The Parish Church Of St Luke, 30 Eardley Road, Sevenoaks, Kent. TN13 1XT  Tel 01732 743045  Charity Reg. No:- 1127331 The Architectural Character Of St Luke's Church And Its Significance  St Luke's as it stands today consists of two-thirds of J.T. Lee's original design. He had  intended two further bays of the nave, making four in all, plus a south-west porch leading into  a narrow narthex the full width of the west end. From the centre of the narthex a low apsidal  baptistery was to project. Though no drawing has survived showing the elevation of Lee's  west front, it is likely that, for the Eardley Road site, he had intended the west end to make the  main architectural statement. It is thus not surprising that the exterior of Lee's church as built  is somewhat unimpressive. Furthermore the building was always intended as a chapel of  ease. Thus a tower, to house a peal of bells, was out of the question. A single bell was hung,  at Lee's recommendation, at the south-east angle of the chancel.  The architect was working to an overall budget of £5000, yet was asked to provide seating for  400-450; so he conceived the church from the outset in simple terms. Though economies  were later forced on him, they did not affect the essential character of the design; and there is  evidence that at a late stage he was allowed to enhance it in one or two significant ways.  From the outset the church was to be of brick. In the early years of the 20th century that would  have defined it as a town church, in the tradition stemming back over fifty years to the model  church of the Ecclesiological Society, All Saints, Margaret Street, off Upper Regent Street in  central London. Brick also strongly contrasted the new church from the stone-built, rough-  textured St Mary, Kippington, which was an estate church in a semi-rural setting. Lee softened the impact of the brickwork with the occasional broad band of stone, and there  are generous stone dressings to the windows and doorways; internally the circular piers and  arches are all of stone. Lee used his stonework economically, yet it gives character and  variety. Of mouldings there are very few, just on the caps and bases of the columns, and on  the internal heads of the windows. Otherwise everything is square-cut or facetted. The way  the stonework meets brick externally and plastered walling internally is also consistent and  deliberate: arched forms are smoothly outlined in stone, but vertical features are formed of  irregular stones which give a sense of naturalness and informality. The influence of the ideas  of the famous mid-19th century theorist of art and architecture, John Ruskin, can be sensed  here. It was he who had proclaimed that buildings should be designed in emulation of the  forms of nature, rocks, the plumage of birds or the structure of plants.  The architect had intended a certain amount of stone carving. Only the canopy finials over  credence and sedile were carved, at his special request. Otherwise several square blocks of  stone, especially on the north side of the chancel, show where carving was never carried out.  The most memorable qualities of Lee's church are spatial. When one enters one is surprised  at its height, and its brightness. Lee certainly intended these effects; for example he  persuaded the building committee to let him redesign the north wall of the chancel 'to obtain  greater height and more light'. The broad, square-ended chancel, lit from high side windows,  and with full-width steps rising gently but impressively to the sanctuary, is typical of late  Victorian church planning. The view from the nave into the chancel is unimpeded, for there is  no chancel arch. Only the roof-construction, hammer-beam trusses in the chancel, tie-beams  in the nave, distinguishes the two parts. A double truss marks the transition from chancel to  nave and is also a reminder of the two phases of construction.