Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height Romanesque-style frontispiece Victorian Presbyterian church, located on Castlereagh Street in east Belfast,
built c.1868 to designs by William Hastings. Rectangular plan form with curved stairwells added c.1885 reputed to be by W.J. Gilliland and adjoining rear rectangular hall dated 1893 by Thomas Roe.

Pitched natural slate roof; cast-iron ogee gutters and circular downpipes. Red brick walling laid to Flemish bond; ashlar cornice, string and plinth courses of varying open-heart, foliated and wedge shaped mouldings. Leaded stained glass round headed windows; flanked by ashlar plain pilasters with decorative stiff-leaf capitals and moulded archivolts. Front doors are double-leaf timber panelled; deep moulded surrounds and round-headed archivolt over with inverted foliated stops; carved tympanums depicting bust and foliation to the left and right; centre tympanum depicting an open bible with crest and inscribed with “MOUNT-POTTINGER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH” and “ARDENS SED VIRENS”; probably installed after 1873.

The principal gable faces northeast and is symmetrically arranged. Highly decorative façade. Raked coping and string course. Brick pilasters surmounted by squat moulded pinnacles. Single-storey lean-to porch comprising tripartite entrance; central gable door flanked by single-stage decorative moulded buttresses terminated by gablets; diminished side doors flanked by angled buttresses breaking through the eaves terminated with a plain pinnacle; cogged eaves course throughout. Porch flanked by simple diminutive round-headed windows; continuous impost moulding; moulded brick jambs; chamfered sandstone cill; simple moulded arch springing from wedged cornice course. Three round-headed first floor windows; central window deeply recessed within a narrow breakfront flanked by decorative buttresses rising above the upper cornice course and conjoined by a deep projected segmental-arched canopy. The canopy is further surmounted by a brick plinth supporting a decorative moulded octagonal pinnacle bearing the date “1869” breaking through the gable apex.

The left elevation is four bays deep. The right bay is a continuation of the front façade and is abutted by a two-storey curved stair-well with decorative machiolations and having a conical roof and plain windows; moulded brick reveals and chamfered stone cills and heads. Stepped plain projected stone string course rising from left to right; five diminishing square-headed windows with cills rising in accordance to the stairs; five equal size round-headed upper windows with terracotta panel between the lower and upper windows. The bays to the left are flanked by buttresses; each bay comprising three square-headed ground floor windows with brick reveals and continuous stone cill course and shared heads; three round-headed first floor windows with deep shared stone cills, brick reveals and round-headed brick head with projected key blocks. Drop corbelled eaves with cogged course; ogee moulded gutters with downpipes centred on buttresses. The far left bay is partially abutted by a modern flat-roofed extension of no interest.

The rear elevation faces southwest and is abutted by a Romanesque-style gable-ended six-bay two-storey hall erected 1893. Its general appearance is Flemish bonded red-brick walling with terracotta mouldings. The principal elevation faces southwest comprising a pilastered façade with decorative eaves detail; square headed ground floor windows surmounted by terracotta pediment drip moulding; round-headed first floor windows with continuous drip moulding. Recessed central bays embraced by full-width round-headed arches; paired ground floor windows with Palladian style first floor windows. Two sets of double-leaf diagonally sheeted timber doors set into camber arched opening with chamfered surrounds. The left gable is surmounted by a diminutive pediment bearing the date “1893” with “LECTURE HALL” inscribed on the frieze below. The appearance matches the principal elevation in detailing. The rear elevation abuts the church. The right gable is very plain with no detailing; modern flat-roofed extension to the right.

The right elevation of the church matches the left.

