The Church of St Augustine of Hippo (1927), on the junction of
Felixstowe Road and Bucklesham Road, was designed by the diocesan
architect, H. Munro Cautley, who with his partner Leslie Barefoot had a
practice in Cornhill
Chambers in the Thoroughfare. This
was the first of three Ipswich churches designed by Cautley to be
followed by
St Andrew, Britannia Road (c. 1930) and All Hallows, Landseer Road.
Given their dates, they fall vary somewhere between Victorian gothic,
modernist, Art Deco with shades of Arts and Crafts thrown in, perhaps.
Simon's Suffolk Churches (see Links) claims that All Hallows (c.1937)
is the only one of Cautley's churches in Ipswich which really matters;
it is:'perhaps the last Art Deco church in England. It must already
have seemed old-fashioned, to be building in the late 1930s a perfect
example of the Jazz Modern enthusiasm of the 1920s. I think that All
Hallows is one of the most significant 1930s buildings in Suffolk.'.
Drivers along this part of Landseer Road may notice, as they
pause at the pedestrian crossing, the strikingly lettered:
'ALL HALLOWS
HALL'
even if they don't even take in
the church – the tower being tucked in behind the main building and
screened by vegetation on Raeburn Road.
Birds-eye view
The church, church hall and, presumably, vicarage house are fitted onto
a triangular site defined by Landseer Road, Raeburn Road and Reynolds
Road. The names of the roads illustrate the naming scheme
(Georgian/Victorian painters) adopted when this estate was developed in
the 1930s: Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
RA (1802-1873): an English painter and sculptor, well known for his
paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However,
his best known works are the lion sculptures at the base of Nelson's
Column in Trafalgar Square. Sir Henry Raeburn FRSE
RA RSA (1756-1823): a British portrait painter and Scotland's first
significant portrait painter since the Union to remain based in
Scotland. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA
FRS FRSA (1723-1792): an English painter, specialising in portraits.
John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th
century. He promoted the 'Grand Style' in painting which depended on
idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of
the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769.
The scale of the church hall can be gauged when viewed from
above: perhaps two-thirds of the size of the church. The
small burial ground can be seen to the left point of the triangle.
