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Summary

Description

John, William Hardie and James Murdoch Hay of Liverpool, 1851 with additions by Andrew Granger Heiton, 1914 (see Notes). Greek cruciform, Mid-Pointed Gothic church with tower with octagonal stone spire to northwest at nave and transept re-entrant angle on prominent corner site. Stugged and squared rubble with ashlar dressings. Raised in-and-out quoins. Large traceried windows with hoodmoulds to north, east and west elevations.

Tower: angled buttresses and steeply stepped offsets; engaged octagonal turret to northeast angle; blind arcading beneath belfry stage; louvred bipartite openings to belfry; dogtoothed cornice; broached and lucarned spire; cast-iron cruciform finial.

West Elevation: timber pointed-arch door with hoodmould with shield-bearing angels forming stops. Later castellated porch at northwest re-entrant angle; inside, two-leaf timber entrance door to north side of nave with pelican and eagle carved stops to hoodmould.

Plain addition to northeast angle. Octagonal turret at southwest corner of south transept. Ground floor glass linking corridor to south accessing No 32-36 Princes Street (see LB39592).

Grey slate. Stepped skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Interior: impressive hammerbeamed and collar-braced timber ceiling with moulded corbel detailing. Carved stone pulpit; chancel arch; altar with altar railings; bishop's chair; eagle lectern; timber screen with vine frieze. Organ. Fine collection of 14th century style stained glass windows.

Statement of Special Interest

Place of worship in use as such. St John the Baptist Episcopal Church is a good example of high Victorian Mid-Pointed Gothic by renowned practioners of the style, Hay and Hay of Liverpool. Characterised by its solid massing and substantial spire, the building occupies a prominent site toward the north end of Princes Street and is notable for the quality of its detailing and interior. The broadly English country treatment adopted here is unusual in Perthshire, adding to its distinctiveness. The wall of the northwest corner of the Greyfriars Burial Site (see separate listing) adjoins St Johns at the rear.

John William Hardie and James Murdoch Hay of Liverpool were prolific church builders influenced by the ecclesiastical architecture of Pugin and Sharpe. St Johns is unusual in that its plan form deviates from the traditional Ecclesiological arrangement with very broad and shallow nave and transepts creating an airy interior space, most likely a pragmatic response to the constraints of the site. The church is also notable for the quality of its interior scheme with its fine open timber roof. Other interior details of note include the elaborately carved Caen stone pulpit by Mary Grant. The Bishop's Chair is an early 19th century example. The chancel arch and altar rails were designed by local architect, Andrew Granger Heiton who also added the castellated porch to the northwest angle and the northeast addition in 1914. The altar was consecrated in 1929. The Eagle Lectern was presented by the Earl of Airlie in 1951 from the chapel at Cortachy Castle. A new organ was installed in 1857, and replaced in 1890. An organ, originally in the chapel of Selwyn College Cambridge, was installed in 1971. This organ was replaced by a Rodgers digital organ in 2013. The simple timber screen with vine frieze was added around 1925. The bell was originally from Killin Church. The Porch was reconstructed in 1951.

The site was bought in 1795 with a condition of the sale that 'a place of worship in which only the services of the Church of England should be performed, must be built upon this spot'. The Chapel built in that year was demolished in 1850 to make way for the present Church. The foundation stone was laid in September 1850 and the church was completed in June 1851 at a cost of £1,719 and consecrated by the Bishop of Edinburgh on October 22nd. Built to occupy a site between two earlier tenement buildings, the corner block to the north has been replaced by a carpark in more recent times.

List description updated at resurvey (2009).

Description and Statement of Special Interest sections updated in 2019.

References

Bibliography

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