St. Mary Magdalene in Paddington
George Edmund Street
1867-77
London
Other Views and Related Material
Photograph 2009 and text by George P. Landow and (the paragraph below) Jacqueline Banerjee.
St. Mary Magdalene is a striking Grade I listed building, with its red brick and white stone marking it out from it surroundings: it has been described as "N. German" Gothic in style, with a "tall apsidal chancel and aisled nave," to seat a congregation of 900, and with a "thin tower with octagonal upper stage and spire, in angle between S. transept and chancel" (listing text). It has also been described as "generally lighter, with more vertical forms and more elegant details" than some of Street's other churches (Dixon and Muthesius 211-12). The same critics add, "Street seems now to be interested in clear contrasts between broad and slim forms — here, the bulky brick body of the church juxtaposed to its slim banded tower and slender spire of finely carved freestone" (212). The listing text calls it "remarkable for use of cramped and uneven site."
Among its "elegant details" are the stained glass windows designed by Henry Holiday, the magnificent Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the crypt decorated by Sir Ninian Comper, and its beautiful reredos and very fine nave sculptures. These were all carved by Street's favourite stone-carver, Thomas Earp (Leonard 159).
References
Church of St Mary Magdalene Westminster British Listed Buildings. Web. 7 January 2015.
Dixon, Roger, and Stefan Muthesius. Victorian Architecture. 2nd ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985.
Leonard, John. London's Parish Churches. Derby: Breedon, 1997 (there is a newer ed. published by Spire Books, 2011).
Stephenson, Father Michael. St. Mary Magdalene in Paddington 1865-2078. A Historical Guide. Available in the church. 20 pp.
A Walk around St. Mary Magdalene Chuch. Spring 2009. 4 pp. Available in the church.
Created 15 February 2008; last modified 6 January 2014