Church of St Matthew and St James, Liverpool

The church was built between 1870 and 1875, and designed by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin in 1870, but not consecrated until 1875. The church and adjoining vicarage cost £28,000 (£|0}} today) and were paid for by a local merchant Matthew James Glenton, whose Christian names were used for the church's dedications. The east window and baptistry, designed by the same architects, were added in 1880. In 1922 a new chapel, the Ritchie Chapel, was added to the northeast corner of the church. In the Second World War this church was the first church in Britain to be damaged by enemy bombing, which took place on the night of 28–29 August 1940. All the stained glass windows were destroyed;…

The church is built in red sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and a tile roof; it is in 13th century style. Its plan is cruciform, consisting of a six-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, north and south porches, transepts with a tower at the crossing, a chancel with a north organ loft and a south chapel, and an octagonal vestry. The tower has angle buttresses, a stair turret on the northeast, and four two-light windows on the north and south sides. There are clock faces on three sides, two-light bell openings, a parapet with pinnacles and a pyramidal roof with a finial. The tower is described as being "truly monumental". The exterior of the east and west fronts is…