Avenue Methodist Church

Avenue Methodist Church, located on The Avenue in Middlesbrough, was built between 1906 and 1908 by A. Forrester. The buildings originally comprised a Wesleyan church and associated schools, with the schools now serving as the church hall. Constructed of smooth red brick with concrete dressings, the roofs are covered in Welsh slate. The church is designed with a slightly disoriented layout, utilizing ritualistic terms to describe the arrangement. Short towers flank the west end of the nave, which features transepts and a short, recessed chancel. A former school building adjoins the east end. The architectural style is Edwardian Baroque.

The west end of the church fronts onto The Avenue. The two-stage towers feature quoin strips, with a window in an architrave at the lower stage and an oval window within a banded, rusticated, keyed architrave at the upper stage. Casement windows are fitted with glazing bars. A modillion cornice tops the building, leading into a shallow parapet. The nave's open-pedimented facade incorporates applied giant Ionic columns with enriched capitals and a pulvinated frieze, supported by deep, banded-rusticated pedestals and a dado. The main entrance comprises paired five-panel double doors, accessed by three steps, beneath a common wood dentil cornice and fanlight, all enclosed within a keyed, stop-chamfered surround with a hoodmould. A round-headed recess above the entrance holds a Venetian window within an Ionic surround, featuring panelled aprons with renewed applied bronze lettering, and an enriched escutcheon flanked by festoons in a recessed tympanum. Pedestals supporting the towers have windows in architraves, mirrorring the tower returns. The three-bay nave has two levels of windows with leaded glazing. A square timber and lead lantern sits on the ridge, incorporating louvred, segment-headed openings within pilaster-and-open-pediment surrounds, topped with a domed roof and ball-and-spike finial. The transepts incorporate two segment-headed windows beneath a wider round-headed window. The school building consists of two parts, a two-story, two-bay section and a one-story, five-bay section, both exhibiting similar treatment.

The interior showcases quasi-Composite octagonal colonettes, supported on square posts. These support a gallery with raked seating and an enriched, panelled front, running on three sides. A tall, round-headed chancel recess is defined by an enriched quasi-Ionic surround. Elliptical-headed transept arches are framed by panelled intrados. The ceiling is moulded and ribbed, over a mock hammerbeam structure with arched braces. Moulded wallplates run along the walls, and boarded wainscoting extends to sill height. Slightly-raked nave seating features shaped bench ends. Panelled doors are set within moulded wood surrounds and wood architraves under an entablature with a pulvinated frieze. A glazed screen separates the west lobby, which houses an organ with an enriched panelled case, set behind a choir gallery with raked seating and a panelled front. A canted, panelled pulpit features carved and moulded undersailing and brackets on fluted quasi-Ionic pilasters. Flanking stairs have turned balusters, moulded handrails, and fluted newels. The communion rails are made of moulded wood with fluted wood and twisted iron balusters. A brass tablet in the lobby records the church’s foundation and opening. The listing acknowledges the group value associated with the schools.