The Welsh Presbyterian

Under One Roof

A new chapter for the Welsh Presbyterian Church, Toxteth

An independent concept exploring how a historic place of worship could become a shared home for faith, culture and community.

The Welsh Presbyterian Church has a presence that extends far beyond its walls. Its steeple remains a defining landmark on Princes Road, while its damaged roof and empty interior reveal the distance between the building’s significance and its present condition.

Under One Roof explores how this much-loved church could return to public life. The proposal retains its identity as a Christian place of worship while introducing spaces for learning, creativity, conversation and community activity.

At its centre is a new roof: a continuous, sculptural covering that connects the existing gables and rises towards an opening to the sky. It gives the building a contemporary architectural expression while preserving the stone steeple as its principal landmark.

A Welsh story within Liverpool

Designed by W & G Audsley and built in the 1860s, the Grade II-listed church belongs to a period when Welsh migration helped shape Liverpool’s population, working life and culture. Known locally as the Welsh Cathedral, it became an important gathering place for the city’s Welsh community. Its Gothic stonework, elaborate windows and soaring spire gave architectural expression to that community’s faith and ambition.

The concept approaches this inheritance as something that can continue to develop. Worship, music, education and gathering provide a foundation for a renewed role within contemporary Toxteth: a neighbourhood whose identity has been formed by generations of communities making a home here.

Working with what remains

Decades of vacancy, weather exposure and deterioration have left the church severely damaged, with extensive roof loss and vulnerable fabric. Its surviving walls, gables and window openings nevertheless retain a powerful spatial character.

The proposal begins with those elements. The masonry would require careful assessment, stabilisation and repair, with particular attention to the carved stone surrounds, buttresses, rose window and steeple. The intention is to recover their depth and craftsmanship while allowing the new work to be understood as a distinct addition.

The existing church supplies the proportions, boundaries and rhythm of the design. Its condition also demands a realistic approach: any future intervention would need to emerge through conservation expertise, structural investigation and a viable plan for long-term care.

A roof drawn towards the light

The replacement roof grows from the geometry of the building itself. Four gable profiles define its edges, anchoring a connected surface that gathers and rises above the crossing.

The form develops the familiar pitched church roof into something more fluid. Broad shoulders draw the separate roof sections together, allowing the interior to be experienced beneath one continuous canopy.

At the highest point, the surface narrows around a circular skylight. This opening gives the rising form a purpose beyond its silhouette, bringing daylight into the heart of the building and creating a changing focus as the sun moves overhead.

Within a Christian setting, light offers a direct architectural expression of hope, reflection and renewal. The new roof carries that idea alongside the enduring presence of the original steeple.

Material, pattern and belonging

A raised diamond lattice gives the roof a woven character. Crossing ribs follow its changing curvature, creating depth, shadow and a sense of movement towards the skylight.

The material study explores Welsh textile geometry translated into a contemporary roof skin. Stepped diamonds, interlocking bands and restrained cross motifs suggest connections between individual parts and a larger whole.

Timber-toned ribs and patterned ceramic finishes are being explored alongside charcoal, deep green, warm ivory and terracotta. These colours establish a relationship with the church’s sandstone, slate and neighbouring brick buildings.

New stained-glass studies extend this approach into the windows, combining geometric leadwork with richer jewel colours and pale panes that retain daylight. The final palette and pattern could be developed with local communities, giving the renewed building a connection to the people who would use it.

Worship at the heart of a shared building

The church’s religious purpose remains central to the proposal. A dedicated space for worship, prayer and quiet reflection would sit within a broader programme of compatible community uses.

Flexible rooms could accommodate workshops, youth activities, meetings, rehearsal and local exhibitions. The former school ranges offer opportunities for smaller activities, allowing different groups to use the site without every event occupying the main church.

Music could provide a particularly strong connection between worship and public life, through choral gatherings, rehearsals and carefully managed performances. A modest café or shared kitchen could support daily use and informal encounters.

These activities would need to be shaped with a future congregation, neighbours and potential operators, establishing a programme that is welcoming, practical and sustainable.

A continuing place in Toxteth

The ambition is to bring this landmark back into a useful relationship with its neighbourhood.

A repaired church and an expressive new roof could create a place where heritage is encountered through everyday experience: attending a service, joining a workshop, hearing a choir or meeting someone for a conversation.

Under One Roof imagines the building carrying its Welsh Presbyterian inheritance forward through a renewed commitment to gathering, worship and community life.

Suggested programme

• Christian worship and congregational gatherings

• Prayer, quiet reflection and pastoral support

• Flexible community meeting rooms

• Youth activities and creative workshops

• Choir rehearsal and music education

• Small performances, talks and exhibitions

• Welsh heritage interpretation and community storytelling

• Shared kitchen and café

• Accessible circulation and welcoming outdoor spaces

An independent architectural concept by mmcd studio. The study is not associated with the building’s owners or their separate redevelopment proposals. Materials, structure and programme remain exploratory.