Session Room, Crumlin Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Crumlin, Co Antrim

Session Room, Crumlin Presbyterian Church

This single-storey gabled building dates from around 1839 and exemplifies early 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture. It was probably designed by John Millar, the architect of the adjacent Presbyterian Church, and forms part of an attractive group with that church and the Sexton's House.

The building is three windows wide across its south-facing main elevation, which overlooks Main Street. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with angled chimneys at each end of the ridge. The walls are rendered in roughcast with a wet dash of pebbles and crushed stones, finished with smooth cement borders at the edges, a projecting plain smooth cement plinth, and an eaves course. Cast iron guttering and downpipes complete the south elevation.

Three tall Gothic lancet windows punctuate the main front, each set in smooth cement surrounds with cusped heads and projecting stone cills. All windows are fitted with cast iron lozenge-pattern glazing bars painted white.

The west gable displays similar roughcast walling with smooth cement render verges. A small angled chimney sits at the apex with a plain projecting course and modern pot. Two Gothic arched lancet windows are set in slightly projecting surrounds with projecting painted concrete cills. These windows are timber-framed, vertically hung sliding sashes with 4 over 4 panes and horns, featuring exposed sash boxes.

The rear elevation, facing north, is constructed of matching materials. A modern rectangular flush timber door with a plain wooden frame stands to the left side, set in plain smooth cement surround with a modern metal handle. PVC cylindrical sheathing covers wires emerging through the top of the door frame. To the right of the doorway is a Gothic arched window matching those on the west gable.

The east end of the building adjoins a higher neighbouring gable, with a half chimney of angled plan abutting it.

The Session Room stands within the grounds of Crumlin Presbyterian Church, set back from the street. It forms part of a semi-formal arrangement with the Sexton's House beyond the main gateway, together framing views of the church itself. The church gateway features a low curving screen wall of roughcast with broad concrete copings and plain modern iron railings, connected to the Session Room by a short return wall. The area to the side and rear of the building is laid to lawn.

Some modern alterations are evident, including the replacement door and PVC wire sheathing, which detract slightly from the original character of the building, though its Gothic Revival form and key exterior features remain substantially intact.