st.john the evangelist r.c. church,islington, london

built in 1841-3 by j.j.scoles, this is one of those barn like bleak catholic churches with ham-fisted design and paintwork that reveal the lack of finance in these areas of town at the time: pugin hated this church with a vengeance, describing it as a modern deformity. there was a seeming catholic desire to always build in as un-english a style as possible, the mass-produced simpering saints , overpowering smell of cabbage and carbolic, and the layers of cheap gloss paint slapped onto every surface have hardly improved the place since his day either. mind you, this church may not be a thing of beauty, but it is the only one hereabouts that's always open. . .