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

Cregagh Presbyterian Church and Hall is a free-standing, gable-fronted, double-height Gothic Revival church and hall built in redbrick and pale terracotta, constructed around 1928 to designs by Belfast architect James Corden Stevenson. The building replaced an earlier corrugated iron church on the same site and was built for a congregation with roots stretching back to 1874. The complex is rectangular on plan, facing west, with a square-plan tower attached to the north side, a gable-fronted hall to the south, and a connecting corridor between them. Various mid- to late-20th-century single-storey redbrick extensions are arranged around a courtyard to the rear.

The building is set back on the east side of Cregagh Road within its own site, enclosed by redbrick walls and iron railings. The roof is pitched natural slate with a catslide section at a lower pitch over the side aisles, finished with black clay ridge tiles and lead-lined ventilation dormers. Cast-iron guttering serves a moulded terracotta eaves course, with plastic downpipes below. The brickwork is laid in English garden wall bond with a redbrick plinth course trimmed in moulded terracotta, and redbrick buttresses with terracotta offsets. Pointed-arched window openings are formed in chamfered terracotta surrounds with terracotta Y-tracery, chamfered flush terracotta sills, and leaded coloured or stained glass glazing throughout.

The square-plan tower rises in three stages and contains one of the two principal front entrances. At the top, a terracotta parapet wall carries pointed-arched blind panels and octagonal finial bases resting on a terracotta cornice. The bell stage has redbrick octagonal piers at each corner, with a large pointed-arched opening to each elevation containing Y-tracery, cusped openings with timber louvres, and terracotta panels below. The middle stage has redbrick angle-buttresses topped by gableted terracotta heads with finials, and a terracotta machicolated course spanning between the gablets to the weathered terracotta base of the bell stage. Two asymmetrically placed pointed-arched window openings in the middle stage are repeated on the north elevation of the lower stage, with a continuous moulded terracotta string course running between stages. The front elevation of the lower stage has a pointed-arched entrance with a 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 onto the over panel, with three concrete steps below.

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 and a hood moulding. Its geometric terracotta tracery incorporates quatrefoils, cusps, and a transom, with four trefoil-headed lights below, all glazed in leaded stained glass. At ground level there is a series of four trefoil-headed openings with hood mouldings and leaded stained glass. A second principal entrance is located in a flat-roofed entrance porch abutting the south nave, which has a redbrick parapet wall with roll-moulded terracotta coping and a poppy-head finial. The pointed-arched door opening is detailed as per the tower entrance, 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 and Y-tracery that rise above eaves level, each with a wall-head dormer. The rear gable is abutted by a lower redbrick section housing the sanctuary, which has a natural slate roof hipped to the rear, itself abutted to the north by a modern flat-roofed redbrick block. The south side elevation mirrors the north, with the easternmost dormer located on the west elevation of a section set at a right angle to the nave, connecting it to the Allen Hall to the south. This connecting section also has a small lean-to entrance porch with a Tudor-arched door opening and a sheeted timber door with decorative iron hinges.

The Allen Memorial Hall is a symmetrical gabled structure detailed in the same manner as 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 a finial matching the church gable, with raised lettering reading "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, each with hood mouldings and leaded glazing. The side elevations to the hall have pointed-headed window openings formed in chamfered terracotta with Y-tracery and plain glazing, each flanked by redbrick buttresses.

The use of glazed terracotta for external dressings and internal columns is relatively unusual and is a notable feature of the design. The Clokey windows to the entrance hall are of particular interest. Despite the loss of the finials to the tower — photographs taken at the time of opening show that the tower was originally topped with a pinnacle at each of the four corners — the church and hall retain a wealth of original fabric and good-quality detailing both externally and internally.

The setting is enclosed to the road by a redbrick wall with terracotta coping and iron gates on redbrick piers, with the north boundary enclosed by a replacement redbrick wall and piers with iron railings. The front area is largely bitmac with a lawn. The composition is enhanced by the adjacent Allen Hall, constructed in the same style shortly after the church.

