Christchurch, St Albans

Sir George Gilbert Scott completed the Italianate Christchurch, which is close to the Abbey, between 1856-9 for Mrs Isabella Worley. It had been started in 1847 by Charles Parker as a Roman Catholic church, modelled on St Raphael’s, Surbiton, and was completed by Scott after it had been donated to the Church of England. Built in Bath stone in round arch style, the windows were in Scott’s Venetian style. The builder was W. Smith of St Albans. Scott also designed the fittings for the interior. It was converted to offices during the 1980s.Gilbert Scott probably also built the vicarage behind Christchurch at the same time, which is a L shaped building with a self-consciously asymmetrical arrangement of late Romanesque style round-headed openings. This neatly fits the theories that he was advancing in the Remarks at the time, particularly as the Romanesque features acknowledge the Norman architecture of the Abbey, and also harmonise with the round-headed windows of the Italianate church.

Sir George Gilbert Scott also built a small brick school opposite the church with round-headed windows and a gabled roof at the same time as the vicarage, between 1858-9.