Megain Memorial Church of the Nazarene, Newtownards Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT4 1AF

Megain Memorial Church of the Nazarene, Newtownards Road, Belfast

A Gothic Revival red-brick church dated 1889, designed by Vincent Craig. The building is situated on the south side of Newtownards Road, east of Belfast city centre, facing north between Montrose Street and Chamberlain Street. It comprises a gabled double-height hall with paired transepts, a three-stage entrance tower with spire to the northeast, and a canted stair-bay to the northwest. A two-storey red-brick church hall abuts the building to the rear.

The pitched natural slate roof features terracotta ridge tiles, raised stone verges, and a finial to the gable. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with hoppers project from a sandstone eaves-band. The walling is English garden wall-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth, with buttresses having masonry offsets and cusped pinnacles to the main elevation. Red sandstone dressings include a moulded string course and a carved sandstone panel beneath a window on the main elevation. The windows are leaded-and-stained glass lancets in red sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills. A geometric tracery window appears to the north and to the transepts; the transept tracery is of flat variety with tripartite cusped lancets.

The north-facing elevation comprises a gabled vestibule with an entrance bay at right (lower) and the tower at left. The gabled vestibule displays a geometric tracery window with hood mould and decorative stops, with carved insets reading "Megain Memorial Church" and "1889" flanked by lancets either side. Five lancets to the ground floor are grouped at the centre. The entrance bay projects slightly with a lean-to roof and contains a replacement double-leaf timber door surmounted by an ornately carved Gothic panel within a chamfered recess having sandstone ashlar surround with moulded archivolt and hood mould. A trefoil opening in sandstone surround marks the first floor level. The three-stage entrance tower features a broach spire with lucarnes and weather-vane. The third stage has paired Gothic openings with louvered vents on four sides and a dentillated frieze. A double string course appears between terracotta foliated panels, with paired lancets to the first and second stages on the east elevation. The entrance to the north elevation comprises a replacement double-leaf door surmounted by a Gothic panel in a chamfered recess with sandstone ashlar surround and archivolt, topped by a decorative red-brick pediment with finial.

The east elevation comprises a bell tower to the right and paired gabled transepts to the left. The central adjoining section is three windows wide, with an additional lower gabled entrance bay to the extreme left. The transepts have three windows to the ground floor and a traceried window to the upper level. The gabled entrance bay has paired lancets over a pointed-headed timber-sheeted door in a chamfered recess. The south (rear) elevation has three slender openings to the gable and is abutted by a modern extension of no architectural interest.

The west elevation comprises a gabled stair-bay to the left and paired gabled transepts to the right. The central adjoining section is three windows wide, with an additional lower gabled entrance bay to the extreme right. The transepts have three windows to the ground floor and a traceried window to the upper level. The stair-bay has a canted window with a four-paned mullioned window and paired lancet above surmounted by an oculus. The gabled entrance bay has paired lancets over a pointed-headed timber-sheeted door in a chamfered recess.

The property is bounded to the street by cast-iron railings on a red-brick and sandstone plinth, with latch gates to the entrances. It is situated between terraces comprising mainly twentieth-century red-brick housing on the site of earlier terraces. To the east is a cleared building site.