St Stephens Roman Catholic Church, John Street, Blairgowrie

St Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church is a Gothic-detailed church built in 1856 by Edward Welby Pugin, with an adjoining hall. The church has a rectangular plan, comprising a five-bay nave, and is topped by a steeply-pitched roof. The building is constructed of ashlar stone with contrasting ashlar quoins and harl (roughcast) plaster, with painted margins to the windows. It features trefoil-headed and pointed-arch windows, many of which have hood moulds with decorative label stops.

The southwest elevation, facing John Street, has a single gabled bay. Small, blocked, trefoil-headed windows are positioned close to the ground at the outer left and right, while a large, raised, trefoil-headed three-light window sits centrally above, with a quatrefoil in the gablehead.

The southeast elevation, the main entrance elevation, is harled. The church occupies the right side of the elevation. It has a broad pointed-arch doorway with a deep-set, two-leaf boarded timber door. The nave is immediately to the right of the doorway, with two trefoil-headed bipartites (two-part windows) at ground and first floor levels, and a taller, similar window beyond. A low projection to the far right contains two gabled bays with small windows matching those on the John Street elevation, and a single window to the return side. A rear section of a presbytery adjoins the elevation on the far right. To the left of the church stands the hall, which has square-headed openings to the first stage with deep-set doors in the outer bays, flanked by three small, two-part windows. The second stage of the hall has three pointed-arch bipartites.

The northeast elevation, facing Bank Street, is broadly gabled with three trefoil-headed lancet windows, the central one raised, and a quatrefoil in a cross-finialled gablehead. A lower, narrow gable to the right features a small, two-light traceried window; all windows are hoodmoulded. A presbytery adjoins the elevation on the far left, with a further dwelling alongside on the far right.

The rear, northwest elevation, displays a variety of openings, close to and partially adjoining neighbouring buildings.

Inside, the church has a tall, narrow nave with a gallery, fixed timber pews, small arcaded aisles, and a chapel to the northwest. It features a hammerbeam-type roof. A raised chancel area includes a stone altar table with carved quatrefoils. Braced square columns support a timber gallery with a carved front and an arcaded screen to the pipe organ. A later 20th-century window on the northeast side depicts Jesus, The Good Shepherd, with abstract flanking lights. Smaller traceried windows depict Saints Mary and Joseph, and single windows depicting Saint Stephen and a female saint. The church’s coloured glass is located on the northeast side. Non-traditional PVCu windows are found elsewhere. The hall windows have horizontal glazing patterns in timber frames. The roof is covered with grey slates. A harled chimney stack has a shouldered design. Ashlar-coped skews (angle of roof) have moulded skewputts (decorative protrusions).