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Sheffield, Banner Cross Church, Ecclesall Road South

After a long break, Hale returned to design four churches in the 1920s. Banner Cross (1928-9) shows Hale moving away from the complex detailing of his earlier churches to a stripped down style with more emphasis on bold massing and a rigid geometry. N. D. Wilson in his article on Hale suggests that comparisons may be made between the monumental form of the tower of Banner Cross, built as a war memorial, and Sir Edwin Lutyens' CenotaphGlossary Term. He also links the severity of treatment of the church with that of another Northern architect, Edgar Wood, both working in a very hard stone.