Chapel of St. Mary the Immaculate Mother of God

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A chapel aligned north-south consisting of a nave of five and a half bays with lower sacristy in stripped Romanesque revival style with Art Deco overtones. This building is joined at right angles to the left-hand gable of the main school building and projects forward of it by three bays of the nave. A bell tower rises from the ecclesiastical east end of the ecclesiastical north aisle and flanking the sanctuary

Pitched natural slate nave roof is flanked by flat asphalt roofs to lower aisles. Cast iron rainwater goods; hoppers are cast iron with a floral design on the face. To the south (ecclesiastical east) of the sanctuary is the sacristy of three bays; the centre bay has a pitched roof and the flanking bays are roofed as the aisles.

There is a stepped plinth of three courses of reconstituted stone, with walls in load-bearing masonry. Rusticated red facing brick with three different brick types (used randomly) in English Garden wall bond with openings, quoins, copings, parapets and other embellishments in precast reconstituted stone.

The aisles and sacristy have brick parapets coped in reconstituted stone except over the north aisle where the parapet is formed by a pierced balustrade of reconstituted stone. This forms a balcony which is accessible from the school library and the chapel gallery. The three north aisle windows have semicircular heads and are dressed with reconstituted stone. The three clerestory windows are similar to those of the aisle. There is a semicircular headed window in the end of north aisle.

The ecclesiastical east gable of the nave/rear wall of the sanctuary is coped in reconstituted stone with a finial cross. There is a second, larger cross below of the same material built into the brickwork of the wall. Abutting at ground floor is the lower sacristy; the central bay is advanced and gabled. In the apex of the gable is the figure of Christ holding a bunch of lilies. There is a single semicircular headed window in each bay. In the ecclesiastical east wall of the ecclesiastical south aisle (above the sacristy roof) is a semicircular headed window containing a pair of semicircular headed lights. The ecclesiastical west wall has finial and gable crosses as the ecclesiastical east and below a rose window in reconstituted stone in two radiating stages, the inner in four segments and the outer in eight.

The bell tower rises against theecclesiastical north wall of the gable. This is the most striking architectural element of the composition and is in three stages. The first stage has a single tall lancet window on both the ecclesiastical east and north faces. The glazing is two vertical rows of leaded quarries. The corners of this stage are strengthened by shouldered buttresses to 2/3 of its height. The second stage has a triple bell vent on each face. Each vent has a semicircular head all dressed in reconstituted stone as are the base, the quoins and the coping. The third stage is reduced on plan and octagonal entirely in reconstituted stone. It is crowned by a two stage octagonal lantern surmounted by a finial cross, all in reconstituted stone.

The ecclesiastical south aisle is detailed as north and there is a semicircular headed window in the ecclesiastical east end of this aisle.

Historical information

Opened 1938. Designed by John J. Robinson, a Dublin-based architect who was also responsible for the nearby Bishop’s House of 1932 (HB16/25/020) and Galway Cathedral.

Sources:

1. Bishop of Dromore, 1998.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
E. Spatial Organisation
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

An attractive 20th century chapel with unique tower, the composition forming a mix of the historical Romanesque Revival style with modernist Art-Deco detailing reminiscent of the Dutch modernists such as Dudoc. The tower lifts the overall school composition from plain severity to a shrinking architectural statement. In addition, the windows by Clarke in this building may be among of the most beautiful he ever made. For these reasons, and the quality of the interior, the chapel merits special protection.