Roman Catholic Chapel Of The Most Holy Name Sir John Moore Barracks

TR 23 NW FOLKESTONE EAST ROAD Shornecliffe

10/10007 Roman Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Name, Sir John Moore Barracks

II

Roman Catholic military chapel. 1966-8 by Zbigniew Jan Piet (Pietruszewski) of Brian and Norman Westwood, Piet and Partners for the John Moore Barracks. Timber frame on reinforced concrete foundations, brick west wall. Shingled roof replaced in artificial slates c.1994. Broadly triangular plan, with one curved wall, set into a mound of earth and on a tiny scale. Foundations of concrete with polythene sheet formwork to give a smooth, shiny finish to low internal walls. From them rise a soaring triangular timber roof, horizontally boarded on one side, vertically boarded on the other, with steel braced timber trusses supporting clerestory. The west end has simple openings to mezzanine meeting room and over entrance with pivotted single door set down steps to side. Some yellow glass survives in the sanctuary and clerestory, intended to impart a warm tone. Interior comprises single worship space with altar set forward of East end, in sanctuary area set up one step. Rear has spiral staircase leading to meeting room and choir balcony. The south wall has stations of the cross in fibre glass by John McCarthy, conceived, says Piet, in a row like a comic strip. On the west wall a Madonna, also by McCarthy. Bench seating for 100 worshipers. When the firm of Brian and Norman Westwood, Piet and Partners were commissioned to build a new barracks in c. 1961, Piet's deeply felt Catholicism led him to take personal responsibility for the chapel. The form of the building he describes as a tent, devised in memory of years spent in the Boy Scouts and made of Polish timber he personally selected at the docks. The style of the building is also reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unitarian Church at Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin, though the scale is tiny and the form more fluid. The result is an unusually well-made chapel for its date, a work of deep religious commitment that mixes nostalgia for the architect's native Poland with a gratitude for what Britain had given him since his exile here in 1945. The Architectural Review for May 1996 described it as 'the numinous in an unexpected quarter'. Sources: Architectural Review, May 1969 & Architectural Review, May 1996. Signed by authority of the Secretary of State Dated: 25 {;tI. J~ .2()(}0 ji; , ( ~ PAUL ALSEY Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Listing NGR: TR2014935768