Cregagh Presbyterian Church and Hall, 102-104 Cregagh Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT6 9ER

Cregagh Presbyterian Church and Hall

A free-standing gable-fronted Gothic Revival church and hall built around 1928, constructed in redbrick with pale terracotta detailing. The building is rectangular in plan, facing west, with a square-plan tower attached to the north side and a gable-fronted hall (the Allen Memorial Hall) to the south, connected by a corridor. Various mid to late twentieth-century single-storey redbrick extensions arranged around a rear courtyard. The site is set back from the east side of Cregagh Road and enclosed by redbrick walls with terracotta coping and iron gates mounted on redbrick piers, with replacement redbrick walls and railings to the north.

The main church features a pitched natural slate roof with catslide sections at lower pitch to the side aisles, black clay ridge tiles, and lead-lined ventilation dormers. Cast-iron guttering sits on a moulded terracotta eaves course with plastic downpipes. The redbrick walling is laid in English garden wall bond with a redbrick plinth course trimmed in moulded terracotta, and redbrick buttresses with terracotta offsets. Window openings are pointed-arched, formed in chamfered terracotta surrounds with terracotta Y-tracery and chamfered flush terracotta sills, glazed in leaded coloured or stained glass.

The square-plan three-stage tower on the north elevation contains one of the two principal entrances. It features a terracotta parapet wall with pointed-arched blind panels and octagonal finial bases resting on a terracotta cornice. The bell-stage has redbrick octagonal piers at each corner with large pointed-arched openings on each elevation containing Y-tracery, cusped openings with timber louvres, and terracotta panels below. The middle stage has redbrick angle-buttresses surmounted by gableted terracotta heads with finials, with a terracotta machicolated course spanning between gablets to the weathered terracotta base of the bell-stage. Two asymmetrically placed pointed-arched window openings to the middle stage are repeated on the north elevation of the lower stage, separated by a continuous moulded terracotta string course. The pointed-arched entrance to the tower's front elevation has hood moulding and splayed reveals, housing diagonally-sheeted double-leaf timber doors and an over-panel with decorative iron hinges. An iron lamp is mounted on the over-panel, with three concrete steps leading up.

The front west gable has roll-moulded terracotta coping and kneelers surmounted by a poppy-head finial. A large pointed-arched west window at upper level rests on a continuous moulded terracotta course with splayed reveals, hood moulding, and geometric tracery formed in terracotta with quatrefoils, cusps, and a transom with four trefoil-headed lights below, all glazed in leaded stained glass. At ground level is a series of four trefoil-headed openings with hood moulding and leaded stained glass.

A second front entrance is located in a flat-roofed entrance porch abutting the south nave, featuring a redbrick parapet wall with roll-moulded terracotta coping and poppy-head finial. The pointed-arched door opening matches those elsewhere, with a tripartite window opening to the south side elevation flanked by lateral buttresses.

The north side elevation is five windows wide, with the three central windows having hood mouldings, Y-tracery, and rising above eaves level with a wall-head dormer to each. The south side elevation matches the north, with the easternmost dormer located on the west elevation of a section set at right angles to the nave and connecting to the Allen Hall. This connecting section also has a small lean-to entrance porch with a Tudor-arched door opening and sheeted timber door with decorative iron hinges.

A lower redbrick section housing the sanctuary abuts the rear gable, with a natural slate roof hipped to the rear and abutted to the north by a modern flat-roofed redbrick block.

The Allen Memorial Hall to the south is symmetrically gabled and detailed as per the church. Its front elevation is abutted by a lean-to vestibule with a hipped slate roof. The vestibule has a weathered terracotta parapet wall with angle buttresses surmounted by gableted heads. A breakfront gabled entrance bay has terracotta coping and finial matching the church gables, with raised lettering stating "ALLEN / MEMORIAL HALL". The pointed-headed door opening is detailed as per the church, with a pair of trefoil-headed window openings to either side having hood mouldings and leaded glazing. The hall's side elevations have pointed-headed window openings formed in chamfered terracotta with Y-tracery and plain glazing, each flanked by redbrick buttresses.

The site features a large bituminous front area and lawn, with a front bitmac parking area enclosed to the road by a redbrick wall with terracotta coping.