ONE of Highgate’s best-known landmarks, St Joseph’s Church – known as Holy Joe’s – is having a £100,000 facelift.
The green domes of the church at the corner of Highgate Hill and Dartmouth Park Hill can be seen from Hampstead Heath. A listed building completed in 1889, it is described as outstanding by English Heritage.
The larger of the two domes, both made of copper with a green patina, weighs 2,000 tonnes.
The domes are covered with scaffolding while work continues on a four-month project to refurbish the Baptistry tower, where the smaller of the two domes is located.
According to a spokeswoman for the project, a builders’ survey found that the effects of 115 winters meant parts of the church were dangerous, and could even fall on worshippers.
Eleanor Frost, from Frost Associates, which coordinates the maintenance work for the church, said: “Because the building is so old, there is constant maintenance work that needs to be done. The large green dome was re-painted and a new guttering system installed six years ago.
“The lighting and the heating systems have also been repaired recently.”
The bill for the project, which began in February and is expected to be completed in June, has been funded partly by a £20,000 grant from the Lottery fund, with the remainder raised by the Passionist monks who run the church.
The history of the church dates back to the mid-1850s. Father Ignatius Spencer, uncle of the 5th Earl of Spencer, who was seeking a home for the Passionists in London, identified what was then the old Black Dog Inn as a suitable site – and was forced to visit the property in disguise to inspect it.
Eventually, a chapel attached to the old pub was replaced by a purpose-built church in 1861. When this became too small, work on the current building began in May 1888. The finished building was blessed by the Bishop of Liverpool on November 21, 1889.