All Souls Church Hall (aka Rosemary Hall)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Arts and crafts style red brick hall, built 1908 to designs by W. J. Gilliland for the second congregation of protestant dissenters in Belfast. The hall is tucked behind All Soul’s Church (HB26 28 044) on Elmwood Avenue, within the Queen’s Conservation Area of south Belfast. Although very different in style, the hall was built within ten years of the church. Rectilinear on plan and comprised of intersecting gables, with main gable spanning N-S, lower gabled projection to W and adjoining two-storey sexton’s house tucked into NW corner, also gabled; later flat-roofed extension to E, which is of little historic interest. Single chimneystack to E joined by chimney cricket to main roof. Upper parts of gables in roughcast render; large square-headed windows with sandstone heads, cills and mullions to leaded glass panes. Original Rosemary roof tiles are now replaced with concrete tiles; however carved timber bargeboards and exposed rafter ends at overhanging eaves remain. Entrance porch at SW re-entrant corner, where main roof slope extends as cat-slide, supported on carved timber posts, beams and curved brackets, with some half-timber work to W.

Materials
Materials
ROOF: Black concrete tiles; flat roofs not seen (probably sheet membrane)
RWG: Profiled uPVC guttering; cast iron hoppers and downpipes.
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond.
WINDOWS: Single glazed leaded panes (S & E) with sandstone mullions and transom; single-glazed timber framed casements (N) and sexton’s house (unless otherwise described).

Both the S and W elevations are equally prominent; entrance is at SE corner.

West Elevation:
Gable to right (S), sexton’s house to left; and side face of taller N-S gable set back.
Gable: projecting bargeboard and exposed rafter ends, painted; upper part of gable in roughcast render (painted) on shallow curved sandstone brackets; remainder of walling in red brick, filled mainly with large window split into five vertically; flush sandstone head and splayed cill; terracotta vents below.
House:
Same height as main gable, comprised of two stories, with one window centred on each ground and first floor centred on gable, splayed string course (painted) between floors cantilevered over chamfered SW corner at ground floor; curved sandstone bracket below. Door to far left (N) side replaced with rendered surround and timber sheeting above. First floor window split into three equal casements and projects as square bay on curved brackets, tucked below beam to rendered upper part; ground floor window also split in three, with night vents, moulded timber surround and moulded stone cill; inward opening multi-paned hopper to chamfered corner, with metal bars fixed to outer reveal.
Between gabled projections, side face of taller gable filled with window split into three vertically, with red brick walling below. Beyond porch, further window to side of taller gable; split in two with toothed surrounds, otherwise as described above. Plaque recessed into wall below porch, with sandstone surround and moulded hood; inscribed as follows: ‘1708 – 1908 / This stone was laid by / John Campbell MD FRCS / on the 9th May 1908 / to commemorate the / bicentenary of the / second congregation’

South Elevation
Main gable projecting to centre, with side face of lower gable to left (W), protected in part by porch; and flat roofed extension set back to right.
Main gable: detailed as W elevation, except large window; on this side, window split into four vertically and three horizontally with toothed surround. Leaded panes replaced and double-glazed with etchings of Mary Graham McGeown 1923-2004 and Joseph Maxwell Freeland 1908-1982 to lower far left and right panes.
Side face of lower gable: blank save for timber framed double entrance doors, set within at segmental arched recess with chamfered sandstone surround at corner where it meets hall gable; terrazzo flooring from inside extends to cover area enclosed within porch; roof soffit sheeted in timber and painted. Moulded cast iron hopper and downpipe fixed near to W corner.
Flat roofed extension: also in red brick (stretcher bond) with lean-to open porch over entrance door; latter has glazed upper panel and side lights; coping to flat roof over.

East Elevation:
Comprised of E face of main gabled hall; and flat roofed extension.
Side face of hall has timber framed five-panelled double doors with paired leaded glass over-lights to left (S); and window to right, split into three with inward opening hoppers above transom.
E face of flat roofed extension built within close proximity to the E boundary wall – difficult to access. Concrete brick walling, with precast concrete cills at horizontal openings equally spaced near to eaves; windows removed and openings bricked up. Gutter fixed along top edge; otherwise blank.

North Elevation
Difficult to access, as the E boundary wall is within close proximity to the building.
Comprised of main gable to centre abutted by flat roofed extension to left (E); and windows belonging to ancillary rooms from the hall and the Sextons House to right.
Main gable: largely blank with single vent at base.
Extension: painted timber fascia board; single window opening, boarded up; precast concrete cill.
Sexton’s House & Ancillary Rooms: From W to E - Large window bricked up (concrete lintel remains); four windows, of differing heights, all with soldier coursed brick headers and projecting stooled sandstone cills and metal security bars; and ledged and braced sheeted timber door with small window over, now boarded up.

Hall included within church complex; however, church is surrounded by soft landscaping enclosed by railings to the E; the hall is bound by a tarmacked car park to the S and W; with rubble-stone basalt walling and metal railings to N and brown brick walling to rear of QUB on Fitzwilliam St to E. An electronic vehicular barrier marks the entrance to the car park on Elmwood Ave, at W side of All Soul’s Church.

