Methodist Church, High Street, Lurgan, Co.Armagh

Methodist Church, High Street, Lurgan

This two-storey Methodist Church was built in 1826 and re-fronted in 1888, with substantial extensions added to the rear in the mid to later 20th century. The building occupies a prominent position in the terrace on the south-western side of High Street.

The north-east elevation faces the street and is flush with the adjoining properties. The design is symmetrically arranged. The ground floor is finished in rusticated render with lined render above, and is topped by an eaves cornice and parapet featuring three plain recessed panels aligned with the first-floor windows. The ground floor rises from a bevelled plinth and is bounded by unusual raised vermiculated quoins, with v-jointed 'in-out' quoins to the upper level. Between the two floors runs a deep course bearing the inscription 'HIGH STREET METHODIST CHURCH' in raised serif capitals.

The central ground floor entrance is a segmental-headed opening with modern partially-glazed timber doors and a fanlight with modern coloured glazing. Above it sits a timber and lead curving canopy-like hood. The opening has a reveal with barley-twist edging and is framed by plain pilasters supporting a high-level cornice. On either side are segmental-headed windows with plain render surrounds, vermiculated keystones, and leaded glazing of late 20th-century appearance. Decorative galvanised security railings have been fixed to the frames, and small notice boards are affixed between the entrance and windows. The first floor contains three semi-circular-headed windows set on a sill course, each with decorative drip moulding and leaded glazing matching the ground floor.

The north-west elevation, which originally faced onto a narrow entry, is now largely obscured by a single-storey corridor extension running almost the full length of the original building. This corridor has a plain rendered frontage topped with a balustrade and a flat-arched doorway with panelled timber door. The left end of the original north-west side extends to the street and matches the front elevation in its lined render and parapet. This section, marking the extent of the 1888 re-fronting, features a gabled slated roof. Beyond it, the 1826 building is slightly lower and has a hipped slated roof with a slight overhang and decorative metal vents on the ridge. The plain rendered walls of the original section are pierced by two tall narrow semi-circular windows with leaded glazing.

Roughly half of the south-east elevation is abutted by the neighbouring property, though two windows corresponding to those on the north-west side are visible.

The south-west (rear) elevation is largely hidden by later extensions, with only a small rendered area visible at the top and no apparent openings.

The rear extensions are extensive and multi-period, more than doubling the footprint of the 19th-century building. A two-part, three-storey section close to the original church dates to around 1957. A foyer section was added around 1993, at which time the entire ensemble underwent refurbishment. A large double-height hall was added around 1990. All modern additions have a contemporary appearance.