| Description | The existing church of St Gabriel, Upper Holloway [later renamed Archway] was built in 1966 after the Second Vatican Council held in 1965. The mission was originally founded in 1858 by the Passionist Fathers of St Joseph’s Church and Retreat, Highgate Hill. Their congregation grew rapidly with the influx of Irish immigrants into Upper Holloway. A chapel was opened in Tollington Park around 1925, and an iron chapel was built in Hatchard Road, Upper Holloway in 1928 (enlarged in 1931), for worshippers unable to reach St. Joseph's in Highgate. In 1938, St Gabriel's was transferred to the care of the Diocese of Westminster and became part of a combined parish with St Mellitus, Tollington Park.
As the Roman Catholic population in north Islington grew after World War II, extra masses began to be held at both St Gabriel's and St Mellitus from 1950 onwards. Both chapels were eventually replaced by parish churches. St Gabriel’s finally become an independent parish in 1964 and Canon George Groves then bought the present site on the corner of Upper Holloway Road and St John's Villas. Work on the new church started in April 1966 and the foundation stone was laid by Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Casey on 6 May 1967 . The church was opened and consecrated by Cardinal Heean on 17 December 1967. Gerard Goalen was the architect, Noel O’Connell the structural engineer and Marshall Andrew & Co. the contractors. Goalen also built the adjoining two-storey presbytery.
After the completion of the church, the temporary church became the hall until 1973-74, when a two-storey community centre was built on its site. Goalen was again the architect. The existing church is notable for having no windows on three of its external walls in order to minimise the noise from the busy road outside: it is lit instead by means of a hidden clerestory. The church contains several sculptures by Willi Soukop RA (1907-1995).
In c.1981, Gerard Goalen & Partner converted the baptistery into a meeting room (now the sacristy). The church was reordered by Carmel Cauchi, who altered the sanctuary steps, plastered the walls (originally of exposed brick) with a pattern of blind arches, enclosed the deep coffers of the ceiling, and provided new sanctuary furnishings. At some point the original configuration of the crying chapel, and the organ and choir which used to flank the sanctuary was altered.
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