Church of St. Stephen, Hampstead, by S. S. Teulon

Church of St. Stephen

S. S. Teulon

1869

Hampstead

According to C. L. Eastlake's A History of the Gothic Revival (1872), "Its picturesque site, on a slope rapidly inclining from west to east, the novelty of its proportions, and the beauty of the materials used in its construction, present in themselves no small attractions, even to the ordinary observer, but for architects and amateurs it has a deeper interest in the strongly-marked assimilation of an early French character which .its design reveals. The walls are mainly built of fine hard brick ranging in colour from pale gray to Indian red, the admixture of which tints gives them at a little distance a rich stippled texture which is very agreeable." [continued below]

Image scan and caption by George P. Landow

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Stone and granite are also largely employed for the quoins and dressings. The illustration which is appended to this chapter renders a description of the exterior unnecessary; but it may be well to explain that the central tower has yet to be finished, and that the west end is provided with a wide porch or narthex, which forms a picturesque feature in the composition.

The interior is sumptuously decorated, especially at the east end, where the apse is groined, and its walls are inlaid with gilt mosaic work. The chancel arch is corbelled out on panelled blocks enriched with sculpture in high relief, illustrating the life and death of St. Stephen. The pillars of the nave arcade are cylindrical, supported on high plinths, and crowned with boldly carved capitals varying in design. The arches are admirably proportioned to the height and plan of the church, and though fastidious critics may object to the notched and billet- moulded edges of the brickwork introduced, it must be remembered that this mode of decoration has been approved and adopted by some of the leading architects of the Gothic school. The open-timbered roof over the nave is an excellent example of constructive skill, and we need only compare it with the poor lean-looking specimens of frame-work which shelter some of the early churches of the Revival, to feel that in the design of those features whose effect depends on a judicious com- bination of art and science we have left the last generation far behind. [368]

Commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee

Eastlake, who, as he mentions himself, is writing when the church has yet to be completed, goes on to acknowledge the influence of Continental models, but feels that the structure "retains a national character," adding, seemingly with approval, that "certain details — as, for instance, the ornamental brickwork of its interior — can scarcely be referred to any precedent but that of modern fashion" (369). To what extent does James Stevens Curl sum all this up by describing the church as "a powerful example of Continental Gothic, freely treated" (104)?

St. Stephen's was completed in 1875, after Teulon's death. Built on Rosslyn Hill, and able to accommodate 1,200 people, it certainly has a commanding presence, and is said by J. M. Richards and M. J. Saunders to be this architect's masterpiece. Unfortunately, construction work on the nearby Royal Free Hospital caused or contributed to subsidence problems even within the Victorian period. Now, after a long period of neglect, vandalism and disuse, the church is being restored with the support of English Heritage, not for worship but for community projects, performances, educational courses and so forth.

Other Views and Related Material

References

Curl, James Stevens. Victorian Architecture. Newton Abbot and London: David & Charles, 1990.

Eastlake, Charles L. A History of the Gothic Revival. London: Longmans, Green; N.Y. Scribner, Welford, 1872. [Copy in Brown University's Rockefeller Library]

Richards, J. M., revised by M. J. Saunders. "Samuel Sanders Teulon, 1812-1873." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Viewed 25 November 2008.]

Last modified 8 January 2009