps leading to a timber altar rail. The original altar in the sanctuary features a high reredos with a tester. Stained glass windows in the East windows were created by D Marion Grant in 1956, while those in the Lady chapel are by Robert Hendra, dating to 1962. The Lady chapel is accessed from the angle of the south transept, marked by giant columns at its entrance and mural decoration on the East wall. The windows in the Lady chapel are set in pairs between smaller columns in a similar style.

The church’s columns and cushion capitals contribute to a dainty and charming feel, complementing the strongly massed structure and its prevalent round-arched motif. The original St Luke's church was built in 1876-7 from designs by J E K Cutts, but was later destroyed by bombing. Arthur Campbell Martin had previously designed St Olave's in Mitcham in 1931. He is recognized for his work on St Luke's in Milber, Devon, which was designed for his younger brother, Reverend Keble Martin, who is credited with conceiving its Byzantine plan—including an apse and angled transepts of equal size to the nave—in a dream. The Milber church was constructed based on Martin’s designs between 1931 and 1963, acting as a model for the larger St Luke's in Camberwell. Arthur Martin (1875-1963) also remodelled the chapel at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and served as architect to the Duchy of Cornwall from 1927 to 1952. This church represents his most important post-war project.