Holy Family

Introduction

Holy Family church in Birmingham is a brick building of the 1920s by George Drysdale, built on a Greek cross plan, and significantly enlarged in the 1960s. The present church was consecrated on 10 June 1976.

History

The mission in Small Heath was founded by the Revd James Wright in 1901 from St Anne’s in Digbeth, with Mass said in a workshop in Green Lane until a school-chapel was built in 1903. The present church originated as a Greek cross design by George Drysdale, seating 400, and opened in August 1929, built by William Sapcote & Sons. The church was built in two phases: the first in the 1920s on a Greek cross plan, and the eastern arm was demolished and the nave extended to form a Latin cross in the 1960s.

Architecture and furnishings

The interior is a fine barrel vaulted space, with a groin vault at the crossing, and no internal separation into nave and aisles. The 1920s church had open pediments on the north and south faces with moulded brick string courses and a row of arched clerestory windows, and the east end was apsidal. An intended northwest campanile was not built. There is a gallery and narthex at the west end, with a mosaic roundel of the Holy Family fixed to the gallery front, possibly from the 1929 church and possibly by Pippet.

The sanctuary is dominated by a large freestanding altar, with a crucifix and tabernacle in the apse. There is a large organ of 1903 by Steele & Keay of Burslem, acquired c.1993 from Pitts Hill Methodist Church, Stoke. The church is orientated roughly north-south, but is described in conventional liturgical orientation as if the altar were to the east. Flanking the entrance, low flat-roofed wings with recessed stone faced bays incorporating windows were presumably built as the baptistery and a side entrance.

Above the wings, a round arched window on either side lit an internal gallery. Beyond the gallery, raised and plain 'aisle' walls were lit by one rectangular window per bay. Side chapels were placed at either side of the sanctuary.

Visiting

The parish has been entrusted to the care of the Society of Divine Vocations (SDV). The church directs viewers to the Diocesan website for parishes with live streams.