First Church Of Christ Scientist, With Forecourt And Balustrades

The First Church of Christ Scientist, previously known as the Church of the Nazarene and originally Temperance Hall, was built in 1847. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs. It is a small, single-cell trapezoidal structure designed to fit a narrow site, with complex levels and a raised main floor accessed by steps leading to a triangular forecourt.

The main entrance is at the pedimented end, featuring four Doric pilasters that support a full entablature, returned to the long sides, and a moulded closed pediment with a central blocking panel topped with a capping. The frieze is inscribed “TEMPERANCE HALL A.D.1847”. The central, panelled door is set within a moulded architrave with a segmental pediment. The south front, facing St Mark's Road, has three bays with twelve-pane sashes in moulded architraves and sills on brackets. The north front, facing Claverton Street, mirrors the south elevation, but with a lower ground floor, channelled ashlar, and two twelve-pane sashes, along with a central panelled door featuring a transom light and moulded architrave. The west end is wider and plainer, with end pilasters and a broad pediment containing a wide blocking course.

The forecourt is enclosed by a pierced balustrade divided into three panels and supported by four square piers. The entire balustrade is coped, with blockings to the piers. An offset plinth in plain ashlar is returned to the entrance. A small, spearhead iron gate with a scrolled overthrow leads to seven square-edged steps within flanking ashlar walls rising to a stone-paved forecourt. The interior remains uninspected.

The building's early history is linked to the “International Order of Good Templars” and the “Independent Order of Rechabites (Temperance Friendly Society),” both associated with the Nonconformist Temperance Movement. In 1963 it was used as the Church of the Nazarene, before finally becoming the First Church of Christ Scientist in 1991.