Wednesday, November 20, 2013

St. Saviour Church, Aberdeen Park

William White designed this church in 1865-66 with a distinct polychrome brickwork.



The stone triptych reredos contained a central crucifixion mosaic sometimes misattributed to Sir Henry Layard. Since Layard was a politician and explorer, this error was more than likely due to the fact that he was partners with Salviati in their joint mosaic business, which made the mosaic.

The church was closed in 1980 and the parish was united with Christ Church, Highbury Grove. In 1990, the dilapidated space was turned into the Florence Trust's artists studios.

View of the western end

View of the eastern end. The top of the stone reredos is visible above the white screen, which was installed to conserve the artifacts.







Sources:
Cherry, Bridget. London: North. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. 659.
Hadley, Dennis. "Powell's Opus Sectile Locations." pdf. 32.
Davies, John Andrew. "Site Unseen: St. Saviour's, Aberdeen Park, London." The Independent. Dec 19, 1995.
AIM25 'Islington: Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 88-99.
The detailed photographs of the reredos was kindly provided by Neil Jefferies, Studio Manager at The Florence Trust.

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