Finaghy Presbyterian Church, Upper Lisburn Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT10 0LL

Finaghy Presbyterian Church (Lowe Memorial Church)

This is an impressive double-height Gothic Revival church dating from around 1935, designed by the Belfast architects Tulloch & Fitzsimmons and built by J. & R. Thompson Ltd of Roden Street, Belfast. It stands on a south-to-north axis at the corner of Upper Lisburn Road and Kirklowe Drive, within its own grounds. The church was built in what was described at the time as a "modern interpretation of Perpendicular style", and despite significant later additions, its principal entrance elevation and tower remain a local landmark in the Finaghy area.

Construction and Historical Background

The church owes its origins to the rapid suburban growth of Belfast in the interwar years. A wooden hall was opened on this site on 14 March 1930 for worship under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, with H. S. Carser appointed to lead the new congregation. In October 1932 the Belfast Presbytery granted the congregation official status, naming it after the Reverend Dr William J. Lowe, a leading Presbyterian minister and former Clerk of the General Assembly who had died in March 1931. The foundation stones of the permanent church were laid on 28 April 1934. The building contract, awarded to J. & R. Thompson Ltd, was valued at £9,350, with the tower costing a further £1,225. The church was dedicated on 16 March 1935 by the Reverend T. M. Johnstone, Moderator of the General Assembly.

At dedication, the church was not fully complete. Due to a lack of funds, the planned transepts and chancel had not been built, and the nave itself was a truncated version of what the original plans had envisaged. A temporary apse was installed at the chancel end. Even so, the church could seat 350 to 400 people, with provision for a further 200 to 250 once completed. The tower had been finished as planned. The supervisors of the project were Robert Frater (representing the architects) and R. A. Mitchell (representing the builders). Joinery and stone cutting were carried out directly by J. & R. Thompson Ltd — the same firm that built the nearby and contemporary St Polycarp's Church of Ireland — while the leaded glazing was the work of Messrs W. F. Clokey & Co. Ltd.

Later additions include the Duckworth Hall, built in 1955 to the rear and designed by Robert Frater (by then running his own Belfast practice), named after S. G. Duckworth, the congregation's first secretary. The Martin Hall followed in 1962. Between 1962 and 1963, architect Anthony Frederick Lucy oversaw the completion of the west end of the church in a pseudo-Gothic style, replacing the temporary 1935 apse with a new large chancel and adding a transept on the south side. The completed church and ancillary rooms were dedicated in September 1964. In the 1990s a further hall was constructed to the left of the entrance front and connected to the church by a sweeping single-storey corridor.

Exterior

The church has a rectangular plan form with a gabled entrance to the south and a square-plan tower at the south-east end. Later additions include a 1960s pseudo-Gothic style transept and two halls to the north and west.

The roof is covered with natural Westmorland slate with angled black clay ridge tiles. Painted cast-iron ogee guttering on a corbelled cornice discharges to decorated cast-iron hoppers and circular downpipes. The front gable has raised stone verges and a stone finial to the apex. The walls are built of un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone from the Ballycullen quarry, with Portland limestone dressings and quoins set on a moulded limestone plinth course. Throughout, windows are in the Perpendicular style with splayed cills and stained leaded diamond-paned glazing, except where otherwise noted.

South (Principal) Elevation

The principal south elevation is symmetrical, with the square-plan tower at its east end. At the centre is a double recessed pointed arch of ashlar Portland limestone, flanked by two-stage limestone buttresses carrying tall trefoil niches and decorated gablets. Within the arched opening, which has splayed jambs, is a square-headed door opening with splayed jambs at ground-floor level, fitted with a double-leaf timber panelled door opening onto three polygonal stone steps of Newry granite. Above the door is a four-part square-headed fanlight and a carved frieze. A large five-part tracery window with a moulded hood dominates the upper portion of the central arch. At the top of the gable is a small square-headed louvred opening. To either side of the central arch are a two-part square-headed traceried window at ground-floor level and a lancet window at first-floor level, each with moulded hoods. A two-stage angled buttress with a gablet stands at the west end of this elevation.

The four-stage tower has three-stage angled buttresses to its corners. The lower three stages are built of un-coursed rock-faced sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins; the belfry stage is of ashlar limestone. The first stage has a square-headed door opening with a timber panelled door. The second stage has a two-part pointed arch traceried window, and the third stage has a square-headed window. The belfry stage has two pointed arch louvred openings, each with five trefoil mouldings below. The tower is topped with a battlemented parapet.

East Elevation

The east elevation comprises the tower at its south-east end, the east aisle, the 1960s gabled transept, and a hall at the north end. The east aisle has four bays of pointed arch windows with stone dressings and splayed cills, separated by two-stage buttresses. The southernmost bay has a single traceried window blind to its lower section; the remaining bays have two-part traceried windows with stone transoms. The projecting gabled east transept dates from the 1960s. The main roof of the church extends down to meet the lower eaves level of the transept, with a shallow gabled projection having timber bargeboards and a pine cone stone finial to the apex. The transept walls are of un-coursed hammered sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins, and the centre of its gable has a modern Tudoresque three-part window flanked by small lancet windows. The hall to the north of the transept has five bays with three-part Tudoresque windows.

North Elevation

The north elevation is abutted by the later chancel, transepts, and two modern single-storey pitched roof halls that form a quadrangle.

West Elevation

The west elevation consists of the west aisle to the south, abutted by a modern single-storey 1990s corridor leading to a modern hall at the south-west, the 1960s gabled transept, and the west hall to the north. The west aisle has five bays of pointed arch windows with stone dressings and splayed cills, separated by two-stage buttresses. The southernmost bay has a single traceried window at high level; the bay immediately to the north has a two-part traceried window with a stone transom, blind to the lower section; and the remaining bays have two-part traceried windows with stone transoms. The projecting gabled west transept dates from the 1960s and is built of un-coursed hammered sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins, with a large three-part traceried window at the centre of its gable. The west hall to the north has eight bays.

Interior

The interior retains the original timber staircase to the vestibule and stained glass windows to the nave. The interior woodwork is of pitch pine. The five-light window over the entrance and the side windows are glazed with hand-made Ambetti glass.

Setting

The church occupies its own grounds to the north side of Upper Lisburn Road at the corner with Kirklowe Drive. The site is lawned to the south with a tarmacked driveway and is enclosed by a hedge to the south and west. A modern two-storey gabled hall to the south-west, dating from the 1990s, is connected to the church by a single-storey pitched-roof corridor. The principal gateway to the south is fitted with double wrought-iron gates with rectangular section railings and decorated standards; a second identical wrought-iron gate stands to the east.