religious
David Bush, 1972
Chichester Road, Croydon, CR0 5NQ
The church and community hall is a current 1960's design which replaced the Victorian church originally situated in George Street. The new building was created as a land swap by Wates and situated in the Park Hill estate of Croydon.
East Croydon
433, 64
There is a small car park next to the church. There are stairs and a ramp down to the church entrance.
Various acitivities may be taking place.
09:00–17:00
A person will be available to show yoiu around the building and point out the significant features.
The walls are solid brick supporting a large span of roof. The roof is constructed of plywood in a web design. The roof covering is plywood covered with alumium sheeting, This aluminium sheeting has reached the end of its life and we are in the process of running a project to see the roof recovered using zinc and with the addition of insulation and solar panels.
There are several sections of medieval glass which came from the Croydon Parish church which burnt down in the late 1800's. In the main worship space are six stained glass windows each depicting a parable from St Matthew's gospel. They are designed by John Hayward and incorporate glass from old St Matthew church orignally in George Street. He also design the altar frontals and some of the church furniture.
David Bush the architect for the building went on to be ordained. He designed in many features which gave special religous significance like the rough hewn boarding used on the ceiling of the worship space to represent the stable. He also design several other churches in the Southwark dioceses.
In the foyer around the top of the walls are small concrete plaques each with the name of those involved with the original construction from the bricklayers, the plumbers and the local cat!
