St Mary's Catholic Church - Vivian Road, Harborne - stone head

Another look at St Mary's Catholic Church from Vivian Road, Harborne.

Mainly concentrated on the Victorian building of 1875-77, and not the later 20th century extension to the right.

St Mary's Church, Harborne

St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Harborne, Birmingham. It is situated on Vivian Road next to St Mary's Primary School. It was founded by the Passionists in 1875 and is currently served by the Augustinians.

The first congregation was formed by the Passionists who worshipped in a disused Methodist Chapel on Harborne High Street from 1870. Building work started on the current St Mary's Church, in Vivian Road, on 8 September 1875 and it opened on 6 February 1877.

It had long been felt that the old house at the rear, Harborne Lodge, was too confined and inconvenient for a religious community. Accordingly, a new Retreat was planned, linking up the original house with the present church. With impressive ceremonial the new building was blessed and opened towards the end of May 1911 by the Bishop of Birmingham Edward Ilsley.

ST MARY (R.C.), Vivian Road. The start is ST MARY'S RETREAT, formerly HARBORNE LODGE (see below), of 1823- by Rickman & Hutchinson for George Simcox, announced on the road by its gatepiers. Radical Neoclassicism: heavy tapering columns with Doric capitals and conical tops. The first church for the Passionists, is by Dunn & Hansom, 1875-7. Brick with stone dressings, Dec, with a turret with an open arcaded top. A long wing of 1910-11 by VS. Peel links it to the house Replacement church for the Augustinians by Brian A. Rush & Partners, 1977-8, r. Fan-shaped, with a thin lantern above the altar, on which perches a thinner metal spire. Dark inside, with cheap-looking metal beams. Dunn & Hansom's interior partly survives at one side; arcade with circular piers and juicy foliage responds. The junction is a car-crash, with a flat lintel across chancel arch. Nice two-bay arcade between the former chancel and Sacred Heart Chapel. - STAINED GLASS. Chancel 1898, Lady Chapel by Hardmans, 1917. - PARISH CENTRE of 1990, 1.

St Mary's Retreat, at the rear, is a stuccoed Picturesque villa. Tall three-bay s front with pedimental gables to the end bays. First-floor windows in segment-headed recesses. Deep bracket eaves. Porch, E, with Ionic columns in antis. The drawing room has one end divided by fluted Ionic columns. Deep cornice. Sober marble fireplace. Staircase with alternating stick and fancy cast-iron balusters, made by the Eagle Foundry. Attached, w, a Gothick ORANGERY, added later. Its bays are divided by slim buttresses ending in finials. Pretty cresting between. Renewed cast-iron glazing with intersecting patterns, and coloured glass. Cast-iron roof trusses with unusual intersecting cusping.

Pevsner

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Taken in: UK / England / Harborne (show map)

Taken on: September 18, 2023

Tags:

Harborne

birmingham

england

united kingdom

great britain

Vivian Rd

St Mary's Church, Harborne

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Catholic Church

St Mary's RC Church

Roman Catholic parish church

Passionists

Augustinians

Bishop of Birmingham Edward Ilsley

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Sets appears in: • Harborne

Groups appears in: • Gargoyles, Grotesques And Angels • Sculpture more » • Red Brick Buildings • Public Sculpture (UK) • Victorian Architecture • Victorian Church Architecture UK • Brick & Stone Architecture • Brick and Mortar • B17 Harborne, Birmingham « less

Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ72, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, 132.7mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-FZ72
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	132.7mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
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Color Space:	sRGB
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