Abbots Cross Presbyterian Church, 91 Doagh Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 9QN

Abbots Cross Presbyterian Church is a detached brick church with Art Deco detailing, built in 1956 and located on the east side of Doagh Road, immediately north of Abbots Cross Garden Village.

The church is gable-fronted and rectangular in plan, facing south. It has a pitched natural slate roof with raised gables featuring fretted detailing on stepped brick kneelers, boxed eaves with cast-iron U-profile gutters and square downpipes. The walling is English Garden wall bond red brick over a projecting plinth, with concrete dressings. Windows are round-headed with margined multi-panes and inset top-hung casements, set in chamfered cast concrete sills with brick voussoirs.

The symmetrical gable front is dominated by a central Art Deco style double breakfront containing a two-order rebated window opening with stepped keyblocked surround and platband at springing level. A single-storey flat-roofed vestibule projects from the south gable, with a central entrance set in a raised rectangular breakfront flanked by blank side walls with angled returns. The entrance comprises double-leaf stained timber doors with inset square glazed panels, set within a projecting Art Deco banded concrete surround. The angled side walls each contain two small square timber-framed windows.

The west elevation is six windows wide with a flat-roofed projecting porch at the south end, containing a deeply recessed entrance door in a blocked cast concrete surround with keyblock. Applied vinyl lettering reads "Abbots Cross Presbyterian Church". The north gable is abutted by a wider single-storey flat-roofed utility block with brick parapet. The exposed upper section has a canted apse with a further central projection rising to a tall brick chimney. The utility block has a small rectangular extension to its right end, making the road-facing elevation symmetrical. The north elevation consists of variously arranged timber-framed casements with brick reveals. Cast-iron railings enclose steps to a basement. The east elevation mirrors the west. A church hall extension, added in 1964, is attached to the main block by a glazed and brick link block, with pitched artificial slate roof and red brick walling.

The church is set back from the road behind a low box hedge and grass lawn, with a tarmac parking area to the south accessed by double cast-iron gates on brick piers and a matching pedestrian access gate. Adjacent to the north is a two-storey manse, detailed to match the church, with hipped natural slate roof, red brick stretcher bond walling, original timber casement windows, and a recessed timber-framed door with large glazed panel set in a chamfered banded cast concrete Art Deco surround.

The Abbot's Cross Presbyterian congregation initially gathered in a prefabricated Nissen hut erected on the site in 1952. Mr Henry Magill was the first minister, serving as a theological student at opening and ordained at Abbot's Cross on 22 January 1953. The congregation rapidly outgrew this temporary structure, and the foundation stone of the new church was laid in August 1956. The church was opened for worship by the Moderator, Right Reverend Dr T.M. Barker, on 9 March 1957. The church hall was added shortly thereafter in 1964. The area has ancient ecclesiastical connections, lying close to the site of the old White Abbey, founded around 1200, after which the townland is named. The last remains of the Abbey were demolished in 1890. The church takes its name from the nearby Abbotscroft estate.

The church is a well-preserved mid-twentieth century example with Art Deco detailing. Although the detailing is of earlier stylistic vintage, the materials place the church firmly in the mid-century, particularly the use of cast-concrete detailing and the portal frame structure. The symmetry of the exterior is carried through to the internal spaces. The church is contemporary with and set adjacent to the planned Abbots Cross Estate. However, it represents a late and somewhat archaic example of its type and is not among the finest examples of mid-twentieth century church architecture.