Patrick Comerford
Saint Aloysius Church, the Roman Catholic parish church in Somers Town, stands at the corner of Phoenix Road and Eversholt Street, south of Camden Town in London. Some people seems to walk past without realising the building is a church, yet it is familiar to many commuters and train passengers because it is only a short walk from Euston Station.
Saint Aloysius Church is just a short stroll from Saint Mary’s Church, Somers Town, also on Eversholt Street, and which I was writing about last Sunday (2 March 2025).
Saint Aloysius was built in the mid-1960s to replace one of the earliest churches of the Catholic Revival in London. The church is noteworthy for its modern design with its conspicuous brick drum and it still has many of its original 1960s fittings.
As the district of Somers Town was being developed in the late 18th century, it became a centre for French émigré clergy in London in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and Abbé Chantrel established a chapel there in 1798.
The early chapel was replaced in 1808 by a new and larger building in the classical style built for Abbé Carron on Phoenix Road.
The area needed a larger church by the 1960s. The site next to the old church was given by the French religious order, the Faithful Companions of Jesus, and a new convent was built for them on the site of the old church and presbytery.
The church is named after the Jesuit saint and aristocrat, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) from Milan. Aloysius is the Latin form of his Italian given name, Luigi. He was still a student preparing for ordination in Rome when he died while caring for the victims of a serious epidemic. He was beatified in 1605 and canonised a saint in 1726.
James Joyce, who was educated by the Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, and Belvedere College, Dublin, chose Aloysius Gonzaga as his confirmation name in 1891.
The site of Saint Aloysius Church is largely enclosed on three sides, with its principal frontage on Phoenix Road and a smaller frontage on Eversholt Street. The natural level of the site was 6 ft below pavement level and the architect took advantage of this to provide a parish hall and some car parking space underneath the church.
The church, with a hall and youth centre beneath and a presbytery attached to it, was designed by John Newton of Burles Newton and Partners of London, Southend and Manchester. This was one of the most active architectural practices working for the Catholic Church at that time, and they designed many Catholic churches in London and the south-east at the time.
The church was built in 1966-1967 according to the liturgical advances introduced with the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, including the celebration of the Mass facing the people. The foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Heenan on 15 October 1967. The contractors were Marshall-Andrew and the consulting engineers were Ove Arup.
A broad flight of concrete steps leads up to the main entrance at the right hand end of the podium, with a sunken area to the remainder allowing light to the windows of the lower hall.
There are four large rectangular windows in the main front elevation of the podium with a small copper drum over the Baptistry beside the entrance. The frosted glass on the main doors includes representations of the Gonzaga family’s coat-of-arms and of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.
Inside, the church is a beautiful space, with the glazed narthex leading directly into the body of the church. Many visitors say it feels welcoming because its shape seems to embrace the congregation. The subtle lighting and the colourful stained glass and mosaics contrast with the starkness of the concrete. Inside, there is ceramic work by Adam Kossowski and windows by the Whitefriars studio and Goddard and Gibbs, both since closed.
The oval raised roof is designed so that worship is more focused on the centre of the church, with the circular rooflight pushed to the east of the oval over the altar.
The main body of the church is an elliptical brick drum with a continuous concrete clerestory set on a raised flat-roofed brick podium that is bookended by the taller presbytery and narthex. The juxtaposition of straight and curved elements is effective.
The drum clerestory has abstract stained glass by the Whitefriars studio, the successors of James Powell and Sons, which also provided the Baptistry windows.
The space under the drum includes the sanctuary and the main seating area and it is supported on concrete columns with a continuous ambulatory, off which open the Lady Chapel and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, the Baptistry and the confessionals.
The large windows in the north wall depicting the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary are by Goddard and Gibbs and were added in the 1990s.
To the right of the sanctuary is a recess for the reserved sacrament with a ceramic mural by the exiled Polish artist Adam Kossowski (1905-1986). The church has several fibreglass statues by Gordon Bedingfield.
The floor of the church is Genoa Green terrazzo, the walls are faced with grey Tyrolean plaster, and the ceiling of the drum has Parana pine boarding. The wooden benches are original. The small early 19th-century chamber organ probably came from the earlier church.
Saint Aloysius Church is in the Deanery of Camden in the Diocese of Westminster. The Parish Priest is Canon Jeremy Trood. Previous parish priests include the late Bruce Kent of Pax Christi and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Bishop Victor Guazzelli appointed Bruce Kent as parish priest oin 1977 but allowied him enough space to engage in his work in the peace movement. But he resigned from the parish when he became the general secretary of CND in 1980.
• The Parish Mass times are: Sunday (Saturday 6 pm), 10:30 am, 6 pm; Holy Days 9:30 am and 7 pm; weekdays Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, 9: 30am. Adoration and Benediction, Saturday 5 pm to 5:40 pm.
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