Grove Road Methodist Church

Grove Road Methodist Church

Methodist church built in 1896 as a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, designed in the Italianate style. An attached Sunday school, originally shown on the 1909 Ordnance Survey map, was rebuilt in 1929 in a similar style on a slightly larger scale.

The church is constructed in rusticated sandstone with ashlar dressings and features extensive relief decoration, mainly of foliage. The roof is covered in Welsh slate. Stained glass windows are installed to the entrance front, the first bays to the sides, and all fanlights.

The building follows a traditional auditory plan form with a U-shaped gallery facing an organ recess. Ancillary rooms to the rear extend to the back of the attached Sunday school to the west. Twin entrance doors are protected by a large portico and open onto an entrance lobby one bay deep, flanked by stairs to the gallery.

The main entrance front faces south and is two storeys by four bays. The central two bays are raised, flanked by ornamented pilasters and topped by a pediment with a moulded finial at the peak. The gabled roof is cut back with partial hips so that it is hidden by the parapets and pediment when viewed from Grove Road. The pediment has dentilated cornicing, encloses decorative relief and is supported by paired consoles. Below, but above the parapets of the flanking bays, runs a frieze inscribed "WESLYAN 1896 CHAPEL". To either side, supporting the raised portion of the central two bays, are inverted scrolled brackets. The first-floor windows are round-headed with projecting keystones, moulded extrados and imposts, and Lombardic tracery. The paired entrances are round-arched and have stained glass fanlights. The double doors are panelled and part-glazed, probably later replacements.

The portico is stone ashlar, incorporating plain granite columns with Corinthian capitals supporting round arches. The arches are moulded, incorporating a band of foliage decoration, with further foliage relief panels to the spandrels. The portico floor is tiled in a relatively simple geometric pattern and is topped by a stone balustrade surmounted by three urns.

The flanking side bays are symmetrical. Each has a single first-floor window similarly detailed to the central windows but smaller, with simpler T-form tracery. The corner of the building is marked by a pilaster with an ornate capital supporting a partial frieze to a dentilated corniced parapet. A corniced band runs at the level of the first-floor window imposts with a further, broader storey band below, also corniced. The ground-floor windows are architraved and have scrolled pediments. Below each is an inscribed foundation stone. The end bays of the front elevation wrap round to each side elevation. The remaining five bays of the side elevations are simpler, with reduced banding and cornicing rather than pediments to the ground-floor windows. Beyond the main body of the church is a single-storey bay in stone with a side entrance and window. The full-height section is set back from Chatsworth Place in utilitarian brick. The upper part of the left elevation is identical to that of the right; the lower part is obscured by the Sunday school and is faced in white glazed brick to reflect light into the main school room.

The entrance lobby is relatively simply detailed with a tiled floor and timber panelling to dado height. It contains two First World War memorials.

The main body of the church retains its furnishings. The gallery front is pine, panelled with carved decoration and supported by cast iron pillars with modest ornamentation. The arch to the organ recess is richly decorated with plasterwork. The choir gallery, forward of the organ recess, has a pine balcony front matching the main balcony but topped by ornate brass latticework. The plasterwork ceiling has been lost and replaced by a modern suspended ceiling of no special interest. The rear of the gallery is separated by an inserted stud partition also of no special interest. The windows of the main entrance front and to the sides of the southernmost bay, as well as the fanlights to the main doors, are all fully glazed with stained glass. This stained glass is abstract and mainly geometric rather than pictorial. Similar stained glass is used in the fanlights of the church's side windows lighting the gallery.

The interiors of the ancillary rooms are more simply detailed, retaining original joinery.

The church retains its central rostrum and pulpit, and communion rail, all elaborately decorated in walnut incorporating brass latticework. These features may be later additions but add to the special interest of the church. Simple pine pews are retained on both the ground floor and most of the gallery. The organ remains in situ, though it is not known whether this specific organ is of any particular special interest.

The Sunday school's front elevation faces south and comprises five bays. The central three bays are tall with full-height round-arched windows; the side bays are narrower with architraved and corniced windows. All windows are divided with slim glazing bars, with the upper lights holding coloured glass. The central three bays are surmounted by a raised pediment flanked and topped by large finials. The pediment contains relief decoration and the panel below is bracketed and carries a cartouche inscribed "SUNDAY SCHOOL". Entry to the Sunday school is via an enclosed porch between it and the church. This has a pedimented doorcase. The interior of the Sunday school is simply detailed with later stud partitions and suspended ceiling of no special interest.

A low boundary wall with pillars fronts the property. Iron railings are later replacements of no special interest, although the ornate front and side gates may be original.

The Methodist Church was built in 1896 on a green-field site to serve the suburbs developing on the north side of Harrogate in the late Victorian period. Designed to seat up to one thousand people, the building cost £5,675.