Assembly Of God Pentecostal Church And Building Attached At Rear

A Wesleyan Methodist Chapel with attached lecture hall, now a Pentecostal Church. Built in 1854, with the lecture hall added later in the 19th century. The chapel was designed by James Simpson of Leeds; the lecture hall extension at the rear was possibly designed by G.T. Andrews.

The chapel is constructed of orange-red brick in Flemish bond, set upon a sandstone ashlar plinth. The portico, dressings, and chamfered quoins are of sandstone. The roof is obscured by a rendered parapet with stone coping. The rear extension is built of pink-cream mottled brick in Flemish bond, with a timber eaves cornice on shaped brackets and hipped slate roofs.

The chapel front presents two storeys across five bays. The outer bays are wider than the three centre bays. The three centre bays are approached by a flight of steps and are grouped to form a portico with tripled antae featuring moulded bases, necking bands decorated with anthemion and egg-and-dart moulding, and a full entablature. Glazed double doors beneath semicircular fanlights occupy round-arched architraves with keyblocks and pilaster responds with moulded imposts; these doors are 20th-century replacements. Windows on both floors have round-arched, keyed architraves. Ground-floor windows feature plain sills on block brackets and moulded cornices on carved consoles. First-floor windows have moulded sills on shaped consoles within a plain sill band, with architraves and segmental pediments. A moulded eaves string and dentil cornice run beneath a parapet with flat coping, interrupted by pilaster piers.

The left and right returns of the chapel are two storeys and seven bays, repeating the details of the main front except that ground-floor windows are segment-headed. The extension features part-glazed double doors beneath small-pane overlights and windows that are largely 12-pane sashes with thin glazing bars, painted stone sills, and cambered heads beneath flat arches.

The interior is extensively finished with high-quality joinery and decoration. The main entrance doors are set in keyed round-arched doorcases with sunk panelled pilasters. The foyer is panelled to full height with partly fluted Ionic pilasters and moulded transverse beams carrying a tunnel-vaulted ceiling. A glazed and panelled screen separates the foyer from the auditorium and incorporates eight-panel doors carved with volutes and grapes. At the centre of this screen is a First World War memorial panel cast with St George and Dragon, inscribed with the names of members of the church and congregation who gave their lives. All panelling is raised and fielded.

Panelled doors at each side lead to gallery staircases, which are open-string with turned bobbin balusters (three to a tread), scrolled tread ends, and mahogany handrails wreathed at the foot around turned newels. The auditorium features an oval gallery supported on cast-iron Composite columns with oak-panelled fronts. On the ground floor, walls are panelled to dado rail beneath moulded round window arches linked by an impost band. A coved modillion cornice enriched with egg-and-dart mouldings runs beneath a coffered and panelled ceiling.

At the north-west end stands a massive mahogany pulpit accessed by a stair with cast-iron balustrade. Above the pulpit is an organ in a mahogany case, made by James Binns of Bramley, Leeds. Nearly complete original fitted pewing survives in both the auditorium and gallery; the pulpit rail has been dismantled and is held in store. All windows except one in the auditorium contain good stained glass, including fine Art Nouveau glazing in the fanlights, foyer screen, and gallery windows.

The extension contains two open-string staircases linked by a first-floor gallery. These stairs have slender column-on-vase balusters with moulded handrails wreathed at the foot around similar newels. Panelled double doors beneath a glazed screen lead to a full-height main hall of three bays articulated by pilasters on a high plinth, separated by shallow segment-headed niches. The hall has a moulded cornice to the coved ceiling, which features a glazed central roof-light (now painted over) and cast-iron ventilation grilles. Tall folding doors separate the main hall from an annexe. Rooms flanking the left side of the hall retain plain fireplaces with heavy mantelshelves on shaped consoles.