First Church of Christ Scientist and Sunday School Including Lamp Standards, Railings, Area Wall, Gate Piers and Gates to North is a Grade II listed building in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 July 1999. Church, Sunday school. 3 related planning applications.

First Church of Christ Scientist and Sunday School Including Lamp Standards, Railings, Area Wall, Gate Piers and Gates to North

WRENN ID
gilded-solder-magpie
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Constituency
Bournemouth East MP: Tom Hayes (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
14 July 1999
Type
Church, Sunday school
Address
First Church of Christ Scientist and Sunday School Including Lamp Standards, Railings, Area Wall, Gate Piers and Gates to North, 45a, Christchurch Road, BH1 3PA
OS grid reference
SZ 104 914
Coordinates
50.7225, -1.85376
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The First Church of Christ Scientist and Sunday School was built in 1926, with a Sunday school added in 1933. The building's architect was W.J. Dacombe. It is constructed of plumb-coloured Flemish bond brick with vitrified headers and dressings of Ham Hill stone, and has a pantile hipped roof. The building is in a Neo-Georgian style. The north front features a pedimented centre with a tetra style portico in antis, featuring Ionic columns. The entablature above the portico extends around the lower bays to the left and right, and around the east and west sides, broken by round-arch windows. At the rear is a two-storey Sunday school with broad stone bands, a stepped parapet, and groups of narrow windows. Original features include wrought-iron lamp standards, railings, an area wall, gate piers, and gates to the north. The interior of the auditorium is intact, with broad pilasters along the east and west walls, alternating with round-arch windows, an entablature above, and a coffered ceiling. It contains a rostrum, two reading desks (one for scriptures, one for extracts from Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health), and raked seating. There is a large Sunday school at the rear, reflecting the historical practice of Christian Scientists not attending the adult church before the age of 21. The building represents a good example of a Christian Science Church, notable for its impressive facade.

Local climate

First Church of Christ Scientist and Sunday School Including Lamp Standards, Railings, Area Wall, Gate Piers and Gates to North receives an average of 870 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 96% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 22 transactions since 2003
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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