Preoccupied with inevitable traffic jams, the many motorists using Dublin’s Pearse Street are unlikely to throw a glance at the old church on their right-hand side. This is St Mark’s, which dates from the early 18th century when a new parish was created separate from that of St Andrew’s. Building work began in 1729 but the church was only roofed 23 years later. The architect responsible is unknown, but in any case the building is notable primarily for its want of external ornamentation, with sturdy limestone rubble walls. The entrance at the west end has a substantial cut-granite door with a smaller Diocletian window above: the arrow slits on either side, now blocked, once held glass to admit light to the interior spaces. The sides of the building have five tall and five short windows, one above the other and the east end has a Venetian window to light the chancel. Much altered in the 19th century, the interior retains its galleries supported by Corinthian columns. Unlike many other Church of Ireland churches in the city, St Mark’s is still in use, now by an evangelical Christian group for services.
The west facade of st Marks is modeled on a well known Italian church. Do you know which one?
Really? I am unaware of this, and wonder which Italian church that might be (similar facades in Italy usually occur because the local people didn’t have enough funds to provide a better front).
The sistine chapel in Rome i believe
Except for the fact that the Sistine Chapel has no façade…
Our 2 year-old evangelical “church plant” in mid-coast Maine has just purchased a 150 year-old Methodist church building. As many churches die off in America – as in Ireland – we should be thankful for the Evangelicals who continue to “Lift High the Cross” and preach the incorruptible Word of God.
The repurposing of church buildings is not new. My Irish immigrant grandmother was married in a Catholic Church on 12 St. in Manhattan NY in 1908. The church was built as an Episcopal church when the area was more upscale. Always thought of that irony as the opposite of all those Norman Catholic churches in Ireland ‘repurposed’ as Anglican.. They even kept that same saint name, St. Anne’s. By the way, the freedom of America, my grandmother married an immigrant Englishman (protestant).