Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/49/009

Address :
Macrory Memorial Presbyterian Church Duncairn Gardens Belfast Co Antrim BT15 2GN

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

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:
130/9SE

IG Ref:
J3364 7584

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A double-height gabled red-brick Presbyterian Church in the Gothic style, built 1952 to designs by Hobart & Heron as a replica of an earlier church on the site dating from 1893; located to the south side of Duncairn Gardens in North Belfast. Rectangular plan hall with gabled projection (lower) to southwest; two-storey stairwell bays to southeast and northwest abutted by projecting gabled porches. Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and raised sandstone verges. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on moulded sandstone eaves. Walling is English garden wall-bonded red-brick on a projecting plinth to gable, with ashlar red sandstone dressings; angle buttresses with sandstone offsets rising to large corner pinnacles; moulded sandstone string-course at impost level to northwest gable. Windows are metal-framed leaded-and-stained glass lancets (some timber-boarded) in chamfered sandstone reveals with blocked flush surrounds and chamfered sills; geometric tracery windows to gables surmounted by drip moulds. Northeast-facing gabled front has large geometric tracery window to gallery, comprising four cusped lancets surmounted by three pierced quatrefoils; roundel with recessed glazed quatrefoil to apex of gable with drip mould over; group of five arcaded lancets at ground floor. Stairwell bays to left and right are recessed and lit by two windows at first floor over projecting gabled porches. Porches contain original pointed-headed timber-sheeted doors in a chamfered sandstone reveal, accessed by set of four concrete steps. Southeast and northwest elevations of stairwell bays lit by two windows to first floor and three at ground floor. The southeast elevation was concealed from view. The southwest gable is abutted by the gabled projection, with geometric tracery window to centre comprising three cusped lancets surmounted by three pierced quatrefoils. To left and right at gallery level are paired lancets (left are boarded). To ground floor right are two boarded square-headed openings, and to ground floor left is a modern metal door set into a deep recess and accessed by four concrete steps fronted by modern metal gate; square headed boarded opening at right; both with chamfered red-sandstone lintels. The northwest elevation has five sets of paired lancets (all timber boarded). Setting: Situated in a residential area to the south side of Duncairn Gardens off the Antrim Road in North Belfast. Set back from the street and bounded by red-brick walls with by concrete coping topped by metal railings; metal latch gates to entrances. Southeast elevation is abutted at left and right by red-brick walls (topped with concrete breezeblock) adjoining a single-storey red-brick church hall. Alleyway leading to northwest leading to Hillman Street, lined with two-storey red-brick terraced housing. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Red-brick and ashlar red sandstone Windows: Metal-framed leaded-and-stained glass lancets RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Hobart & Heron

Historical Information

The Macrory Memorial Presbyterian Church was built in 1952 to designs by Hobart & Heron, replacing an earlier church which was destroyed in enemy bombing in 1941. The church is first shown on the OS map edition dating from the 1960s/70s. The congregation was first established in 1842 by an independent minister, Rev Thomas Toye and occupied premises in James’s Street and then Great George’s Street. However, as the population of Belfast increased and the wealthy and well-to-do artisans moved out of the city and into the suburbs, the congregation began to grow weaker and it was deemed more suitable that St George’s should undertake mission work and a new building be constructed on a suitable suburban site. (History of Congregations; Belfast Newsletter). A site in a largely residential district which had begun to develop thirteen years previously was donated in the early 1890s by Edmund Macrory QC. Macrory’s father, also a lawyer, had been closely associated with Rev Dr Cooke in his struggle against Arian theology and had lived in a dwelling house close to the proposed new building (Belfast Newsletter; History of Congregations). The foundation stone of the new church was laid on Saturday 17th February 1894 by Edmund Macrory. The church was to seat 900 and was expect to cost around £4,000. The architect was James Ferguson and the contractors were Campbell & Lowry. Opening services took place on Sunday 27th January 1895 and it was noted that the leaded light glazing was by Carlisle & Wilson of North Street (Belfast Newsletter). In 1941 the church, school and church halls were damaged in the first air-raid on Belfast and then completely destroyed in the second. Casualties among the congregation were high with 62 killed and almost 100 injured but the remaining families came together to build a new church which was opened in 1952 and designed by Hobart & Heron. The new building was raised on the foundations of the old and the architects chose a design which closely resembles its predecessor. However, a comparison of the two churches shows that the fenestration and external detailing has been somewhat simplified and internally a vestibule was provided and the seating rearranged to allow for an extra aisle. The pulpit and choir were re-positioned and the gallery reduced in size. Post-war economies meant that steel trusses had to be used instead of timbers for the roof with a modern fibrous plaster ceiling below. Red Ballochmyle sandstone was used externally and Portland stone internally for chancel and organ chamber openings and corbels. Windows were by Clokey of Belfast (Souvenir of re-opening 1952). A lecture hall and minor hall were added in 1955. However, a change in the local demographic led to a decline in numbers and in 1997 the congregation was united with Newington and Sinclair Seamen’s. The church building currently lies vacant (History of Congregations). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4- Third Edition OS Map (1901-2) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6- Fourth Edition OS Map (1931) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/7 – Seventh Edition OS map of 1938 4. Belfast Newsletter 19th February 1894 5. Belfast Newsletter 28th January 1895 6. Macrory Memorial Presbyterian Church, Souvenir of Re-opening 1952 Secondary Sources 1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A double-height gabled red-brick Presbyterian Church in the Gothic style, built 1952 to designs by Hobart & Heron as a replica of an earlier church on the site dating from 1893; located to the south side of Duncairn Gardens in North Belfast. As a twentieth-century replica of an nineteenth-century original the church does not meet the criteria for Listing.

General Comments

Date of Survey

12 April 2013