Setting:

The church is situated directly on Castlereagh street and is a prominent feature in a largely two-storey terraced Victorian and modern residential
setting. The front of the site is bounded by robust wrought-iron gates and railings with cast-iron detailing fixed to a sandstone coping. The paving immediately to the front of the church has been replaced with a modern stone paviors. Further terraces lines the streets to the side and rear with industrial units adjacent to the adjoining hall.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Red-brick/sandstone
Windows: Stained glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Annual Revisions record that construction of Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church on Castlereagh Street was completed by 1869 when it first appeared in the valuation books, valued at £180. The church remained at this value until 1906 when it was reduced to £160 (Ormeau Ward was first valued separately from the rest of central Belfast in 1906); this decrease in value occurred despite the renovation of the church c. 1903 when a new heating system was installed by Watt & Tulloch (Irish Builder, Vol. 45, 21 May 1903, p. 1765).

Between the construction of the church and its renovation, a hall and lecture room was constructed to the rear of the building in 1893. This church hall was designed by Thomas Roe who was active in Belfast between approximately 1893 and 1901 (Roe designed Portadown Town Hall in 1889 and a number of other buildings throughout Ulster under the partnership name T. & R. Roe); the new hall was constructed at a cost of £1,373 2s. 8d. with Campbell & Lowry contracted as builders (Irish Builder, Vol. 35, 15 Mar 1893, p. 73; Dictionary of Irish Architects). The value of the church remained at £160 until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930; however, by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 the value of the church and its hall was recalculated at £350. The second revaluation of the church did not take place until after the Second World War; by 1956 the value of the church had risen further and stood at £790, however under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act this was reduced to £630 at which it remained until the end of the revaluation in 1972.

Larmour records that Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church was constructed between 1868 and 1869 and designed by William Hastings (1814-1892), a former surveyor of Works for the Borough of Belfast who worked privately after 1857; in 1868 when he was working on Mountpottinger Presbyterian the Irish Builder described him as ‘architect to the town council’ (Dictionary of Irish Architects; Irish Builder, Vol. 10, 1 Jun 1868, p. 135). Larmour also states that the stair turrets at the front of the church were a later addition, having been constructed in 1886 by William Gilliland (Larmour, p. 31).

The need for a new Presbyterian church in Ballymacarrett was first presented by the Rev. Meneely of First Ballymacarrett Presbyterian; construction of the church was sanctioned by the General Assembly in 1865. When it opened in 1869 the church was originally known as Second Ballymacarrett Presbyterian Church; Kirkpatrick suggests that the church changed its name to Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church in 1873 and the Belfast Street Directories indicate that this name change had certainly taken place by 1877 (Kirkpatrick, pp 167-168). Due to the change in the name of the church the carved tympanums above the entrance bearing the inscription ‘Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church – Ardens Sin Virens’ was installed c. 1870s.

During the 20th century the congregation of Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church continued to grow, however as a result of civil unrest, the immediate area has been extensively redeveloped resulting in a decrease in the number of churchgoers; Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church was listed in 1987 and in 2006 the family membership numbered approximately 185 (Kirkpatrick, p. 168).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/7 – Annual Revisions 1863-1881
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/17 – Annual Revisions 1882-1896
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/31 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/K/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1915
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/K/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/25 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/24 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
8. Irish Builder, Vol. 10, 1 Jun 1868; Vol. 35, 15 Mar 1893; Vol. 45, 21 May 1903.
9. Belfast Newsletter (2010)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
2. Kirkpatrick, L. ‘Presbyterians in Ireland: An illustrated history’ Dublin: Booklink, 2006.
3. First Survey Record – HB26/06/004 (1987)

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A double-height Romanesque-style Victorian Presbyterian church, built c. 1869 to designs by William Hastings, with stairwells added c.1885 reputed to be by W.J. Gilliland and adjoining rear rectangular hall dated 1893 by Thomas Roe. The highly decorative Victorian style, the proportions and detailing of the front façade are a good example of its kind. Architectural detailing is largely intact and the church has a relatively well-preserved interior. The church has group value with the adjoining hall (HB26/06/004B). The railings to the front contribute positively to the setting and are integral to the overall character of the church. The church was designed by one of Belfast's important architect's and remains in use, and is of considerable social importance and interest to the local community it severs.

General comments

This record was originally listed under HB26/06/004