St Malachy's Presbytery

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical three-storey three-bay Ruskinian Gothic polychrome brick Presbytery, built c. 1869 to designs by John O'Neill, adjacent to St Malachy's Roman Catholic church (HB26/30/023A), immediately south of Belfast city centre. Rectangular on plan with extension to rear.

Hipped natural slate roof with U-shaped ridge, M-profile to east; brick chimneystacks to ridge with dentilled caps and terracotta pots. Cast iron rainwater goods over corbelled ashlar sandstone eaves. Walling is Flemish bonded red brick with chamfered sandstone basal course; sandstone cill course to all three floors and to impost level of ground floor openings. Ground and first floors have black brick banding, and upper reaches of ground floor has a decorative band of ornamental tiles. Windows are lancet-headed to ground floor, segmental headed to upper floors, 1/1 timber sashes throughout.

Principal elevation faces west and is symmetrical with three openings to each floor about a central entrance. Ground floor windows and first floor central window are paired lancets, each pair divided by a slender sandstone colonnette supporting decorative ashlar sandstone Gothic-styled lintel with roundel surmounted by ornamented sandstone voussoirs alternate with black and red brick. Polychrome brick and sandstone voussoirs to remaining first floor windows; plain brick heads to second floor windows. Deeply recessed oak entrance door of six raised panels, beaded muntin and cast iron knob, set in a bead-moulded shouldered reveal. Deep ashlar sandstone doorcase inset with colonettes having carved foliated heads, surmounted by a tall segmental headed transom light in a bead moulded opening with alternate red and buff ashlar sandstone voussoirs. Where it terminates to either side of the entrance, the sill course is finished with carved gargoyles; small dragon carvings located to the base of the colonnettes also.

North elevation is three windows wide to each floor, detailed as previous elevation.

The rear (east) elevation is abutted by a shallow full height stairwell return to centre, further abutted by later two storey lean-to and gabled extensions, both plainly detailed with no features of interest. Simple detailing thoughout. The exposed right bay has a window to each floor; stairwell and left bay are exposed to the second floor only, window to each bay.

South elevation is asymmetrically arranged, with three windows to ground and second floor, four windows to first floor, all offset to right side.

Setting:
The Presbytery is set close to the street, accessed by a short path. The path is flanked by gravel enclosures adorned with simple planting and bounded by cast iron railings on a low sandstone plinth. Tarmacadamed parking area to either side.

Roof: Hipped natural slate
Walling: Flemish bonded brick, polychrome detailing
Windows: 1/1 timber sash
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

St. Malachy’s Catholic Church (HB26/30/023A) was opened in 1844, however it was 25 years until the current three-storey Venetian Gothic-style Presbytery was added to the site. Construction of the church presbytery was completed by 1869 when the building was first included in the valuation sources. The Annual Revisions recorded that the ‘Parochial House’ was valued at £55 and was let by Adam and Andrew Thomas McClean, who had let the plot of land for church use c. 1840; the valuer recorded that the priests dwelling was originally occupied by the Rev. D. [Doran]. In 1895 the Annual Revisions record that the value of the Presbytery was increased to £60 when an extension was added to its rear return.

The Presbytery was home to a number of local and visiting priests; the census notes that in 1901 the parish priest Fr. Daniel McCashin (54) resided in the Presbytery with three younger curates; the 1911 Census Building return described the house as a 1st class private dwelling which consisted of fourteen rooms. In both census’ two servants were employed to care for the priests. By 1906 the Annual Revisions recorded that the value of the church had increased to £100 but was reduced to £80 between 1906 and 1915; it is not clear why this reduction was made. The Irish Builder indicates that alterations were made to the residence in 1934 by Padraig Bernard Gregory (1886-1967); King states that these alterations were undertaken during the occupation of Monsignor Clenaghan (Irish Builder, Vol. 76, 6 Oct 1934, p. 865; King, p. 3).

St. Malachy’s Presbytery was constructed between 1867 and 1869 and was designed by John O’Neill (1828-1883). O’Neill was a Belfast based architect who took an assistant, William Henry Byrne, into partnership between September 1868 and March 1869 whilst St. Malachy’s Presbytery was nearing completion; the partnership operated under the name O’Neill & Byrne and had offices in both Belfast and Dublin. The builder contracted to undertake construction of the Presbytery was Alexander Murdock who operated from Cullingtree Road, Belfast (Tracey, p. 81; pp 218-220). King records that further additions were made to the Presbytery after it was altered in 1934; in 1938 a new lighting system was installed, whilst in 1940 a modern heating system was added (King, p. 3). In his 1993 Gazetter of Central Belfast Marcus Patton included the Presbytery, however he noted that the original glazing had been replaced with upvc windows whilst the stonework had recently been repointed ‘rather crudely’ (Patton, p. 8).

In his survey of the Markets area Brett described the presbytery as a ‘late Victorian house [which forms] part of the frame of the church and insulates it from the early 20th century commercial buildings of the rest of Alfred Street’ (p. 10). As with the church, St. Malachy’s Presbytery was formerly surrounded by rows of terraced houses and Victorian and Edwardian warehouses (Nos 19-21 Alfred Street is a surviving example (HB26/30/025), however the majority of these have been demolished greatly improving the setting of the building.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1A – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1 – Annual Revisions 1863-1881
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/24 – Annual Revisions 1882-1896
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930
11. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/2 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/10 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. Irish Builder, Vol. 76, 6 Oct 1934.

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B; McKinstry, TR. J., ‘Survey and recommendations for the Joy Street and Hamilton Street District of Belfast’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971.
2. King, J., ‘St. Malachy’s Church, Belfast’ Belfast: Millfield College of Technology, 1975.
3. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
4. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
5. Tracey, J. J., ‘A dissertation on the buildings of John O’Neill and O’Neill & Byrne, architects, 1862-1883’ Belfast: Queens University Belfast, Unpublished M.A. Thesis, 1987.
6. First Survey Record – HB26/30/22 (1983)

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

St Malachy's Presbytery is a neatly proportioned three-storey three-bay religious house, built 1869 in the Venetian Gothic style to designs by John O'Neill. The detailing and ornamentation is typical of the period and well suited to the ecclesiastical function of the building, which forms a fitting companion to the Tudor Gothic revival St Malachy's Church (HB26/30/023A). Externally, the building is enlivened by strong detailing around the feature windows and doorcase, well executed in a mixture of polychrome brick, red and buff sandstones. Among the features of interest are stone gargoyles and the ornate tiled band to ground floor. The railings and gates to the front contribute positively to the setting and are integral to the overall appearance. Although the interior layout and detailing have been altered, some elements of a typical late Victorian interior survive. St Malachy's Presbytery contributes significantly to this important urban religious group, retains its social significance as a focus for the local parishioners, and remains a feature of architectural interest close to Belfast city centre.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of the St Malachy's church group. It was formerly HB26/30/022.