St Joseph's

Introduction

The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph in Wembley is a post-war church in a loosely neo-Georgian style with Romanesque influences, built between 1955 and 1957 to designs by Reynolds and Scott.

History

In 1899 the Diocese of Westminster purchased 17 acres of land intending a Catholic cemetery. A convent chapel from Harley Place was dismantled and re-erected in 1901 on part of the site, then known as Wembley Green. The chapel became the parish church of St Joseph's after the cemetery plan was abandoned, and in 1911 the Diocese sold much of the remaining site for housing. The present church was built between 1955 and 1957 with capacity for 680 people, designed by Manchester firm Reynolds and Scott.

The opening ceremony took place in December 1957. The side chapel was consecrated soon after opening in 1959. A tablet was erected in 1968 to double bass virtuoso and composer Domenico Dragonetti (1763-1846), who was based in Brent. Since construction, the south (liturgical east) end has been reordered and a plain modern stone altar occupies the front of the sanctuary.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is aligned on a north-south axis and not liturgically orientated. The exterior is dominated by a broad north tower spanning almost the full width of the building, redolent of the work of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. A sunken former baptistery, later adapted as St Anthony's shrine, is accessed off the first bay of the east aisle and has a mosaic floor with wave motif. The church is faced with brown brick beneath a slate roof, with reconstituted stone dressings to the principal north elevation.

The belfry is articulated by an arcade of round-headed arches and topped by a hipped roof. The nave has side elevations of three wide bays, with the first and third bays advancing and having hipped roofs, while the central bays feature three large round-arched windows over low-level flat-roofed aisles. The interior shows Byzantine-revival influence, with the nave covered by three large pendentive saucer domes of the type favoured by Sir John Soane. The passage aisles are largely screened from the nave and accessed from the central bays via a low triple arcade of Romanesque-style stone columns, with flat ceilings over the central sections.

Tall round-arched openings at the north and south ends lead to the gallery over the narthex and the sanctuary respectively, and the sanctuary has a second arch over the former position of the high altar, which contains the tabernacle. The sanctuary has a segmental ceiling with twin round arches under triple windows on each side. The sanctuary floor combines travertine tiles and good mosaic work. Stained glass windows are restricted to the large side chapel, with works by M Sieciechowicz from the 1960s, Opus from 1998, and Mark Williams from 2005.

Parish life

The parish runs a Children's Sacramental Programme that includes preparation for First Holy Communion and First Reconciliation. The parish has a Baptism Preparation Class for parents and godparents. The parish has a ministry of visiting the sick and elderly, available upon request.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish's marriage preparation process requires a Pre-marriage Course Certificate. The parish has a ministry to those considering Holy Orders, with priests available to talk further. The parish provides support to those who have lost loved ones.