St. Andrew's Church, Roker: Edward Prior

St. Andrew's Church exemplifies Edward Prior's belief that rational building should replace architecture conceived as a style. Superficially, St. Andrew's appears plain, even roughly made. But closer inspection reveals this simplicity to be the mason's response to the nature of the local porous limestone, and Prior alluding to Saxon buildings. The interior is equally austere dominated by massive stone arches spanning the 52-foot-wide nave. Concrete, iron, an integrated heating and ventilating system, all point this building towards modernism. At close quarters the congregation is brought into contact with the beautiful furniture of Ernest Gimson, ceiling by MacDonald Gill, carpets by Morris, a tapestry by Burne-Jones and stained glass by A. H. Payne. The ambiguity of the whole building makes St. Andrew's fascinating, particularly the interior sparkling in the light refracted through Prior's patented 'Early English Glass'.

Trevor Garnham is Senior Lecturer at Kingston University School of Architecture.