Holy Cross Church, 432 Crumlin Road, Belfast, BT14 7GE

Holy Cross Church, 432 Crumlin Road, Belfast

Holy Cross Church is a Grade B+ building dating from 1902, designed by W.G. Doolin. It is a substantial stone church in the Lombardo-Romanesque style, rectangular in plan and facing east. The composition is symmetrical and double-height, with two flanking towers and a gabled front. The north side chapel was added circa 1910, and the south side chapel was built circa 1960. The building features an apsidal side chapel on the south elevation and an apsidal chancel to the west.

The roofing is laid with pitched natural slate and roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, with lead valleys and moulded cast-iron guttering. The eaves are supported on smooth sandstone ashlar corbelled courses, with square-profile cast-iron downpipes. The main walling is uncoursed rock-faced sandstone ashlar with smooth sandstone dressings. Full-height rock-faced sandstone piers frame all bays. Window openings are round-headed with chamfered sandstone surrounds, flush splayed sills, hood mouldings and leaded stained glass windows fitted with storm glazing.

The east front elevation is the principal façade. It comprises a central gable flanked by two advanced square-plan three-stage towers. The towers have pyramidal copper-clad roofs with copper cross finials rising from machicolated eaves. The upper stages of the towers contain round-headed openings framed by colonettes on all elevations, with paired round-headed openings, central colonettes and copper-lined louvres with splayed sills. The centre stage has staggered diminutive round-headed window openings with a full-span cornice above. The lower stages have paired round-headed openings with an Arabesque frieze and dentilated cornice spanning the entire front elevation.

The central gable is topped with a dentilated pediment bearing a cross finial and a stone statue at its centre. Below the pediment is a triple round-headed window with a continuous archivolt rising from colonettes and surmounted by a blind arcade. The principal entrance is set within an advanced gabled doorcase containing two square-headed door openings separated by a central stone pier. The lintel features an Arabesque cornice with raised lettering reading 'DOM.IN.HON.SSMAE.CRUCIS A.D. MDCCCCII' (in honour of the Most Sacred Cross, AD 1902). A large semi-circular Portland limestone overpanel with a carved biblical scene sits above. The doorcase is flanked by groups of four slender polished granite colonettes on pedestal bases with elaborate foliate and swagged capitals, set to a continuous impost moulding and stepped archivolt within a dentilated pediment. Each opening contains triple-leaf hardwood panelled doors with bolection mouldings, opening onto a stone platform and eight granite steps with a modern steel balustrade and hardwood handrail at the centre.

The south nave elevation features a lean-to side aisle with an apsidal side chapel to the right and a gable-fronted south chapel abutting much of the left. Paired round-headed clerestorey windows and paired round-headed window openings light the aisle. The apsidal side chapel has a conical natural slate roof with a copper finial and round-headed window openings flanked by engaged colonettes. The three-bay south chapel is gable-fronted with a pitched natural slate roof behind a slightly raised pediment bearing a stone cross finial. It has uncoursed rock-faced sandstone walls and triple arched window openings set in recessed panels. The upper part of the front elevation displays smooth coursed sandstone ashlar walling with triple-light windows. A round-headed door opening contains a double-leaf hardwood panelled door flanked by groups of four polished granite colonettes on shared pedestal bases with stylised capitals, set to a continuous impost moulding. The archivolt is stepped and voussoired with a cornice hood moulding.

The apsidal rear elevation (west) features a semi-conical roof with a copper cross finial. The chancel has round-headed window openings with hood mouldings and flush splayed sills, set within shallow recessed panels. The lean-to side aisles are finished with slightly raised half pediments bearing a diminutive arcading course below a dentilated raking cornice, with triple-arched window openings with slender colonettes and continuous hood mouldings rising from splayed sills.

The north nave elevation mirrors the south elevation in composition, with a three-bay gable-fronted north chapel abutting much of the west side. The north chapel is detailed similarly to the south chapel but features paler sandstone walling, arcading to the dentilated pediment, and triple-arched windows flanked by pedimented blind niches. The colonettes flanking the doorcase have elaborately carved capitals depicting grotesques, continued as an Arabesque frieze either side. The double-leaf hardwood panelled door with bolection mouldings opens onto a stone platform and five stone steps with a modern steel balustrade and hardwood handrail.

The church is set on an elevated site within its own landscaped grounds on the south side of Crumlin Road. The site is shared with an adjoining monastery. Front lawns are enclosed to the street by a low rubblestone wall and decorative iron railings. A bitumac front area with a flight of stone steps opens onto Crumlin Road via decorative iron gates hung on cast-iron piers. A free-standing stone monument to the south of the church commemorates St. Gabriel, comprising a life-size stone statue supported on a stone square-plan base with plinth. The base has four equal elevations, each with a central rectangular memorial plaque flanked by Corinthian pilasters. A second free-standing stone monument in the lawns to the north of the church depicts Jesus Christ as a life-size stone statue supported on a carved stone square-plan base with plinth. The statue sits on a raised paved area approached by steps with square stone piers capped with urns.