Christ Church

Christ Church is a large red-brick church built in 1887-8 by the architects Newman and Jacques. It is situated in Christchurch Park. A western narthex and the base of an intended north-west tower were added in 1910-12 by the architect J Douglas Round.

The church is constructed of red brick with limestone dressings and red clay tiled roofs. Pierced red cresting runs along the nave ridge.

The building comprises a nave, north and south aisles, a west narthex with projecting baptistry, a north-west porch (forming the base of the unbuilt tower), a porch in the angle of the north aisle and transept, a north transept, a chancel with five-sided apse, a south chapel, and a north vestry.

The exterior presents a tall, imposing structure in the Early English style popular at the end of the 19th century. The nave is substantial in length and height, featuring a clerestory with pairs of lancet windows. The lean-to aisles have single lancet windows. The west end of the nave displays a row of tall, equal-height lancets, with angle buttresses at the corners rising to octagonal pinnacles. At the north end, a complex arrangement of single-storey structures creates a porch (the base of the intended tower) from which a corridor leads to the central narthex. Within the narthex projects a three-sided baptistry, with the narthex and baptistry having crenellated parapets. Flanking the baptistry are buttresses with gable heads from which flying buttresses spring to the nave's west buttresses. The north-east porch has entrances on three sides. The chancel, slightly lower than the nave, terminates in a five-sided apse with a tall lancet in each bay. A large chapel extends from the south. On the north stands a large transept housing the organ chamber and vestries, which features three narrow, graded lancets above a tier of five broad, low lancets.

The interior reflects the grand scale of the exterior in its broad, spacious arrangement of exposed red brick. The nave, comprising five bays, has arcades to the aisles with double-chamfered arches with hoods. The piers alternate between round and octagonal forms, with moulded capitals and bases. Grey stone wall-shafts rise from the arcade valleys to mark the bays of the clerestory and form bases for the brackets supporting the roof trusses. The clerestory windows are similarly detailed with grey stone shafts. A large, wide chancel arch stands at the east end of the nave, while three openings into the narthex occupy the west end, the central opening being taller and wider than the flanking ones. Arches connect each aisle to the narthex, and the south chapel connects to both the chancel and south aisle. The narthex and north-west porch have timber vaulting ribs.

The font setting displays delightful Arts and Crafts detailing. The arch over the window features raised plasterwork with foliage trails, whilst the dado below is of lead with a zig-zag vine trail set above a band of swimming fish. The nave roof has tie-beams with tall crown posts and compact ogee-shaped brackets. The chancel roof has similar brackets and arch braces rising to a ridge member. The aisles have plain lean-to roofs. The nave and aisle floors are of wooden blocks; the choir floor is of black and white marble whilst the sanctuary has brown tiles. Attractively decorated cast-iron grilles cover the heating ducts running along the aisles.

The principal interior fixtures include an impressively ornate vaulted chancel screen with raised centre-piece featuring very sumptuous tracery, supporting a crown-like structure that carries a cross. The high altar reredos contains three canopied bays depicting the Nativity and the angel appearing to the Marys at the Tomb. Double sedilia in the south wall of the chancel feature a tall, slender shaft between the seats and an integral piscina, also with a shaft. Metal tablets with the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer and Creed hang on the chancel north-west and south-west walls. Fine, richly carved stalls, now relocated in the north aisle, remain from the original furnishing. A row of choir seats survives on the north side of the chancel, backed by a solid traceried screen with signs of the Zodiac. A considerable amount of pewing remains, although it has been removed at the east end of the nave. The pews have shaped ends with large rounded elbows. The pulpit consists of delicate ironwork set on a stone plinth. The font is conventional in design, with a simple octagonal bowl on a ring of detached shafts and a central column. The east window contains stained glass dated to 1889, whilst the west window dates from 1902.

Associated with the church are a plain hall to the west across a small green, and a former vicarage to the south (now converted to flats) with three gables to its top storey. A new vicarage was built circa 2002 to the south-east of the church.

An iron church serving the area was licensed on 13 March 1876 and lengthened six years later. As the population expanded, it was replaced by the present permanent building. The foundation stone was laid on 29 June 1887 and the church was dedicated on 19 May 1888. The building could accommodate 1,000 people and was constructed by T. Gregory and Co. The most significant subsequent alteration was the addition of the narthex and north porch, which was intended to form the base of a tall, four-storey tower of Perpendicular design. The completed building represents a particularly good example of a large late Victorian town church built in red brick and achieving a grand effect through the use of inexpensive materials.

John Thomas Newman (1831-96) trained in the offices of Sir Samuel Morton Peto, and Thomas Brassey and Betts. He served as resident surveyor and head of the Mechanists' Department at Victoria Docks, London, from 1861 to 1865 before establishing independent practice in 1865. He entered into partnership with William Jacques (1853 or 1854-1919), his former pupil. Both served as surveyors to the West Ham School Board and the Leyton School Board, commissions that led to numerous projects in these areas. J Douglas Round remains an obscure figure; his work at Christ Church is the only work by him noted in the Pevsner Architectural Guides. His design for the proposed tower at Christ Church, preserved at the church, demonstrates an assured hand of considerable promise.