Church Of St Joseph (Catholic)

St Joseph's Catholic Church, Wealdstone

St Joseph's Catholic Church was built between 1929 and 1931 to designs by Adrian Gilbert Scott in a broadly Arts & Crafts style with Gothic revival influences. Scott (1882–1963) was the brother of the better-known Giles Gilbert Scott and an accomplished architect in his own right. He trained under Temple Moore and assisted his brother on early 20th-century domestic projects before serving with distinction in the Royal Engineers during the First World War, when he was awarded the Military Cross. Although his major design was the Anglican Cathedral in Cairo, most of his commissions were for the Roman Catholic Church.

The church was built to serve the rapidly expanding settlement of Wealdstone, which developed following the opening of Harrow & Wealdstone Railway Station (originally Harrow Station) in 1837 by the London and Birmingham Railway Company, with further growth encouraged by the arrival of the Bakerloo line in 1917. Catholic worship in the area began in 1892 in a public hall, with a formal mission established in 1899. Following the purchase of the present site by the Salvatorians (the Society of the Divine Saviour), a temporary church was built in 1905, replaced by a tin building in 1906–7. The present church opened in 1931 to accommodate a congregation that had outgrown the earlier structures.

The church is constructed of snecked Cotswold stone with tile roofs. It is oriented with the altar to the west and comprises a nave with pitched roof, deep lean-to aisles with projecting confessionals, an east tower, chapels to the north-west and south-west, a sacristy to the north-west, and a baptistery to the north-east. Single-storey extensions were added to the north and south in the 1990s.

The exterior is distinguished by its accomplished massing and composition. The nave features a pitched roof lit by five-light leaded clerestory windows. Two large dormers with half-hipped roofs and decorative tall traceried windows with leaded lights project through the broad sweep of the lean-to aisle roofs. The aisles are lit by two-light traceried windows and fitted with projecting polygonal confessionals with loophole windows; the confessional parapets rise above the aisle roof line. The north aisle has a polygonal baptistery to the east. The complementary extensions to the north and south, dating to 1991, provide an entrance and house a gift shop respectively; these date from the church's reordering and were not part of Scott's original scheme.

The prominent east tower is a square structure with a clasping corner buttresses and a square stair turret to the north fitted with loophole windows and a hipped roof. The north and south elevations of the tower feature central tall traceried windows of similar form to the dormer windows. A modest two-light belfry louvre sits beneath a square hood-mould, and a crenellated parapet crowns the tower. The dramatic east elevation to the tower, fronting the High Road, is dominated by an elegant, tall pointed and moulded arch framing the main east door, with carved crosses decorating the piers. The wooden panelled double door has curving corners, echoed in the decorative moulded surround which projects to support a carved crucifixion flanked by saints. Further statuary embellishes the clasping buttresses, and a single traceried window lights the belfry. The west elevation of the chancel is plain with a half-hipped roof, though the massing and roof lines are of considerable interest. An adjoining single-storey sacristy to the north-west has rectangular leaded lights.

A late 20th-century vestry and early 20th-century presbytery are linked to the west but were not included in the listing assessment.

The interior is rendered and painted white with piers and arches in stone for contrast. The nave and chancel roofs are arched and plastered with exposed moulded wooden tie beams to the nave, while aisle roofs are close-ribbed and boarded. The nave arcades comprise tall, pointed arches rising from moulded piers with low complementary arcades to the outer aisles; both inner and outer aisles are formed with rounded arches. Carved crosses decorate the piers internally as well as externally. Flooring is a mixture of wood block and stone.

Mid-20th-century alterations included the installation of pews and an organ in the original gallery, with the removal of the pulpit and altar rails. The 1991 reordering introduced a new altar, lectern, and altar steps, and the pulpit was relocated towards the front of the church. Colour is used sparingly, most notably in the early 21st-century glazed panel to the chancel.

The priests' sacristy and offices to the north-west feature impressive single and double panelled doors with decorative surrounds and brass fittings. A north-east stair turret containing a spiral stone staircase provides access to the organ gallery and to the tower, which has a hipped boarded roof and contains a single bell.

The original pulpit, with a copper cover, survives, though it was repositioned in 1991. Mid-20th-century wooden bench pews and the organ (not part of the original scheme) are also retained. The altar and lectern were designed by Angela Godfrey as part of the 1991 reordering. Of particular note is the dramatic glazed reredos depicting Christ and the cross by Matthew Lloyd-Winder, installed in 2005–6. The South Chapel contains an Annunciation window by Nuttgens.

Since its completion, the church has undergone internal additions, alterations, and reordering. Two single-storey extensions were added to the north and south in 1991. A Salvatorian College now adjoins the church.

St Joseph's is of special interest for the quality of its design and craftsmanship and as a fine example of the late Arts & Crafts style. Its massing and composition show strong Arts & Crafts influence, particularly in the contrast between the high-quality snecked masonry and the dynamic roofscape with its broad sweeping nave and aisle roofs interrupted by half-hipped dormers. The tower is more Gothic revival in composition, though the treatment and statuary of the east elevation again reflect Arts & Crafts principles. Internally, the church at first appears simple and monochromatic, with plaster walls and ceilings contrasting with stone architectural details, but this belies the complexity and elegance of the design in its accomplished proportions and composition.