Old Christ Church, Waterloo

Old Christ Church stands in Waterloo Road, Waterloo, Merseyside, on a quiet street lined with red-brick terraces. Built between 1891 and 1899 in Old Red Sandstone, it replaced an earlier church from 1840 that had become unsafe. The architects were Paley, Austin and Paley of Lancaster, chosen after a competition failed to produce an acceptable design. The contractors were George Woods and Sons of Bootle, and the total cost was £21,956. The church was dedicated in April 1893 and consecrated six years later by Bishop Royston. Architectural historians Pollard and Pevsner call it one of the finest churches by Paley, Austin and Paley. Its plan includes a five-bay nave with aisles and clerestory, a chancel with a south chapel and north transept, and a northeast tower. The west front is symmetrical, with a tall six-light window above which sits a gable with niches and a stone cross. The chancel roof is lower than the nave, and the tower rises in three stages with a spiral stair turret and crocketted spirelet. Inside, all fittings were removed after the church became redundant, leaving striated stonework exposed. The arcades rest on cylindrical pillars, and the chancel floor is paved with decorated tiles. Some stained glass from the older church remains, but most is by Shrigley and Hunt. The east window shows the Te Deum, and the west window depicts the Twelve Apostles. The sandstone boundary wall and wrought-iron gates are also listed, completing the setting.