Presbytery And Cloisters, Saint Matthew's Roman Catholic Church, 36 Carnethie Street, Rosewell

Presbytery And Cloisters, Saint Matthew's Roman Catholic Church, 36 Carnethie Street, Rosewell

This single-storey Roman Catholic church was designed by Archibald Macpherson in 1925, with cloisters added by Reginald Fairlie in 1935. The building presents a symmetrical five-bay galleried Byzantine style design with a prominent corbelled gable to the centre, which is advanced and canted. A transept extends to the north-east, with the presbytery attached to the south-west transept.

The church is constructed in brick with ashlar and patterned brick dressings. Notable external features include a base course, a dentilled eaves course, a raised stepped brick eaves course to the gable angles, and clasping buttresses at the angles.

The principal south-east elevation comprises a five-bay church front to the right with a four-bay presbytery elevation and linking transept set back to the left. The church front features a full-height canted bay at the centre containing a bipartite round-headed window at ground level with a circular light above, flanked by round-arched windows. A tall round-arched window rises above corbelling to the gablehead, surmounted by an indented crucifix, with round-arched windows flanking. Round-arched doorpieces at ground level in flanking bays contain two-leaf louvered boarded doors with raised ogival hood-moulds above. Round-arched windows serve the outer aisle bays. The presbytery elevation features an advanced two-bay block at the centre with a segmental-arched doorway containing a part-glazed door and glazing surround, flanked by windows at ground and first floors. A bipartite window appears at first-floor level above the centre. The linking transept bay to the outer right contains windows at ground and bipartite windows above.

The north-west rear elevation is irregular, comprising seven bays divided into four (church rear to the left) and three (presbytery rear to the right). The church rear features an advanced, buttressed, full-height gabled belfry tower at the chancel bay centre. This tower contains a window at the first stage, a pointed-arched window at the second stage, and twin louvered pointed-arched openings with a vescia opening above at the third stage. Twin flanking wallhead stacks break the eaves of a dormer set back behind with stepped links above. A gabled vestry bay to the right of centre has windows flanking the gable eaves and a hexagonal light to the gablehead. A blank mono-pitch bay is set back to the left of centre, with a further wide bay set back to the outer left containing a round-arched window with a circular light above and a small light to the left. The presbytery rear comprises an irregular three-bay section with a gabled centre bay, a set-back bay to the left, and a canted bay to the right. An advanced full-height canted stair bay rises to the right of centre. A lean-to four-centred arched shelter occupies the angle to the left with various level stair lights above and pitched dormer windows to the returns. Another lean-to shelter sits in a re-entrant angle in the centre bay, with a window above and a bipartite window at first floor. A pitched two-stage bay set back to the left of centre contains twin windows at the first stage, a mono-pitch roof to the second stage, and a bipartite window above.

The north-east transept elevation comprises eight bays arranged as a regular aisle elevation grouped 2-2-2-2, with a five-bay asymmetrical transept elevation advanced to the outer right. Each bay contains a window. A two-bay group to the outer left is advanced, with half buttresses between the remaining two-bay groups. The transept elevation features a window at ground in the centre bay, a window to the gablehead with a hexagonal light above, and flanking windows at each level. Windows at ground level appear in bays to the outer left and right. A gablet wallhead stack truncates the eaves to the outer right. A pitched bay breaks the eaves and invades the re-entrant angle to the left return, with windows at ground and bipartite windows above. A segmental-arched doorpiece with a two-leaf boarded door appears to the right.

The south-west elevation, including the side elevation of the presbytery, comprises thirteen bays divided into five (presbytery side to left) and eight (aisle elevation to right). The presbytery side features a tripartite window at ground and first-floor levels in the centre bay, with windows at ground and first-floor levels in the bay to the right of centre. An advanced two-bay gabled bay to the outer right contains a full-height raised stack breaking the gablehead at its centre, flanked by windows at each floor, and windows at each floor in the left return. A single-storey bay with an attic to the outer left contains a ground-floor window and a dormer window above. The aisle elevation comprises a regular eight-bay section grouped 2-2-2-2, with windows to each bay. A two-bay group to the outer right is advanced, with half buttresses between the remaining two-bay groups.

The interior walls are of brick. A baptistery is located in a full-height narthex to the south-east, comprising a rectangular-plan vestibule with a gallery above, separated from the nave by a triple round-arched colonnade with glazed infill. An exposed timber-framed roof features short hammer beams. The nave is flanked by five-bay round-arched arcades with carved wooden Stations of the Cross over the piers. An organ is positioned behind the fourth arch in the aisle to the north-east. Axial arches lead to the transepts, with a median arch spanning the crossing area, and a square-plan chancel beyond. A pointed chancel arch leads to a sacristy recessed into the bell tower behind, spanned by three further arches. Point-arched niches flanking a timber altar with blind fretwork at the centre of the chancel contain saints. A square-plan galleried transept to the north-east contains a vestry below. The south-west transept provides access to the presbytery. A stone multi-columned communion rail and an arcaded brick pulpit to the north-east of the crossing are complemented by timber pews.

Windows include plate glass round-arched lights to the church, with fixed rectangular windows and two-pane tilt windows to the presbytery. The roof features a red tiled finish with ridge, piended red pantile roof to the presbytery, and red tiles and ridge to the cloisters. Pitched, tiled and coped brick stacks and cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external detailing.

The boundary wall features double-sided round-arched gateway with swept skews and a pitched link between. A brick boundary wall to the south-east carries pitched and tiled cope, presenting a plain face to the road and a blind round-arched colonnade to the inward face. Continuous cloisters run along the remaining boundary, featuring a tiled pitched canopy and square-plan corner pavilions with pyramidal roofs, with an archway to the centre of the north-west colonnade.