St Catherine of Siena, Richmond
| St Catherine of Siena, Richmond | |
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St Catherine of Siena, seen from the south east
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 Shown within Sheffield
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| Basic information | |
| Location |
Richmond, Sheffield South Yorkshire, England |
| Geographic coordinates | 53°21′41″N 1°24′26″W / 53.3615°N 1.4072°WCoordinates: 53°21′41″N 1°24′26″W / 53.3615°N 1.4072°W |
| Affiliation | Anglican |
| District | Diocese of Sheffield |
| Province | York |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year consecrated | 1959 |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Church |
| Leadership | Philip Knowles (priest) |
| Website | www |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Basil Spence |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| Completed | 1959 |
| Construction cost | £50000 (£1,050,000 in 2015) |
| Specifications | |
| Capacity | 300 |
| Length | 99 feet |
| Width | 42 feet |
| Height (max) | 56 feet |
| Materials | Brick |
St Catherine of Siena is an Anglican church in the Richmond district of Sheffield in England.
Historically, Richmond was a sparsely populated area forming the western end of the Handsworth parish. The Woodthorpe estate was constructed in the area from the 1930s, and in 1935, a chapel-of-ease was constructed to serve its population. It was a temporary structure of corrugated asbestos at the junction of Richmond Road and Hastilar Road. In 1949, a parish was created for it, but the local population had increased to more than 10,000 people, and the church was considered insufficient and in need of replacement. Frederick Etchells was commissioned to design a new church, to seat 500 people, but although he produced drawings, there was initially no money available to construct the building.
St Phillip's Church in Attercliffe was destroyed by bombing during World War II, and although War Damage compensation was available, population decline in that area led the Diocese of Sheffield to request that the money be transferred to the Woodthorpe parish. This was agreed, and Etchells was asked to update his previous design. However, Etchells had largely retired, and rejected the job. Instead, Basil Spence was given the commission. Initially, he produced a design similar to his work at St Hugh, Leicester, but in 1957 he completely altered the designs, working with Anthony Blee who produced drawings of the elevations. This new design was for a brick church, with an attached hall, bell tower attached by a glazed passage, and a detached vicarage. Its appearance, largely plain, with narrow windows, was inspired by Eliel and Eero Saarinen's Christ Evangelical Church in Minneapolis.
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