Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/025

Address :
Christchurch Centre of Excellence College Square North Belfast Co. Antrim BT1 6AS

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
26/06/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13SE

IG Ref:
J3330 7410

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Owner Category

School

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing symmetrical double-height Greek Revival stone and brick former Church of Ireland church, built c.1833, to the designs of William Farrell. Gutted by fire in 1996, converted for educational use in 2003 by Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust and Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Rectangular on plan facing north, on a corner site with its west side elevation fronting onto Durham Street. Site enclosed by replacement iron railings on low brick wall, now forming part of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/025). Hipped natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and a lower pitched roof to the rear gabled projection. Replacement ogee-moulded iron guttering on sandstone ashlar eaves course with iron box hoppers and downpipes. Sandstone ashlar walling to front elevation. Hand-made redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with a sandstone ashlar plinth course and frieze to remaining elevations. Square-headed window and door openings to the front elevation with sandstone architrave surrounds and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows. Window openings to the side elevations are set within a shallow double-height round-headed recess having moulded archivolts rising from a continuous impost moulding. Round-headed window opening to the upper level, segmental-headed to the lower level, all having sandstone sills and multi-pane steel windows. Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with a distyle Ionic portico in antis. Lead-lined blocking course over cornice and entablature, advanced to the portico. Giant Ionic order columns flanked by Doric antae support entablature to portico with responding corner piers framing the entire elevation. Ruled-and-lined lime rendered walls to the portico with a plain triangular pediment to the central doorcase having lugged architrave surrounds and replacement double-leaf timber panelled doors and overlight. Lugged architraves to side entrances with plain frieze and cornice. East side elevation is five windows wide with a single segmental-headed door opening to the south end having double-leaf timber panelled doors and louvred overpanel. South rear elevation is abutted by a full-height gabled projection and flanked by flat-roofed projections (built c.2003). Double-height round-headed glazed entrance with sandstone ashlar surround, multi-pane steel window with incorporated fanlight and double-leaf timber panelled and glazed doors and sidelights. The flanking blocks have plain sandstone parapet and cornice with a pair of diminutive segmental-headed window openings having 2/2 timber sash windows. West side elevation as per east elevation. Setting: Located on a corner site with stone paving to the front area, cobblelock to the side and rear, all enclosed by replacement iron railings on a low redbrick plinth wall with matching gates. Rear entrance opens onto a raised paved platform and three steps with universal access ramp. Now forming part of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023). Roof : Replacement natural slate RWG: Replacement cast-iron Walling: Coursed sandstone ashlar / redbrick Windows: Replacement 6/6 timber sash / multi-pane steel

