Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/30/012

Address :
The Water Margin Restaurant 159 - 161 Donegall Pass Belfast County Antrim BT7 1DT

Townland:
Malone Lower

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
25/02/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Entertainment Building

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
147/01 NE

IG Ref:
J3410 7332

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A terraced, two-storey rubble sandstone former Presbyterian Church in the Gothic-revival style with unfinished entrance tower; built c.1870 and located south of Donegall Pass in Belfast city centre. Rectangular plan with tower and modern one-and-a-half-storey entrance porch (of no interest) to east, and three projecting gabled bays to north. Now converted to a restaurant. Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and leaded valleys; raised stone verges. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on moulded sandstone eaves. Walling is buff pink rubble sandstone with ashlar Scrabo sandstone platbands to each floor at sill level. Windows are triple and paired lancets with replacement plate glass, in smooth sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills (unless otherwise stated). Plate tracery to first floor. Square and segmental-headed openings to rear elevation. The principal elevation faces north; entrance tower at left has two replacement timber-sheeted doors in a chamfered and carved recess, having carved hood mould with ornately carved label stops , flanked by semi-engaged half-colonettes. Doors are separated by a granite colonnette with carved capital and surmounted by an ornately carved pointed arch sandstone tympanum having pierced trefoil with floriated band and carved foliate corner panels. Arrow-slit openings to right above entrance and three diminutive blind openings to centre above. At right of entrance is a paired lancet window and ornately carved quatrefoil above with carved “PCDP” entwined lettering to central panel. Projecting bays to right each have triple lancets to ground floor; tracery windows with round-headed openings to left and right gable; central gable has plate triple tracery window. East elevation of left gable has a lancet to ground floor and a trefoil opening to upper level. The east gable is abutted by the tower at right and the modern one-and-a-half-storey entrance porch at left; exposed section of gable is cement rendered. The south (rear) elevation is five pairs of windows wide to each floor (segmental-headed to ground floor). The west elevation is abutted by a modern gabled extension (of no interest). Setting: Open to street with paved parking to front. Rear is partially enclosed by concrete block wall. Directly to rear of the building is an alleyway separating a mid-twentieth century Housing Executive (NIHE) estate comprising two-storey red-brick terraced houses. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Rubble buff pink sandstone Windows: Replacements RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Young & Mackenzie

Historical Information

The former Presbyterian church in Donegall Pass was built between June 1872 and May 1873 to designs by Young & Mackenzie. (Belfast Newsletter) The Presbyterian congregation in Donegall Pass originated in 1867 with the work of the Town Mission, who appointed mission agents in the poorer parts of Belfast to visit homes and conduct ‘religious exercises’. (Kirkpatrick) Theological student, James Dewar, was appointed to gather together a number of families in the Cromac Street area, and a newly-formed congregation was duly sanctioned in 1869. Public worship was initially conducted in a school-house on Cromac Street, but in view of the rapidly expanding population of the area, a church building was quickly found to be necessary. (Belfast Newsletter; History of Congregations) Having been ordained in 1869, James Dewar became the first minister of the congregation. An ‘admirable’ site was obtained in Donegall Pass for the erection of a church, and schools (c1880) and a manse were later added to the site. The foundation stone was laid on 8th June 1872 by Sir Edward Coey. The architects were Young and Mackenzie and the builder Robert Corry. The church was designed as rectangular on plan with a tower rising to seventy feet at one end. The tower, however, remains unbuilt, probably because the necessary funds did not become available. At the ceremony, the Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rev Mr Johnston commented that he ‘knew Sir Edward took a deep interest in the improved style of architecture in which many of the Presbyterian churches were now built, and he could assure Sir Edward…that it was a very elegant structure indeed and quite in harmony with modern ideas.’ (Belfast Newsletter) The ground floor was to have seating for 580 people and a further 186 were to be accommodated in a gallery, which was never completed. A full description of the church internally and externally is given and comment is made on the ‘neatly-jointed’ Scrabo sandstone rubble walling, with tooled dressings. The cost of the church was to be £2,300. (Irish Builder; Belfast Newsletter) The church was opened for public worship on 18th May 1873 and was praised for the ‘simple and inexpensive manner’ in which the details had been treated ‘with the exception of a few more prominent features where a little more ornament has been thought advisable’. The main entrance, decorated with ‘fruit and foliage of Eastern plants’was particularly noted in this regard. The Belfast Newsletter’s reporter expressed some concern that a large debt of £1,250 remained on the building at the time of opening and trusted that ‘a generous public will come forward and assist the congregation to defray it’. The building entered valuation records in 1872 as ‘Donegall Pass Presbyterian Church’ valued at £140 and exempted. The church is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1901-2. (Belfast Newsletter; Annual Revisions) An active congregation worshipped at Donegall Pass until 1973 when the building was vacated and the congregation united with that of Fitzroy Avenue. (History of Congregations) The church building was subsequently taken over as commercial premises and is now a Chinese restaurant. (Patton) 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/A/1-45 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930) 6. Irish Builder, Vol 14, 15 Jun 1872, p.172-3 7. Belfast Newsletter, 10th June 1872 8. Belfast Newsletter, 17th May 1873 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) 2. Kirkpatrick, L “Presbyterians in Ireland, An Illustrated History” Ireland: Booklink, 2006 3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Refurbished two-storey rubble sandstone former Presbyterian Church, now a restaurant, in the Gothic-revival style with unfinished entrance tower; built c.1870 and located south of Donegall Pass in Belfast city centre. Designed by prominent local architects, Young and McKenzie. Despite the substantial alterations to the interior, much of the original character of the church has been retained externally and detailing internally. As a former Presbyterian church it has social interest for the local community and is one of the more impressive historic buildings in Donegall Pass.

General Comments

Date of Survey

19 April 2011