Parish Church of St John the Evangelist

The Parish Church of St John the Evangelist stands on Montpellier Road in Torquay, the great resort town of the English Riviera in Devon. One of the finest Victorian churches in the West Country, it was designed by George Edmund Street — one of the leading architects of the Gothic Revival — and built over more than a decade in the second half of the nineteenth century. A Grade I listed building in the Diocese of Exeter, rich in the work of the greatest Victorian craftsmen, St John's is a church of outstanding quality, its tall tower a landmark above the harbour of Torquay.

The church had modest beginnings. It started in 1823 as a chapel-of-ease to the parish church at Tormoham, serving the rapidly growing resort that Torquay was then becoming. The present and far grander building was designed by George Edmund Street and built between 1861 and 1873. It was constructed in stages, as funds allowed, and each stage drew on the talents of remarkable artists. The chancel was built first, by Wall and Hook of Brunscomb, Gloucester, at a cost of £4,000, and was consecrated on 8 November 1864 by the Lord Bishop of Jamaica, the Right Reverend Aubrey Spencer, acting on behalf of the diocesan bishop. It was adorned with carving by Thomas Earp and with mosaic work by the celebrated Venetian craftsman Antonio Salviati — the same artist whose mosaics enrich many of the greatest churches of the age.

The north aisle was completed next and opened in 1866, and construction of the nave and south aisle began in 1870, opening on 2 April 1871. The west tower, which gives the church its commanding presence, was completed in 1884–85 at a cost of £2,000 to the designs of Arthur Edmund Street, the son of the original architect, the contractor being a Mr Chubb of Torquay. Special services were held on 30 April 1885 to mark its completion, and a new bell, cast in E flat by Warner and Son of London and weighing nearly seventeen hundredweight, was dedicated on 7 October 1885.

The interior was further enriched at the end of the 1880s. Between 1888 and 1890 the lady chapel was decorated by the architect John Dando Sedding, another distinguished figure of the Arts and Crafts movement. The chapel was divided from the chancel and aisle by iron grilles and approached by a step of polished Torquay marble, leading to an ornate altar and reredos. New oak seating was installed, the fronts and backs carved and traceried, the ends finished with fleur-de-lis terminations, and the sides bearing shields with sunken carved panels depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ — work carried out by the renowned Exeter wood-carver Harry Hems of Longbrook Street. The church's fine pipe organ, built in 1872 by William Hill & Sons with three manuals and forty-seven speaking stops, replaced a temporary instrument acquired when the church first opened.

Today St John the Evangelist continues as an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Exeter, serving the people of Torquay. Its George Edmund Street architecture, its Salviati mosaics, its Earp and Hems carving, and its commanding tower make it one of the most distinguished Victorian churches in Devon, fully deserving of its Grade I listing.

The church stands on Montpellier Road in Torquay, the principal town of Torbay on the English Riviera coast of South Devon. The resort, with its harbour, palm-lined seafront and sandy beaches, lies close by, along with the neighbouring towns of Paignton and Brixham, the pretty thatched village of Cockington, the prehistoric caves of Kents Cavern, and the wider Torbay coast — famous, among much else, as the birthplace of the writer Agatha Christie.

From its origins as a chapel-of-ease in 1823, through its rebuilding by George Edmund Street between 1861 and 1873, the completion of its tower in 1885 and the decoration of its lady chapel by John Dando Sedding, the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist gathers the artistic achievement of the Victorian age into one building. A Grade I listed church above the harbour of Torquay, it remains the living parish church of the town — one of the finest works of the Gothic Revival on the Devon coast.