Architects

Farrell, William

Historical Information

Christ Church, a late Georgian Neo-Classical Anglican church located on College Square North, was constructed in 1833 to designs by William Farrell (d. 1851). Farrell, a Dublin-based architect, was appointed engineer to the ecclesiastical province of Armagh in 1823, a position in which he remained until 1843; throughout this period he predominantly designed church buildings, however from the mid-19th century Farrell was engaged in an increasing number of domestic and public building contracts throughout Ireland (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The church was first illustrated on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1832-33 which depicted the church as a rectangular-shaped building located to the north-west of College Square and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023) which had been completed in 1814; the contemporary Townland Valuation (c. 1830) recorded that the value of the new church, exempt from taxation, was £140. Hardy’s Twenty-one views in Belfast and it’s neighbourhood gave the following description of Christ Church in 1836: ‘It being found that a church was much wanting for the poorer class of Protestants, the present edifice was erected. The sum of £2,000 was granted by the Board of First Fruits; and £3,000 was raised by subscription to complete it. It is a plain edifice, with a cut stone front and colonnade of the Ionic order, surmounted with an entablature; the other parts are of brick, with windows in recesses, ornamented with circular architraves. The interior is laid out to give as much accommodation as possible; there are seats for one thousand persons on the ground-floor; and there is a handsome gallery, which holds upwards of six hundred persons.’ Hardy noted that the church was opened in July 1833 and an adjoining schoolhouse was added to the rear of the building between 1833 and 1836 (Brett & Hardy, p. 26). By the second edition of the maps in 1858 there had been no alteration to the layout of the church, however the school house, captioned ‘Christ Chu[rch] school’ had been added to the southern elevation of the building and was first depicted on this map; the church was jointly valued with the schoolhouse and a sexton’s apartments at £190 during Griffith’s Valuation (1860). There was no subsequent alteration to the church until 1874 when William Batt (d. 1910), a Belfast-based architect who rarely worked outside the city, carried out a major renovation of the building. Batt enlarged Christ Church’s chancel, removed the original flat-roof ceiling whilst adding new cornice, altered the original windows and installed a new pulpit; the work was completed in 1878 resulting in an increase in the value of the church to £220 (Irish Builder). Under the Belfast Revaluation (1900) the church was only slightly increased in value to £230 due to the relatively recent renovation work; from 1900 the sexton’s apartments were no longer included in the valuation of the building suggesting it had been removed as part of the renovation of 1874-78. There was no subsequent alteration to the value of the church by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 and no change to the site is apparent on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. In 1935 the First General revaluation of property in Northern Ireland noted that the church had been further increased in value to £375. The church survived the heavy bombardment of the Smithfield area during the 1941 Belfast Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War was once again increased in value to £640 as part of the second general revaluation which ended in 1972; the schoolhouse which had originally been added to the rear of Christ Church in 1833-36 was taken down between the fifth edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1938 and the current edition which was surveyed in 1959. Brett states that Christ Church is a ‘fine example of late-Georgian classicism [possessing] a monumental simplicity about the stone Ionic front;’ the church was originally consecrated and opened in 1833, however the church may have been constructed a short time earlier (Brett suggests as early as 1830 (Brett & Hardy, p. 26)). The church was constructed for the Rev. Dr. Thomas Drew, father of the architect Sir. Thomas Drew who was responsible for the construction of St. Anne’s Cathedral (HB26/50/067); Drew was the first perpetual curate of the parish between 1833 and 1859. Patton states that Christ Church was one of the first ‘free church’s’ in Belfast, accommodating the poorest members of the parish who could not afford to rent pews (in comparison at the time St. Anne and St. George’s Church could only accommodate six poor parishioners despite the fact that the population of the Church of Ireland in Belfast stood at over 16,000 members (Brett, p. 23; Patton, pp 78-79). During the renovation of 1874-78 William Batt replaced the original segmental ceiling, added cornice and altered the windows; as part of this renovation he also installed an impressive three-tiered pine pulpit which contained separate levels occupied by the reverend during different stages of his sermon. Other interior features added during this period include a bas relief memorial to Elizabeth Helen Lanyon, the wife of Victorian Architect and Engineer Charles Lanyon who frequented the church; the memorial was designed by Samuel Ferres Lynn (1834-1876), a Belfast-based sculptor who was the brother to architect William Henry Lynn and a pupil of Charles Lanyon (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The east window of the church (now lost) was installed by Samuel Evans of Birmingham who was commissioned c. 1870 (Patton, p. 79). Christ Church celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1933 and survived the heavy bombardment of the area by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, however during the Troubles the church was repeatedly targeted in arson and bomb attacks. Between the 1960s and c. 1985 the church survived no less than 11 bomb blasts and two serious arson attacks; by 1985 the congregation of the parish had dwindled when Brett wrote that ‘the church survives valiantly [but] its exterior looks terrible, with stonework fractured or rendered, and window boarded up.’ An interior restoration of the church on College Square North (which was known locally as ‘bomb alley’) was undertaken in c. 1985 during which time damage to the nave and chancel was repaired, however the Lanyon memorial had been badly vandalised by that time when arsons smashed the fingers and toes of the sculpture (Brett, p. 23). Christ Church was listed category B+ in 1979; despite the renovation of the interior the church was forced to close in June 1993. The former church was put up for sale and was purchased by ‘Inst’ in 1996 for £75,000, however in the same year Christ Church there was another arson attack that left it a shell. Initially intended for demolition after being purchased by the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, the Georgian church was saved by the Belfast Preservation Trust who undertook an extensive restoration with funds granted by the Heritage Lottery fund and with Consarc Design Group undertaking the new scheme and overseeing the renovation. The restoration was initiated in 2001 and was completed by 2003 when the building was reopened by Prince Charles; the former Church of Ireland is now a computing library and information centre. The conversion included the installation of a new floor inserted at the gallery level, creating a two-storey interior. Although the original pine pulpit has been lost, the bas relief of Lanyon’s wife has been refitted (with new marble frame) whilst many original features such as the timber ceiling and the small pane cast iron windows (to the rear) have been restored. Christ Church continues to be used by ‘Inst’ and, according to the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, the building is ‘used daily by many more people than in recent years and what has been lost from the original design has been more than compensated for by the survival of another of Belfast's architectural gems that was about to be sacrificed to the bulldozer’ (Brett & Hardy, p. 26; Ulster Architectural Heritage Society website). 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/1/B/720A – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/5D – Griffith’s Valuation 1860 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930 9. PRONI VAL/7/B/12/49 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/42 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72 12. Irish Builder, Vol. 16 (15 Nov 1874; Vol. 20 (15 Dec 1878) 13. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1943) 14. First Survey Record – HB26/50/025 (No Date) 15. First Survey Image – HB26/50/025 (1974) 16. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 2. Brett, C. E. B; Hardy, P. D., ‘Twenty-one views in Belfast and its neighbourhood’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2005 (being a reprint and update of Hardy’s 1836 work). 3. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 4. Leslie, J. B., ‘Clergy of Connor: From patrician times to the present day’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1993. 5. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993. 6. Rodgers, R. J., ‘The history of Royal Belfast Academical Institution: 1960-2006’ Belfast: Royal Belfast Academical institution, 2007. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society website - http://freespace.virgin.net/rita.uahs/ChristChurch.html

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Free-standing symmetrical double-height Greek Revival stone and brick former Church of Ireland church, built c.1833, to the designs of William Farrell. Although, after fire damage, the interior was lost and the building converted, much of its sober classical character and detailing survive, along with its immediate setting. Its changing history is also of note, representing the expansion of Belfast in the late Georgian era and more modern movement of the population. It is a fine example of the type by a noteworthy architect.

General Comments

Date of Survey

17 September 2012