Roman Catholic Church of St Anselm

Roman Catholic Church of St Anselm

This church was built between 1932 and 1933 to designs by architect J B Mendham. The style blends Classical, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Mudejar influences. The attached parish halls to the rear were added in 1988 by Michelmore Associates and are not of special interest.

The building is constructed of red brick with white stone dressings to the north elevation facing Balham High Road, while the south elevation is of stock brick. The east and west sides are completely concealed by adjoining buildings. The roofs are slate with a copper-clad dome.

The church plan comprises five bays with a parish hall below. A west narthex leads into the nave and aisles of three bays, with a central octagonal dome. The eastern bay contains the sanctuary with flanking chapels.

The north elevation to Balham High Road is the principal facade, combining Classical, Mudejar and Gothic styles across five bays. The central bay features a stone balustraded parapet with above it a stock brick octagonal cupola crowned with a copper dome. The penultimate bays project under hipped roofs, while the end bays are recessed. At the centre is a large statue of St Anselm beneath an elaborate canopy, standing above a plinth bearing the Chi Rho symbol flanked by palms. Above the statue is a small quatrefoil opening, with narrow lancets featuring similar canopies on either side. The penultimate bays have matching quatrefoil openings and windows. Across the three central bays runs a stone frieze inscribed in Roman lettering: "DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO IN HONOREM SANCTI ANSELMI ARCHIESCOPI CANTUARIENSIS". A wide stone band at the level of the statue plinth incorporates six small elliptical arched openings that light the parish hall below. A low brick boundary wall stands in front, interrupted at the west end where steps ascend to the main entrance through a Classical Corinthian doorcase with broken segmental pediment bearing the papal arms and the date 1933. A plainer stone entrance is located at the east end.

The south elevation facing Tooting Bec Road is plainly treated in stock brick and is largely obscured by the 1988 parish halls.

Internally, the west entrances lead into a narrow narthex with grey brick arches and low plastered groin vaults supporting a choir and organ gallery above. At the centre of the narthex is a canted recess flanked by stone columns with Romanesque capitals, probably inspired by the capitals in St Anselm's crypt at Canterbury Cathedral. The recess is top-lit with iron gates and was probably originally used as a baptistery.

A polished hardwood door opens into the main nave, which consists of two large square bays separated by grey brick piers with transverse arches. The first bay is barrel-vaulted with half columns and capitals to half-height, suggesting an intended gallery. The next bay opens up to the octagonal dome above, supported on squinches. One aisle bay has conventional groin vaults while the other features unusual interrupted groin vaults. The aisles are lit by narrow lancet windows of Gothic and Mudejar character.

The sanctuary and flanking chapels are barrel-vaulted with clerestory windows penetrating the curve. A large sanctuary arch is flanked by triple arcades on each side with elaborate Romanesque capitals. The eastern arch is blind, while the other two open onto the side chapels.

Notable furnishings include a 1952 round-headed arched baldacchino of Early Christian character over the high altar, supported on grey marble columns with Romanesque capitals. Beneath this the 1952 marble high altar and tabernacle remain intact. The sanctuary also contains a Bath stone suite of forward altar, ambo and font dating from a 1979 re-ordering by Kendal Building Services. The Lady Chapel to the south has a marble altar within a shallow apsidal recess and two late twentieth-century mosaic panels. The Sacred Heart chapel to the north has a stone altar with marble panelled reredos.

Other notable fittings include a relief of St Anselm in the south aisle showing the Tooting church and Canterbury Cathedral in the background; reliefs of St Thomas More and St John Fisher also in the south aisle; a statue of St Joseph in the nave by Mayer of Munich; wooden confessionals at the west end of the aisles; Stations of the Cross comprising low-relief figures in the manner of Eric Gill; and plain oak benches for congregational seating which are probably original.