The plan is a nave of five bays with side aisles (Plate 43), over which are galleries, these being connected by a western one in the last bay of the nave. A shallow sanctuary is placed at the eastern end, and at the west is the steeple and a vestibule containing the entrances and the staircases to the galleries and tower.
The general treatment of the exterior of the church (Plates 45 and 47) is plain in character, but of pleasing effect. The walling is faced with Portland stone rusticated (chamfered at the joints) to a projecting band marking the gallery level. Above, the walling is of plain ashlaring with rusticated quoins. The gallery windows have semi-circular heads with keystones, moulded architraves and plain impost blocks. The whole is surmounted by a bold modillion cornice, with blocking course above.
Emphasis is given to the sanctuary by a pediment and by a large semi-circular-headed window with panels on either side forming a decorative composition.
The western end has a similar pediment with the tower rising above. The central entrance doorway lacks emphasis and the importance which its position seems to require, and is almost the same in design as those to the vestibules facing north and south, which are relatively unimportant. On the main frieze below the cornice is the inscription—H. Flitcroft, Architectus.
Rising immediately behind the western pediment is the steeple of about 150 feet in height.
Flitcroft’s able design was evidently influenced by that of Gibbs for the neighbouring church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, but it lacks the vigorous character of that noble structure. The banding to the obelisk above the belfry tends to make this feature appear somewhat overheavy in comparison with the graceful lantern beneath. The change from square to octagon at the clock face level is cleverly managed, and will bear comparison with the same feature at St. Martin’s Church.
The following extract from A Critical Review of the Public Buildings, Statues and Ornaments in and About London and Westminster made by Ralph in 1734, is of interest, as it gives an opinion upon the architecture of this church shortly after its erection:—
“The new church of St. Giles’s is one of the most simple and elegant of the modern structures: it is rais’d at very little expence, has very few ornaments, and little beside the propriety of its parts, and the harmony of the whole, to excite attention, and challenge applause: yet still it pleases, and justly too; the east end is both plain and majestick, and there is nothing in the west to object to but the smallness of the doors, and the poverty of appearance that must necessarily follow. The steeple is light, airy and genteel, argues a good deal of genius in the architect, and looks very well both in comparison with the body of the church, and when ’tis consider’d as a building by itself, in a distant prospect.”
Ralph disliked the position of the church, and would have altered its direction, making what is the east end the main front, and placing it in such a manner as to have ended the vista of Broad Street.
The interior (Plate 49) is much finer than the exterior would suggest, and is an excellent example of a well thought-out design. Square panelled piers rising to the underside of the galleries support Ionic columns with block entablatures, all of Portland stone (Plate 46). These carry the roof and ceiling. The ceiling of the nave is barrel-vaulted in form, panelled and divided into bays by mouldings. The ceilings of the aisle-galleries (Plates 44 and 51) take the form of a species of groined vaults intersecting the barrel ceiling of the nave. The whole is covered by a roof of one span.