Wesley Centenary Methodist Church, Hamilton Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 4JP

Wesley Centenary Methodist Church, Hamilton Road, Bangor

This double-height Gothic-style church was built in 1891 to designs by the Belfast-based architect James John Phillips, with later extensions and alterations by James Hanna. It stands directly off Hamilton Road in Bangor town centre, opposite St. Comgall's Church, close to a main junction surrounded by two- and three-storey retail and commercial buildings and several other landmark historic buildings including the Masonic Hall.

The church was constructed on a vacant plot on the then newly-created Hamilton Road in the centenary year of John Wesley's death — hence its name. Regular Methodist services in Bangor had begun in July 1890 in the nearby Good Templar Hall, and in September of that year plans were submitted for a new chapel to accommodate 500 people. Building work commenced in February 1891, with a fundraising bazaar held at St. George's Hall in Belfast in March of that year. The total cost was approximately £1,800, of which £500 remained unpaid when the church opened. The contractors were Messrs John Lowry & Sons of Great George's Street, Belfast. The first dedicatory services were held on 18th September 1891, attended by a very large congregation; the church had been built principally to serve summer visitors, though it also catered for Methodists living permanently in Bangor. The building first appears in valuation records from 1894–99 as a "Wesleyan Centenary Chapel" valued at £80.

James John Phillips, born in Cork City and himself a Methodist, was the architect of numerous Methodist churches throughout the north of Ireland. The façade was built using selected white stone ashlar from Glebe quarry, with dressings of Dumfries red stone; the remainder of the building used stone from local quarries with a rendered finish. A schoolroom and vestry were built at the rear from the outset.

In March 1893, Bangor was established as a separate circuit, and in October of that year it was decided to purchase the adjoining house for use as a manse. A new Sunday school premises was built to the rear in March 1897. In 1912, the Irish Builder invited tenders for additions and alterations according to plans prepared by James Hanna of Belfast. These alterations appear to have included an increase in seating capacity and the installation of a pipe organ and choir stalls, together with an organ chamber and vestry beneath, resulting in the valuation being raised to £100. An extension known as the Epworth Hall was opened in March 1924, further raising the valuation to £135 by 1925. Electric lighting was installed in 1944. In spring 1959 the front of the church below the pulpit was completely redesigned, with a new communion rail fitted across the full width of the church. The baptismal font was gifted to the church in 1960. The manse beside the church was demolished in 1964, and a Minor Chapel, Minor Hall, and classrooms were built on the site to designs by architect Gordon McKnight. Extensions to the rear were completed in 1965. A further redesign of the front of the church, including the choir, pulpit, and communion rail, was completed in 2004.

The building has a rectangular plan with extensive additions to the rear and sides. The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles; ventilation lanterns have been removed. The eaves are formed with moulded stone, and the rainwater goods consist of cast-iron ogee-moulded gutters with circular downpipes. The main walling is squared uncoursed sandstone rubble with ashlar sandstone dressings and a string course, and a projected plinth course at the base. Windows are lancet-shaped, set in ashlar sandstone dressings with leaded and stained glazing and chamfered long-and-short reveals. The entrance doors are paired timber sheeted doors with a fixed overlight, all inset within a lancet opening framed by a two-stage chamfered sandstone surround with a hood moulding terminating in foliated head-stops.

The principal elevation faces south and takes the form of a symmetrical gable fronting the main body of the church, extended to the left. The gable features moulded parapet coping with an apex cross, and flanking two-stage lateral buttresses rising to gableted pinnacles terminated with finial crosses. The paired front doors are centrally positioned and accessed by modern steps with a handrail. A sandstone frieze is inscribed "Wesley Centenary Church 1891". Above, at first-floor level, is a triple lancet window formation, with an elliptical louvred oculus at the gable head. The left-hand side of the gable-end has paired first-floor windows matching the detail of those elsewhere on the elevation.

The left (west) elevation is largely obscured, having been partially abutted and enclosed by a two-storey extension dating from 1964. The rear (north) elevation is rendered and gabled, abutted by a diminished two-storey gable. The right (east) elevation is six bays wide and rendered; each bay is divided by stepped buttresses and contains paired windows with shared cills, beneath a two-tier projected rendered corbel course.

The site has been progressively infilled with abutting extensions of different periods and styles. To the rear is a double-height pebble-dashed hall erected in 1924, gable-ended with moulded detailing. Further to the rear stands a two-storey modernist building erected in 1965, constructed in red brick and smooth render with minimal detailing. A matching minimalist-style single-storey block fills the west side of the site. The front of the site is bounded by a low-level artificial stone wall with a low-level rail, installed in 1965.

The interior is well-detailed. The contrasting stonework throughout the building is of good quality, and the church as a whole demonstrates a robust aesthetic as well as a legible record of its historic development.