Church of St George (now St George's Theatre) Tufnell Park Road

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, TUFNELL PARK - This new church in Tufnell Park, Holloway is a large and effective building, especially internally. The plan is very peculiar, the architect, Mr George Truefitt, having to deal with a triangular piece of ground; he had, therefore, to make all parts of the building touch the boundary so as to get in the number of sittings required. The plan is arranged as a large circle, 85 feet 6 inches. diameter, with eight 10-in. iron columns supporting arches 31 feet in height, and an octagonal clerestory above, which central octagon is no less than 54 feet 8 in. diameter; the total height of it from floor to ceiling being about 50 feet. East of the circle, the plan runs out into chapel-like projections or aisles to the chancel, which is 36 feet long and 25 feet wide, with circular end. The total length from west to east of the church is 120 feet internally. The accommodation is for 1040 adults on the ground floor. The material is Kentish rag and Bath stone, with open roofs boarded and covered with slate; eight arches of brick resting on iron columns 10 in. diameter support the octagonal clerestory. The total cost, exclusive of tower and spire will be £5,400, the latter another £2,000. The trustees of the Tufnell Park Estate gave the ground and £400. [Illustrated London News 19 September 1868 page 284 with illustration]

ST GEORGE TUFNELL PARK,  HOLLOWAY, LONDON: Mr Truefitt, who some years ago designed an ingenious temporary octagonal structure to hold a great number of sitters, has now been commissioned to translate the idea into brick and mortar. The result is peculiar, but noteworthy. There is a spacious central octagon, supported by thin iron shafts, surrounded by an aisle which is circular in its outer circumference. To this is attached an ample chancel, with aisles to its western part, and a semi-circular apse at its east end. surrounded by a quasi-processional aisle, with a square vestry at the extreme east end. At the western end are two well-arranged porches. No fittings are shown in the drawings which have come before us; but it is plain that a plan of this shape will accommodate a very large number of people with an almost uninterrupted view of pulpit, chancel, and altar. The iron shafts of the central octagon are eighteen feet high; the arches, which are turned in brick, are thirty feet high to the apex. Over each arch is a broad-pointed three-light clerestory window. This clerestory stage is covered in with a flattish timber roof, having a ventilating shaft in the centre, which is capped at the summit by a small quadrangular louvre. The aisle windows are Pointed and traceried. of two lights. The external effect of course resembles in a great degree the original type of a circular aisled and clerestoried baptistery or church. We believe there is to be a detached square tower, with complicated octagonal belfry stage, and a dwarf octagonal spirelet rising from a forest of pinnacles -  all very cleverly designed - at the western end of the pile. It is impossible to deny the credit of much invention and ingenuity to this very abnormal design. [Ecclesiologist Vol 24 1866 page 125]

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, TUFNELL PARK, HOLLOWAY - THE church, as illustrated on another page, is being erected from the designs of Mr George Truefitt, architect, of 5, Bloomsbury square. We are glad to lay it before our readers because it is so entirely different to the many churches erected, and which are all so very much alike. The difficulty the architect had to deal with was to get the building at all on such a sharp triangular piece of ground, but the way he has done it shows he does not believe that a church must of necessity be of the usual nave, aisle, and chancel type, about which there is perhaps really no design whatever. In this church the interior effect has been principally thought of, and as a building partaking of the circular plan always looks externally smaller than it really is, so the interior, which in this case is very spacious, surprises all who enter, as it seems so much larger than it appears from the outside view. There will be sittings for 1,020 adults, without galleries, the cost £5,400, being without the tower and spire, which it is hoped the heir to the estate will build when he comes of age. The site is presented by the Tufnell Park estate, the subscriptions coming principally from the seat-holders of the temporary church, but, as only about half of the money has been collected, the building is now stopped for want of funds. The indefatigable treasurers are at work, however, and hope to see the building finished before long. At present the roofs are all on and slated. The materials are Kentish rag and Bath dressings; the columns, of cast-iron, ten inches in diameter. The roofs, which are open, are all rough from the saw, without stain or varnish, and are boarded and tongued with iron. The pewing will be varnished, the seats being all open. The chancel and passages will be all laid with cement or concrete, ready for future tiles. The walls, as at present arranged, will be plastered to a height of six feet only, leaving the rest to be done at a future time—in fact, everything is being carried out with regard to economy, as far as the fittings and finishings are concerned, so that the architect's original estimate of £5,400 may not be exceeded. The builders are Messrs Carter and Sons, of Hornsey-road. We are sorry to say that we did not receive drawings of section and plan of church in time to get them engraved for this week. They will, however, appear in our next issue. [Building News 18 January 1867 page 44]

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, TUFNELL PARK - As one of the few attempts we have noticed to design a church without a servile adherence to precedent, we have selected as the illustration for this year's Companion the church of St. George, Tulfnell Park, Holloway (Cut No. 2), designed by Mr. G. Truefit. The site was confined in extent, and triangular in form, and it was desired to erect on it as capacious a church as practicable, the available funds rendering it necessary that it should at the same time be a comparatively inexpensive structure. The congregation had for some years worshipped in a round wooden church built for them by the same architect; and, as they found this well adapted for temporary use, it occurred to Mr. Truefitt that an adaptation of the circular form would be suitable for the permanent building, while it would enable him to turn the ground to the best account. As will be seen from the engraving, the outer shell, which forms the aisles, is circular, the clerestory an octagon, and that on the east is carried out an apsidal chancel. The western tower and spire, though shown in the engraving, are not yet built, their site being covered by the temporary church, but the architect having kindly lent us his drawing, we thought it best to show the church as it will appear when complete. The church is built of Kentish rag, with Bath stone dressings, and, except some carving over the doors, has little exterior decoration. Internally, the nave is separated from the aisles by eight light iron columns which carry the clerestory, arches of bold span springing from carved corbels over the capitals. The roof is of wood, with a central sun-burner. The square projection seen in the cut beside the chancel is a shallow transept. The walls are plastered, there is very little ornament, and the colouring is not successful. It cannot be said that the interior is solemn, impressive, or even decidedly ecclesiastical in effect. But the area (there is no gallery) affords accommodation for over 1,000 persons, who can all see and hear well, and are not troubled by draughts: a church, in short, which is cheerful to the eye, and not wearisome to the flesh. The exterior is not unpicturesque, but the short transept, low ambulatory, and diminutive vestry attached to the chancel, tend to impart a littleness of character to the whole. As it stands, without the tower, it has cost about £5,500. [British Almanac 1868 page 154]

Reference        North London News and Finsbury Gazette 30 June 1866 page 3 – foundation stone
Reference        Illustrated London News 19 September 1868 page 284
Reference        Islington Gazette 22 September 1868 page 2 -from Illustrated London News
Reference        Building News 6 October 1876
Reference        Building News 18 January 1867 page 44 and illustration
Reference        Building News 25 January 1867 page 64 and illustration
Reference        British Almanac 1868 page 154
Reference        Graves: Royal Academy Exhibitors
Notes             A drawing of the Tower was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876 (No 998)