Great Victoria Street Baptist Church and former house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height polychromatic brick church, built c.1866, to the designs of William Hastings. Rectangular on plan facing west with diminutive gabled Pastor's annexe to the north, later flat-roofed section to the south nave fronting onto Hope Street and a range of ancillary buildings attached to the rear, added c.1960.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering to stepped polychromatic brick eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Roof set behind front gable surmounted by stone finial with stone coping terminated in pair of gableted and corbelled kneeler stones. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with flush yellowbrick courses. Ponted-arched window openings formed in chamfered polychromatic brick, flush sandstone keystones and splayed flush sandstone sills with replacement timber windows.

Gabled front west elevation has a central full-height recessed panel containing a polychromatic pointed arch with quatrefoil keystone and stiff-leaf capitals. Within the panel is a tripartite arrangement of pointed arch windows formed in polychromatic chamfered brick arches, painted chamfered stone reveals and divided by colonettes with stiff-leaf capitals resting on a splayed sill and housing three replacement timber windows. To either side of the central west window is a pair of pointed-arched lancet window openings with polychromatic brick chamfered arches, flush splayed stone sills and replacement timber fixed-pane windows. Either side of the entrance is a group of three pointed-arched lancet window openings, detailed as above. Square-headed entrance bay, inserted c.1960, comprising of a rendered architrave surround and rendered recessed fascia with applied bronze lettering; 'GREAT VICTORIA STREET BAPTIST CHURCH'. A glazed screen is recessed within the entrance bay with a pair of square-headed door openings having hardwood architrave surrounds and double-leaf hardwood doors with horizontal glazed bevelled panels, opening onto terrazzo platform and five steps to a small front area enclosed by steel railings and gates. The platform is lit by a series of plaster rectangular panels housing lights.

North nave elevation abutted by diminutive two-storey gabled polychromatic Pastor's annexe. Stone coping to gable surmounted by ball finial with a single pointed-arched window opening to each floor formed in chamfered polychromatic brick with stone sills and single-pane timber sash window to the upper level, uPVC to the ground floor. Square-headed door opening with polychromatic brick head and stop-chamfered redbrick jambs housing a hardwood door and overlight, inserted c.1960.

Rear elevation abutted by slightly lower gable-ended redbrick projection and series of later redbrick and yellowbrick flat-roofed ancilliary buildings, added c.1960.

South nave elevation is seven windows wide with a slender gable to the west end rising above eaves level, a further redbrick projection to the east end (transept), added c.1960. The nave elevation is also abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed section, c.1960. The slender gable has painted stone coping and decorative kneeler stones with a blind circular panel formed in polychromatic brick with gableted and corbelled kneeeler stones at eaves level. To the upper level is a pair of lancets with tripartite lancets to the lower level, detailed as per front elevation. The nave has five pointed-arched window openings formed in chamfered polychromatic brick with replacement fixed-pane timber windows.

Setting;
Located on the east side of Great Victoria Street with its south nave elevation fronting onto Hope Street.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick
Windows Replacement timber fixed-pane

Historical information

Great Victoria Street Baptist Church was built between 1864 and 1866 to designs by William Hastings, who was a member of the congregation. (Patton; Irish Builder)

The Baptist church has been active in Ireland since the early 1600s with churches in Dublin, Cork and Waterford all in existence by 1650. In the early nineteenth century, the hitherto rather slow spread of the church began to quicken and Baptist churches were founded at the rate of one a year, particularly in Tyrone. The 1859 Revival boosted membership and was significant in the decision to build a Baptist church in Belfast. (www.baptistsinireland.org)

The Baptist Irish Society had started to work in Belfast in 1839 and constituted a congregation in 1847 initially meeting in King Street and later in Academy Street. In July 1864 the Irish Builder announced that a Baptist chapel was to be built in Belfast to designs by William Hastings. Hastings, a former Surveyor of Works for the Borough of Belfast, designed a number of warehouses and domestic dwellings in the town. His only other known ecclesiastical commission is Mountpottinger Presbyterian Church in Castlereagh Street. (www.dia.ie)

The church opened on 8th April 1866 with religious services conducted by Lord Trenham, a well-known preacher of the day, although not a Baptist. (Belfast Newsletter) The Irish Builder reported the completion of the church in January 1867 and pointed out that the site chosen was convenient to the Ulster Railway, for members of the church living at a distance. The materials were red brick and stone dressings, the style being ‘an adaptation of Italian Gothic’. (Irish Builder) The cost was less than £6,000 and the church was able to seat 430. An early minister of the church was the Rev R M Henry, father of the noted landscape and portrait painter, Paul Henry. (Patton)

The building is first shown, uncaptioned, on the fourth edition OS map of 1901-2 and enters valuation records in 1867 as a Baptist church valued at £180. The Belfast Revaluation of 1900 gives a plan of the church which shows a hall to the rear and a sexton’s house and yard to the side. The church was fitted with gas and the rent was £19.10s annually on a lease for ever. The hall, built in 1885 as a schoolhouse, was valued at £13 and was used by a number of groups including Good Templars and Christian Endeavour. The sexton’s house and yard is valued at £6. The former sexton’s house is now said to be ‘the smallest house in Belfast’. Additions were made to the building in 1923 to designs by James Hanna and these are reflected in a rise in valuation in 1924 to £207. (Irish Builder; Patton)

In 1961, the hall to the rear of the church was replaced and new halls erected which were valued at £77. The seating capacity of the church was enlarged to 720 and it remains one of the largest Baptist churches in Ireland, with members from a very wide geographical area. Members of the congregation at Great Victoria Street have gone on to establish churches at Mountpottinger, Strandtown, Windsor, Rathcoole and Finaghy and the church retains a strong interest in missionary work overseas. (www.gtvicbaptist.com)

The church was partially demolished at the end of July 2014. Following this the Department confirmed that it did not meet the criteria for Listing. Planning Pernmission had previously been granted for works that included the demolition of the church.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/1-22 – Annual Revisions (1862-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/8 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/7/B/14/13 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
8. Belfast Newsletter, 9th April 1866
9. Dublin Builder, Vol 6 5th July 1864, p.144
10. Dublin Builder, Vol 7 15th August 1865, p.201
11. Dublin Builder, Vol 8 15th April 1866, p.106
12. Irish Builder, Vol 9, 15th January 1867, p.21
13. Irish Builder, Vol 65, 14th July 1923, p.544

Secondary Sources

1. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
2. www.baptistsinireland.org – Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland
3. www.gtvicbaptist.com
3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height polychromatic brick church, built c.1866. Extensively altered and extended during the 1960s. This mix of Gothic Revival Victorian architecture and 1960s modern interventions has resulted in a curious but successful blending of styles Whilst the diminutive former Sexton's annexe (often called Belfast's smallest house) retain a scale and character that has in recent decades been lost to redevelopment throughout this part of Belfast. It is of historical interest as the first Baptist church in Belfast. This building was partially demolished in July 2014.