Antrim Road Baptist Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached symmetrical double-height Tudor Revival red-brick church, built c.1896, to the designs of James A. Hanna, with former National School attached to the rear. Rectangular on plan facing east and set on a slightly elevated site on the west side of Antrim Road.

Pitched natural slate roof, hipped to the side aisles with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles set behind raised front gable. Moulded cast-iron guttering to stepped red-brick eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Machine-made red brick walling with red sandstone dressings. Original brick pointing with bricks laid in English garden wall bond, red brick plinth course with moulded trim and red brick buttresses. Pointed-headed lancet window openings to the nave elevations, arranged in pairs with latticed leaded windows, flush splayed red sandstone sills and steel mesh coverings (unless otherwise stated).

Gabled east front elevation comprises a central advanced double-height gable with three octagonal spirelets and pair of aisles to either side with matching spirelets. The gable is framed by angled buttresses rising to the bases of the spirelets and a central porch, also having angled buttresses and crenellated parapet. Two diminutive flying buttresses rise from the parapet forming a pair of slender sandstone buttresses rising as mullions to the east window and punctuating the gable as gablets. Oversized Tudor-arched east window with compound moulded sandstone surround and hood moulding housing sandstone tracery comprising five Tudor-arched lights and overlights all set on a full-span splayed sill with full-span red sandstone panel below embellished with Taijitu carvings. Both side aisles have an oculus formed in brick housing quatrefoil lights with ogee hood mouldings. The entrance porch has a Tudor-arched door opening with stop-chamfered stepped surround and double-leaf vertically-sheeted hardwood doors with iron door furniture. Doors open onto two nosed stone steps to front bitmac paved area. Slender square-headed sidelights flank the porch. The side aisles have depressed pointed-headed door openings with hood mouldings and foliate label stops and double-leaf sheeted hardwood doors.

South nave elevation is five windows wide with paired lancets framed by brick buttresses. To the right (vestibule) is a pair of diminutive window openings at two levels (gallery stairhall). To the left end is recessed bay to the upper level (chancel) and a lean-to projection at ground floor level, both having Tudor-arched window openings with timber framed tripartite windows and latticed leaded glazing.

Gabled rear elevation abutted by single-storey block and opening onto a small yard.

North nave elevation as per south nave. A concrete universal access ramp runs along the west half of this elevation providing access to the former school. Gabled entrance porch to former national school with Tudor-arched door opening with brick hood moulding and double-leaf vertically-sheeted painted timber doors; red-sandstone plaque above door with inscription 'Antrim Road National School'.

Setting:

Located on a small slightly elevated site on the west side of Antrim Road with former National School attached to the northwest, parking area to the north and front parking area enclosed by coursed rubble basalt walls having replacement concrete coping and twisting wrought-iron railing. A pair of wrought-iron gates hung on ashlar piers with octagonal red sandstone capstones with stone steps to the front entrance.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Red brick / red sandstone
Windows Latticed leaded

Historical information

Antrim Road Baptist Church, a late-Victorian red-brick and sandstone church in a Gothic Revival style, was constructed in 1896-97. The church was originally known as Antrimville Baptist Church and was built to designs by James A. Hanna (b. 1869), a Coleraine and Belfast-based architect who established his practise in the city in the late-19th century. Antrimville Baptist Church is the first contract recorded in the Dictionary of Irish Architects for Hanna who went on to design churches for Baptist congregations on Clifton Park Avenue and Tennent Street in 1904 as well as carrying out repairs to Baptist churches on Victoria Street (1909) and Great Victoria Street (1923). The Irish Builder notes that Antrimville Baptist Church was constructed by Henry Laverty & Sons (a local builder contractor who held business premises on Cambridge Street) at a total cost of £3,700. The Natural Stone Database notes that the church was constructed of red-brick with imported Corsehill Sandstone utilised as a secondary material (DIA; NSD; Irish Builder, pp 247-250; Larmour, p. 73).

The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of the completed church at £125 and noted that the new building was constructed on land owned by a Ms. Annie Young. The church was named Antrimville after a house which stood on the site in the late-19th century (UTD). The valuer noted that the red-brick church hall (located to the rear of the church) was originally constructed in 1896-97 as a national schoolhouse and was valued at £33. The completed church and schoolhouse were recorded on a detailed Ordnance Survey map of the area (dated 1904) which depicted both buildings along their current layouts. The church and school were increased in value to £182 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57). The schoolhouse continued to be utilised as a school for primary education until c. 1966 when it was fully converted into a church hall. The total rateable value of the church and church hall was further raised to £488 by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72). Antrim Road Baptist Church was listed in 1987.

Resources

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1938)
4. PRONI D2344/22 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/F/4-7 – Annual Revisions (1905-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/3- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-56)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/5 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1890-1943)
9. Irish Builder (1 Dec 1896)
10. First Survey Record – HB26/42/003 (1986)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB26/42/003

Secondary Sources
1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=2609

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical double-height red brick church and former national school, built c.1896, to the designs of James A. Hanna. This modest scaled church exhibits an array of impressive Tudor-Revival details to the exterior and retains an intact interior. The extensive timber carvings and decorative screens finished with soft furnishings are particularly interesting. A good example of James A. Hanna's work and largely unchanged since construction, this building has an intact stone entrance screen fronting onto the Antrim Road. It is of particular importance to the area, still operating as a place of worship and providing a social function within the former school building to the rear.