Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/43/026 B

Address :
Chapel St Malachy's College Antrim Road Belfast BT15 2AE

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
30/03/1989 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/9 SE

IG Ref:
J3323 7534

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Owner Category

School

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached two-storey red brick Gothic Revival chapel, built in 1882, to the designs of Mortimer Thomson. L-shaped on plan with a stair hall to the east gable attached to St. Malachy’s College (HB26/43/007A) abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed corridor to the north and a further stair hall projection to the northwest. Harry Clarke windows inserted in 1933. Steeply pitched natural slate roofs with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles. Roofs set behind slightly raised gables topped with sandstone coping with decorative apex and gabletted kneeler stones. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on corbelled red brick eaves courses and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with flush black brick courses. Pointed-headed paired window openings to the chapel having chamfered flush sandstone frames and sills with leaded stained glass windows and weather-glazing. Segmental-headed window openings to the ground floor with gauged brick heads and single-pane timber sash windows. Principal north nave elevation is six windows wide abutted to the west end by a lower two-storey gabled projection. To the northwest corner is an octagonal turret, flush to the west gable surmounted by a steep natural slate roof with dentilled eaves and lead finial. The gabled stair hall projection has a quatrefoil opening to the gable formed in sandstone. Tudor-arched window opening to the first floor with polychromatic brick and sandstone head, flush sandstone sill and paired cusped sandstone window frame with leaded glazing. Paired pointed-headed window openings to the ground floor with heads and sills as per above and timber casement windows. The corridor also has paired pointed-headed window openings, detailed as above with steel casement windows. The stair hall to the east end is set perpendicular to the main college building (HB26/43/007A). Paired pointed-headed window openings with cusped sandstone frames and leaded steel windows rise to form a wall-head dormer with coping as per gables. East elevation abutted by St. Malachy’s College (HB26/43/007A). South nave elevation is seven windows wide with chapel and ground floor windows detailed as per north elevation. Red brick walling set on a rubblestone plinth course with a pair of large red brick chimneystacks rising above the eaves course. West gable elevation has a single rose window to the gable with a flush sandstone ashlar frame having a gauged red brick relieving arch with black brick trim. The turret extends from the north end of the west gable at the intersection of the north stair hall projection. The west cheek of the projection has decorative cusped window openings to the first floor, detailed as per above. Setting Set within the grounds of St. Malachy’s College (HB26/43/007A) to the west side of the Antrim Road, accessed via a bitmac avenue. Roof : Natural slate RWG: Cast-iron Walling: Red brick Windows: Timber sash / leaded stained glass

Architects

Thompson, Mortimer

Historical Information

St Malachy’s College was built in 1865-7 and the chapel was added in 1881-2 to designs by Mortimer Thompson. The school began life as the boarding department of the Diocesan Seminary, founded in 1833 by Bishop Crolly. However, the Seminary appears to have always operated as a grammar school for the mercantile and professional classes as well as a training institution for priests. On November 3rd 1833, the feast day of St Malachy, the new Diocesan Seminary building was officially opened, the site on the Crumlin Road being used to house boarders. The Seminary itself was then attached to St Patrick’s National School in Donegall Street. By 1843, there were 50 boarders at Crumlin Road with 100 day pupils attending at Donegall Street. (Heatley; Street Directories) The Diocesan Seminary boarding department at Vicinage House is first shown on the large-scale town plan of Belfast dating from 1858. Part of the footprint of this early building is retained to the north of the present building and it is possible that some earlier fabric has been retained in the present structure. Between 1865 and 1867 the main buildings of the present college were constructed to designs by John O’Neill. O’Neill’s original design included a chapel and a belfry stage to the tower, but these were not executed according to his plans and the chapel was built some years later to the west of the site. (Irish Builder) The central portion of the main building was built at this time as well as a wing which was given to the Christian Brothers. (Heatley) The president of the college was Dr Richard Marner and his successor in 1876, Dr Henry, added a further wing on what had been intended as the original site of the chapel. (Heatley) By 1877 the school was known as St Malachy’s Diocesan College. (Street Directory) In 1881-2 additions by Mortimer Thompson included the chapel, a wing to the south and an entrance gateway on the Antrim Road. Some of the stained glass installed in later years is said to have been the work of Harry Clarke, but Snoddy attributes the stained glass to Richard J King, who worked for Harry Clarke and took over as manager when Clarke died. King was active from 1928 to 1974 but the date of his work for St Malachy’s is uncertain. (www.dia.ie; Snoddy) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/8/30/2/30 – Belfast Town Plan 1871-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2 5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/1/1 Belfast Revaluation 1900 7. Street Directories 8. Irish Builder Vol 11, 15 May 1869, 118,119 Secondary Sources 1. Heatley, F “The Story of St Patrick’s Belfast, 1815-1977” 2. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987 3. Snoddy, T “Dictionary of Irish Artists, 20th Century” Dublin: Merlin Publishing, 2002 4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online 5. www.stmalachyscollege.com

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Attached two-storey red brick Gothic Revival chapel, built in 1882, to the designs of Mortimer Thomson. L-shaped on plan with a stair hall to the east gable attached to St. Malachy’s College (HB26/43/007B) abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed corridor to the north and a further stairhall projection to the northwest. This late nineteenth-century chapel forms part of St Malachy’s College complex and exhibits an array of Gothic Revival architectural devices to the exterior and a fine barrel-vaulted roof to the interior. Of note are the Harry Clarke windows in 1933, which constitute one of the best collections in the country. This is a good example of the type surviving in original condition in its original setting and with much fabric and detailing of note.

General Comments

This record has been renumbered; it was previously recorded as HB26/43/007 A

Date of Survey

16 October 2012