Historical information

This hall was built in 1908 to plans by architect W.J. Gilliland of Belfast. The contractors were Messrs W.J. Campbell & Son of Ravenhill Rd, with subsidiary work by Messrs Ward & Co - leaded glass, Ebner & Co. -terrazzo flooring, Mr. John Clements - plumbing, Musgrave & Co. - heating and Buick & Co. – electric lighting. It was designed to serve the adjacent All Souls’ Non-Subscribing Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church (also by Gilliland) built in 1895-96 to supersede the 2nd Belfast Congregation’s original church of 1708 in Rosemary Street. The hall, named after said street and intended to celebrate the congregation’s bicentenary, was officially opened on the 3rd of October 1908 by Mrs W.H. Drummond, the wife of then minister, Rev. William Hamilton Drummond.

The ‘Belfast News-letter’ report of the opening describes the hall as “constructed of brick and stone with tiled roofs, the eaves overhanging and the gables adorned with a considerable amount of woodwork, the whole having a semi-domestic character. There has been no attempt to emulate the ecclesiastical features of the adjoining church, but the new hall harmonises remarkably with the church building. This is attributable to the care with which the architect....has worked out a colour scheme, which is a triumph of the picturesque and pleasing architectural beauty allied with charming simplicity. The hall is a finely proportioned room with an open timbered roof executed entirely in pitch pine. It is lighted by mullioned windows glazed with clear glass in strong leads. One side is broken up by a large fireplace recess in which a very handsome chimneypiece and dog grate have been inserted. A platform with covered front occupies one end, and this has been erected so as to permit of the introduction of a proscenium, and other details are proved to adapt it for dramatic entertainments. A committee-room and cloakrooms are large and commodious, while the lavatories are constructed on the latest hygienic principles. Provision is also made to facilitate catering for social functions. A heating apparatus chamber, fuel, and other stores have been provided in an ample basement. The buildings are heated throughout by hot water radiators, they are fitted up with electric light, a telephone connected with the National system has been installed, and they are in every way of the most up-to-date character...”.

Oddly, the above description makes no mention of the caretaker’s dwelling attached to the hall, suggesting that it may be a later alteration, a notion supported by the fact that this section sits slightly awkwardly with the overall design. But accommodation of some kind was included in the original scheme, for ‘sexton’s apartments’ are mentioned by the valuers in 1910, and the 1920 OS map indicates that this part of the building was present at that point at least; moreover, a caretaker (William R. Gilbert) is noted as living there with his wife Emily and their two infant sons in the 1911 census, with the abode itself noted as a second class dwelling containing four rooms (as it does today).

Joseph Russell is recorded as the sexton in the 1918 street directory, A.E. Webb in 1924, John Adams in 1932, and J. Derby in 1943. In the 1951 directory the building is noted as containing the Ministry of Agriculture’s ‘Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Division’, but if so this must have been a relatively short-lived arrangement (or simply a mistake on the part of the directory compilers) for it had reverted to its former use within a few years, and the sexton continued to occupy the dwelling section into the 1960s at least.

The extension to the east was added in 1957.

The etched portraits in the large window to the south are of two former congregants, Mary McGeown CBE (1923-2004) and her husband, Joseph Maxwell Freeland (1908-82). The former was a biochemist noted for her pioneering research into organ transplants.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43P/3 valuation book, 1906-15
2 ‘Irish Builder’, Nov 1907, 754; 50, 16 May, 17 Oct 1908, 309,639; 51, 9 Jan 1909, 18; B 94, 16 May 1908, 57
3 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 5 October 1908
4 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1910 to 1996
5 Census of Ireland 1911 [online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/]
6 PRONI VAL12B/43P/7 valuation book, 1916-30
7 OS maps, 1920-86 (online - http://www.centremapslive.co.uk/)

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’, (unpublished QUB MA thesis), 1967
2 Rowan, A.J. And Brett, C.E.B., Historic Buildings...Queens University of Belfast, revised ed. (Belfast, UAHS, 1975), pp.27, 40

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Arts and crafts style red brick hall and adjoining Sexton’s House, built 1908 to designs by W. J. Gilliland for the second congregation of protestant dissenters in Belfast. The hall is tucked behind All Soul’s Church (HB26 28 044) on Elmwood Avenue, within the Queen’s Conservation Area. The two share group value and although very different in style, they were built just ten years apart and illustrate the diversity of styles at play during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rosemary Hall takes its name from the original meeting house for the second congregation on Rosemary Street. Comprised of intersecting gables with deep overhanging eaves, carved timber bargeboards and upper parts of gables highlighted in roughcast render on simple corbel brackets; its corner entrance and open porch, together with sandstone mullions to leaded windows largely determine its character. The overall neat composition is marred by a flat roofed extension; nonetheless the hall retains a good deal of its original style, including many authentic interior features. It is significant as a good example of Arts and Crafts architecture, much enhanced by the setting of All Soul’s Church.