St. John the Evangelist Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A modern double-height Church of Ireland with Gothic influences built 1957 to the designs by R H Gibson and E D Taylor of Belfast. Nave with side aisles, chancel, sanctuary, tower and ancillary accommodation to the rear. Located on the west side of Castlereagh Road, adjacent to Belfast city boundary, south-east of the city centre.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; extruded metal ogee moulded guttering hoppers and circular downpipes. Reconstituted monotone block rock-faced masonry; brought to courses; smooth finished plinth and coping. Tripartite mullioned leaded stained glass and metal-frame casement rolled glass windows to ground floor/aisles; smooth faced long-and-short surrounds; chamfered jambs, cills, heads and mullions. Pointed-arched leaded stained glass and metal-frame casement rolled glass modern bipartite tracery nave windows; irregular long-and-short surrounds; chamfered jambs, cills, heads, mullions and transoms. The principal entrance is a double-leaf panelled timber door with bronze ironmongery recessed into a simple moulded lancet-arched opening with plinth blocks.

The principal gable faces northeast and is symmetrically arranged and notably without moulded decoration. Squared-headed quadripartite baptistery window flanked by a pair of diminutive squared decorative buttresses without offsets; tall east window comprising tripartite lancet arched tracery stained glass; ventilation grille over.

The left elevation comprises a raised seven bay wide facade (six nave windows and paired chancel windows) with parapets breaking though eaves at either end and a further sanctuary window to the left. The ground floor is abutted by a single storey aisle; projected gabled entrance porch with diminutive single and bipartite windows to the side cheeks, to the right. To the left is single-storey, flat-roofed abutment comprising single, bi/tripartite metal-frame windows; concave sheeted timber rear door with moulded surrounds.

The southwest gable has a single quadripartite stained glass circular window at high level; ventilation grille over.

The right elevation matches in the left elevation in principle; six nave windows, abutted at ground floor by a single-storey aisle; flanked either side by projected gabled porches. Three-storey plain square-plan tower butting the left further abutted on the west cheek by a narrow two storey flat roofed bay, all comprising single, bi/tripartite metal-frame windows and a concave sheeted timber rear door with moulded surrounds.

Setting:

The church is located off the main road accessed via entrance screen to the northeast; mild steel railings and gates fixed to squared coursed masonry walling and piers; boundary post adjacent to the right. South of the site are red brick industrial units; two storey residential to the north. A narrow road tightly circumnavigates the church leading to a large car park to the rear, which further access the manse and church hall.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Artificial masonry
Windows: Stained glass
RWG: Extruded metal

Historical information

St John the Evangelist church was built between 1955 and 1957 to designs by R H Gibson and E D Taylor. (www.dia.ie)

The new parish of St John formed in 1937, inheriting the endowments and furnishings of St John’s Church, Laganbank which had been built in 1853 close to the Albert Bridge and was demolished in 1943. (Clergy of Down and Dromore) The removal of the church to what is now known as Belfast Orangefield parish was stimulated by the rapid growth of the city into what had formerly been rural areas of County Down in the early to mid twentieth century. In the 1930s development in Castlereagh Road ended at the tramway terminus, beside the site where the church now stands.

As was a common proceeding, the parish was initially served by a church hall which was built in Orby Drive in 1937 to designs by Henry Seaver. The land on which the hall was built was donated for the purpose by the Blakiston-Houston family, local landowners. The site of the present church was purchased in 1949 from the Ministry of Commerce and building commenced in 1955 to designs by R H Gibson and E D Taylor of Belfast. The foundation stone was laid in 1956 by Lt-Col J M Blakiston-Houston and the church was consecrated in November 1957. (Clergy of Down and Dromore)

Robert Hanna Gibson (1890-1979) received his architectural training in the office of Henry Seaver and became his partner in the 1930s, carrying on the practice after Seaver died in the late 1930s. His partnership with E D Taylor began c1949 and lasted until his retirement in the early 1960s. Gibson was influenced by the architecture of Edwin Lutyens and designed a number of educational buildings and church halls, including St Jude’s parochial hall, Ravenhill Road (HB26/02/004). (www.dia.ie)

The ‘Ch[urch]’ is first shown on the OS map edition dating from the 1960s/70s and appears in the Second General Revaluation dating from 1956-72 at a valuation of £640. A ‘hall’ was added to the valuation in 1970 increasing the valuation to £756. (Second General Revaluation)

Following the construction of a new hall in the grounds of the church in 1994, the old hall in Orby Drive was sold. (Clergy of Down and Dromore)

References:

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1931
6. OS map 130 (1960s/70s)

Secondary Sources

1. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996
2. www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A double-height modern-gothic style Church of Ireland built 1957 to the designs by R H Gibson and E D Taylor of Belfast. As an example of unaltered mid 20th century architecture of good merit, this church is influenced by the form and proportions of historic ecclesiastical buildings, while adopting the minimal styling of the architecture of its time. Internally, the subtlety created by clean lines and blank surfaces results in a light space, enriched by the Gothic-style liturgical furniture and modern stained glass windows. Replacing a much earlier church relocated from the city centre, the church continues to play an important role to the local community.