With Liverpool cathedral, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, R.A. (b. 188o) at the age of 22, and begun in 1904, there was a return to Gothic, but Gothic with a difference. Liverpool cathe dral is an example of designing in mass instead of in line, the style being a free interpretation of Decorated or 14th century Gothic (see DECORATED PERIOD) and the material a warm red sandstone, with dressings of lighter stone. Standing on the sum mit of a rocky mass, St. James's Mount, in the heart of the city, the building when completed will consist of a central square space rising into a great tower crowned with an octagonal lantern, with eastern and western transepts and two oblong extensions, nearly equal in length, forming the nave and choir. In a side view the central mass formed by the tower and transepts will be absolutely, and the whole building nearly, symmetrical, the choir having a different termination to that of the nave. A striking feature of Liverpool cathedral is the great size of the bays which make up the nave and choir—three only occupying the space which in older buildings would be divided into something nearer ten. Each bay is lighted by a single two-light window, and the aisles are re duced to passage-ways through the return walls, continuous with the buttresses outside, which divide the bays.
In the space of a short article dealing with the modern reli gious and memorial architecture of the world it is not possible to select more than a few significant examples, preferably those with the most modern characteristics. From this point of view there is a special interest in churches associated with town-planning schemes (see TOWN AND CITY PLANNING). Earliest in order of date are the church of St. Jude's-on-the-Hill and the free church in the Hampstead garden suburb, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens R.A. The strongly domestic flavour of these, with their deep tiled roofs and cornices at the level of those of the surrounding houses, is in keeping with the communal ideals of a garden suburb. Nat urally it is in the neighbourhood of London, with its rapid growth of population, that some of the most characteristically modern churches are to be found. St. Catherine Coleman, Hammersmith, designed by Robert Atkinson F.R.I.B.A., is essentially a rectan gular auditorium with short chancel, both barrel vaulted by means of steel arches embedded in concrete, faced externally with London "stock" bricks and roofed with pantiles, and finished off internally with a surface of rough plaster. The stylish allusion is Byzantine, which appears to be the natural consequence of brick and con crete building for congregational needs. Within a few hundred yards of St. Catherine Coleman there is an exceptionally beautiful church, St. Saviour's, designed by Edward Maufe F.R.I.B.A. for
the Royal Association in Aid of the Deaf and Dumb. In this church, which is of brick in a free interpretation of Decorated or 14th century Gothic, everything is adapted to sight to the exclusion of hearing. There is no organ and no provision for a choir, the clergy seats being in two "ambos" set at an angle to keep the occupants in full view, the nave walls splay in to the chancel, the floor rakes as in a theatre, and there is a western gal lery. A feature of the interior is restful colour decoration.
St. Barnabas mission church, Dalston, designed by Prof. C. H. Reilly F.R.I.B.A. and built about 1910, is an example of an urban building so closely surrounded that it can be seen only as an in terior. This, of London "stock" bricks, is of almost startling grandeur the brick being used, not as by Bentley at Westminster as a support for marble sheathing, but for its own decorative effect ; the full colour value being brought out by the use of white metal instead of brass for candlesticks, chancel gates and other fittings. Unlike most modern churches below cathedral rank, St. Barnabas has what amounts to a choir, formed by the crossing of the shallow transepts, saucer-domed in concrete above and separated from the barrel-vaulted nave of three bays by a wooden screen of four columns supporting the rood beam. The special point about St. Andrew's, Ilford, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, A.R.A., is that it is an exercise in brick and timber con struction, giving full opportunity to the native craftsmanship in these materials, the only stone employed being in the chancel flooring, the corbels supporting the roof timbers and the font. Characteristically modern is the addition of decorative details by prominent artists and craftsmen; an altar and reredos carved by Lawrence Turner, a triptych painted by Colin Gill, a lunette of glazed pottery—in the baptistery—by the Poole Potteries, and, externally, a bronze figure of the angel of peace by Charles Wheeler.
Mention must be made of a few other recent churches in England of special architectural interest. In the neighbourhood of Liverpool and elsewhere Sir Giles Gilbert Scott has designed several churches in his characteristic manner of moulded Gothic— as it might be called in distinction from the stone skeleton con struction of the middle ages—St. Paul's, Derby lane, Liverpool, being a good example.
As an instance of planning to requirements, combining the maxi mum of space and unimpeded movement, sight and hearing with a dignified architectural effect, special mention must be made of the new church at Hindley, Lancashire, designed by Robert At kinson F.R.I.B.A.