The Finnish Church Including Attached Tower

The Finnish Church, now a community centre and church, was built between 1956 and 1958 by Cyril Mardall of Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall. It is constructed with Portland stone cladding, reinforced concrete, and black slate cladding to the tower. The building has a very low-pitched roof. It comprises a three-storey front block and a double-height church behind the front rooms, with the church opening onto a reading room at ground level and a dining room at the first-floor (gallery) level, with living quarters in the top storey. A six-stage tower is attached to the left side at the rear. The front of the building has six bays, five of which are grouped with fully glazed openings within a Portland stone frame. These openings feature metal-framed windows with unequal lights, grey spandrel panels below, and individual vertical metal balustrades above the ground floor. A further bay is separated and recessed to the right, incorporating vertical metal balconies at both levels. The left return reveals the six-stage tower, which has solid grey slate sides and open stages to the front and rear, above a closed ground floor. The top stage has vertical metal slats, and the tower has a low-pitched roof.

Inside, the double-height church has galleries to the liturgical west and south, and the liturgical east wall is clad in green riven slate flags with an inscribed cross. Square-headed windows are at upper and lower levels to the north side. The simple sanctuary is raised by a step and features a thick, light timber altar table supported on matching stone uprights. The original altar rail is of black metal with a delicate twig and leaf pattern. The original organ is located within the gallery on the south side. A timber folding screen of dark hardwood veneer is at the west end, beneath the gallery, opening onto the reading room. This area includes a freestanding stone fireplace with a staircase climbing around the stack in two flights at a non-orthogonal angle, rising two storeys. A similar folding screen at gallery level can separate social areas from the church. The simple balustrade is constructed of black metal verticals and a timber handrail. A basement sauna was designed by June Park, the architect wife of Cyril Mardall. The building is considered an attractive and well-designed example of an unusual building type.