Park Methodist Church

Park Methodist Church, built in 1903-05, is located on the west side of Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough, designed by W.J. Morley & Son of Bradford. This red brick church, with painted terracotta dressings and a Welsh slate roof topped with a copper-domed north-west tower, is constructed in an Italianate style. The building is disoriented, with the terms used referring to a ritual layout.

The church features two towers, one north-west and one south-west. The three-stage north-west tower has clasping pilasters with paired Ionic columns on the third stage, continuous entablatures between stages, and panelled double doors with a fanlight in a classical surround. Round-headed windows with quasi-Composite columns, panelled aprons and keyed archivolts are found on the second and third stages. The third stage also has balustraded aprons and rusticated archivolts over its windows. A balustraded parapet tops the tower, leading to an octagonal cupola with blocked windows. The south-west tower is two-stage with a conical roof and ball-on-stem finials at the angles of its parapet.

The west end of the nave presents a two-storey, three-bay facade. A wide, slightly-projecting pedimented centre features three windows in Ionic surrounds, below a Venetian window with balustraded aprons and enriched spandrels bearing escutcheons dated 1904. An enriched tympanum sits above the pediment. Flanking bays contain windows in moulded surrounds. The four-bay nave and the two-bay, open-pedimented transepts have round-headed windows with keyed archivolts, impost and sill strings. Enriched tablets are set within classical surrounds in the tympana of the transepts. A hip-roofed vestry is situated to the north-east.

Inside, the church features an enriched plaster chancel arch, a panelled ceiling, and a tessellated floor with cross medallions in the entrance lobby. A west gallery with raked seating and a carved panelled front overlooks the nave. Wainscot runs to sill height. The nave has slightly raked panelled benches with brass and iron umbrella stands. The chancel houses an organ with a panelled case, and a choir gallery with a panelled front. The towers contain open-well staircases with turned balusters, newels with ball finials, moulded handrails and closed strings. Fragments of a church school remain adjoining the south-east corner, but it has been altered significantly and holds little special interest. The church occupies a prominent corner site, visible from Linthorpe Road.