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

Finaghy Presbyterian Church stands on Upper Lisburn Road at the corner with Kirklowe Drive in Belfast. Dating from around 1935, it was designed by the Belfast architects Tulloch & Fitzsimmons and built by J. & R. Thompson Ltd. The church is a striking example of Gothic-revival architecture, set within its own grounds with a lawned area to the south and enclosed by hedges.

The building has a rectangular plan form oriented on a south-north axis, with a gabled entrance facing south and a square-plan tower at the southeast end. The original church is accompanied by a 1960s pseudo-Gothic style transept and two modern halls added to the north and west. A further modern two-storey gabled hall to the southwest, dating from the 1990s, is connected to the church by a single-storey pitched-roof corridor.

The structure is built from un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone from the Ballycullen quarry, with Portland limestone dressings and quoins set on a moulded limestone plinth course. The pitched roof is laid in 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. Stone verges to the front gable and a stone finial mark the apex.

The principal south elevation is symmetrical and dominated by a double recessed pointed arch of ashlar Portland limestone at the centre, flanked by two-stage limestone buttresses with tall trefoil niches and decorated gablets. A square-headed door opening with splayed jambs sits at ground floor level within the central arch, with a double-leaf timber panelled door opening onto three polygonal stone steps. Above is a four-part square-headed fanlight with a carved frieze. A large five-part tracery window with moulded hood is positioned at high level within the central arch. To either side are a two-part square-headed traceried window at ground-floor level and a lancet window at first-floor level, all with moulded hoods. A two-stage angled buttress with gablet marks the west end.

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

The east elevation comprises the tower at the southeast end, the east aisle, the 1960s gabled transept, and a hall to the north. The east aisle contains four bays of pointed arch windows with stone dressings and splayed cills, separated by two-stage buttresses. The southern bay has a single traceried window, blind to its lower section; the remaining openings are two-part traceried windows with stone transoms. The projecting 1960s gabled transept has its main roof extended down to a lower eaves level with a shallow gabled projection featuring timber bargeboards and a pine cone stone finial at the apex. The transept is built in un-coursed hammered sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins, and features a modern tudoresque three-part window at the centre of the gable flanked by small lancet windows. The hall to the north comprises five bays with three-part tudoresque windows.

The north elevation is largely obscured by later additions: a chancel, transepts, and two modern single-storey pitched-roof halls that form a quadrangle around it.

The west elevation consists of the west aisle to the south, abutted by a modern single-storey corridor to a modern hall at the southwest (dating from the 1990s), the 1960s gabled transept, and the west hall to the north. The west aisle contains 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 next bay to the north has a two-part traceried window with stone transom, blind to its lower section; the remaining bays feature two-part traceried windows with stone transoms. The projecting 1960s gabled transept displays a large three-part traceried window at its centre. The transept walls are built in un-coursed hammered sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins. The west hall comprises eight bays.

Throughout the church, windows feature perpendicular-style tracery with splayed cills and stained leaded diamond-paned glazing unless otherwise noted.

The site is accessed via a principal gateway to the south with double wrought-iron gates featuring rectangular-section railings and decorated standards. A second identical wrought-iron gate provides access to the east. A tarmaced driveway serves the building.