The congregation's origins lie in 1874, when a Secession congregation was established largely from members of country congregations who had moved to Belfast during the period of the city's most rapid growth. They initially worshipped in the Music Hall at May Street, and in 1875 the Reverend George McMahon was installed as minister. A new church was built on Botanic Avenue, completed in 1879, but the congregation faced persistent difficulties and in 1896 the building was sold to the Kinghan Mission for the Deaf. A small group of members resolved to revive the congregation on Secession principles, chose the Woodstock Road area as a new base, and in 1900 inaugurated a mission in the Brown Memorial School in Redcar Street. The congregation was subsequently joined by members of a non-seceding church and eventually dropped its Secession designation, rejoining the General Assembly. In 1901 construction of an iron church began on the present Cregagh Road site, opening in 1902 at a cost of approximately £600. The Reverend David Stewart was installed as the first minister in 1903. The iron church appeared in valuation records in 1906 at a valuation of £54 5s and is shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902.

A building fund was established in 1906, but the First World War and subsequent economic depression delayed construction of a permanent building. In 1919 a strip of adjacent ground was acquired, making a building of adequate size possible, and by 1925 sufficient funds had been accumulated through fundraising and legacies — including a bequest from Mrs Mary Allen, whose legacy enabled the building of the memorial hall. Plans by James Stevenson were passed by Belfast Corporation in May 1927, and in September 1927 work began, with contractor John Elliott awarded the contract for £14,000 to build both church and hall. Foundation stones were laid in January 1928 and the church opened in September of the same year. Its opening was announced in the Irish Builder of 13th October 1928, which described it as "a large and handsome structure, built of Belfast bricks with terracotta dressings." The Allen Memorial Hall opened in February 1929. By 1929 both church and hall had entered the valuation records at a combined valuation of £345, and the complex first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1931.

In May 1948, stained glass windows in memory of those who died in the Second World War were unveiled. In 1949 the Allen Memorial Hall was redecorated and an electrical heating system installed throughout. During the 1950s the population of the area expanded significantly with the construction of the Cregagh estate and other housing developments, and in 1950 the Allen Memorial Hall was rented to the Down Regional Education Committee for use as a primary school. In 1953 a stained glass window depicting the Good Shepherd, in memory of Mr and Mrs James Dunlop — foundation members of the church — was installed on the north side. In 1955 a temporary wooden hall purchased from Glenburn Methodist Church was erected at the rear of the Allen Memorial Hall, named the Stewart Hall; this was later replaced by a permanent building of the same name.

A building fund for expansion and renovation was launched in 1959, and plans for enlargement and extension were approved by Belfast Corporation in November 1962, with Anthony Frederick Lucy appointed as architect. The refurbished church opened in September 1963. The alterations included a three-light east window designed and executed by Frank Foster of Holywood; rearrangement of the apse; oak panelling and Elders' stalls; a new pulpit; a south transept; a robing room for the choir; a choral gallery; a narthex screen and memorial vestibule; rearrangement of the pews to provide centre and side aisles; a minister's room, session room and cloakroom; and works of re-lighting, re-plastering and redecorating. A transept window was presented in 1963 by the Women's Missionary Association. Plans for erecting a wall and railings on the north side of the site were also approved in 1963, with Messrs Sloan Bros of Carryduff as contractors. A new organ was supplied by Messrs Peter Conacher and Co of Huddersfield, and a new bell was dedicated in memory of the Reverend Dr David Stewart. These additions and alterations resulted in a rise in valuation to £760 in 1965. Two new halls, the Stewart and Barbour Halls, were opened in 1969. A new kitchen, storeroom and cloakroom were completed in 1979. A youth centre was completed in the 1980s, and during the same period the Allen Hall was renovated and the church brickwork treated. The Reverend W A J Barbour memorial windows were unveiled in June 1980.