Church House and Assembly Hall, Fisherwick Place, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 6DW

Church House and Assembly Hall, Fisherwick Place, Belfast

This is a large, detached Neo-Gothic sandstone Presbyterian Assembly Building dating from 1905, designed by the architectural practice Young and MacKenzie. It occupies an entire city block in central Belfast, with principal elevations facing west onto Fisherwick Place and south onto Howard Street, and secondary elevations fronting Upper Queen Street to the north and Wellington Street to the east. The building is three storeys tall with an attic, and its most prominent external feature is a square-plan, three-stage clock tower at the southwest corner, crowned by an openwork copper repousse crown steeple with an octagonal lantern and tapering spirelet, all decorated with copper crockets. The building stands on the site previously occupied by the old Fisherwick Presbyterian Church, completed in 1827 by Thomas Duff and demolished in preparation for construction of the new building.

Historical Background

The project originated as an architectural competition, which was won by Robert Savage. However, the assessor Thomas Drew deemed the conditions — including a cost limit of £30,000 set by Robert Young of Young and MacKenzie — wholly unreasonable, and no suitable designs were produced within that budget. Drew accordingly abandoned the competition and appointed Young and MacKenzie directly as architects. The final design, executed by builders Robert Corry, ultimately reached an estimated cost of £74,000. The building was listed in street directories between 1903 and 1905 as being in the course of erection, and first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1931, captioned "Church House." Early valuations recorded the building at £450 and noted that it contained General Assembly offices, a boardroom, committee rooms, storerooms, caretakers' apartments, a reading room, prayer room, newsroom, classrooms, a gymnasium, and a minor hall. The Assembly Hall was separately valued at £100, and a shop, bookstore and dispatch office at £75.

The architectural historian Paul Larmour, writing in 1987, described the building as "an odd mixture of Scottish baronial and Perpendicular," with the corner tower and open crown spire forming the dominant feature terminating Howard Street. Marcus Patton similarly noted its mixed character. The heavy external carvings to the upper floors were the work of Purdy and Millard, while the ground floor, interior, and surrounds of the entrance doorways were executed by J. Edgar Winter. The carved spandrels of the main doorway are considered a rare example of Celtic Revivalism in a Belfast city centre building. Stained glass work, including the ornamental Art Nouveau roof light above the assembly hall and the Barkly Memorial window in the minor hall, was completed by stained glass craftsman William Douglas. The turret clock, by Sharman D. Neill, is of particular note as the first example in Britain of electricity being used to drive a clock; it has a carillon of twelve bells.

Construction and Later Alterations

Two stained glass windows were added in the mid-to-late 20th century: the Carrickfergus window in the foyer of the assembly hall, and the Rosemary Street window on the second-floor landing. The interior was renovated following bomb damage sustained during the 1970s, and underwent extensive alterations in 1992 when the assembly hall was refurbished and the ground floor was converted into the "Spires" shopping mall and restaurant. As a result, the ground floor became publicly accessible, and the Presbyterian General Assembly relocated to private accommodation on the upper floors. Since the early 21st century, extensive restoration and alteration work has been carried out to the exterior stonework.

External Description — General Character

The walling throughout is of random uncoursed squared rock-faced sandstone ashlar, with smooth sandstone trim to the projecting plinth course and continuous string courses between floors. The roofs are natural slate with multiple pitches covering the various elements of all four elevations, with a flat-roofed central section covered by a glazed dome. Cast-iron box hoppers and square-profile downpipes break through all parapet walls. Window openings are square-headed and Tudor-arched throughout, with transomed and mullioned frames, cusped-headed multi-light sandstone surrounds, and leaded lattice steel casement windows, except where noted otherwise.

The Clock Tower

The tower is square on plan, with engaged octagonal piers to the corners. It is surmounted by the openwork copper repousse crown steeple with an octagonal lantern and tapering spirelet, all decorated with copper crockets. The steeple sits behind a crenellated and blind-arcaded parapet wall with four octagonal turrets to the corners and a further four rising behind the parapet, all with small gargoyles; those to the corners are surmounted by crocketed stone finials. At the base of the parapet wall is a continuous concave string course with floral motifs, with gargoyles projecting from each corner.

The upper stage of the tower has a single Tudor-arched opening on each face with five lights, a continuous hood moulding rising to a poppy-head finial, set within cusped-headed blind arcading and resting on a splayed sill with a lion-head course below. Below the upper window on the west face is an iron clock face with Roman numerals.

The middle stage corresponds to the first and second floors of the main building. On the south elevation it has a Gothic-arched opening with a recessed tripartite window frame opening onto a shallow stone balcony supported on angel heads, with trefoil panels filled with shields of various Irish counties. Below this are a pair of Gothic-arched window openings with hood mouldings, foliate label stops, and bipartite windows. On the west elevation the middle stage has a pair of Tudor-arched window openings — bipartite at the upper level and five-light at the lower level.

The lower stage of the tower on the south has a Tudor-arched door opening fitted with a hardwood glazed door, flanked by engaged columns and a decorative cusped-headed overpanel with figurative label stops. On the west, the lower stage has an inscribed marble panel reading "The Presbyterian Church in Ireland / Church House / and / Assembly Hall / 1905," set in a foliate carved frame and flanked by angled pinnacles.

Principal West Elevation

The west elevation faces Fisherwick Place and is seven windows wide. It is surmounted by a crenellated parapet wall broken by a gabled end bay to the north, a central gabled entrance bay, and a gabled breakfront oriel to the south.

The gabled bay to the north is framed by full-height piers surmounted by corbelled octagonal tourelles, themselves surmounted by conical pinnacles. It has a Gothic-arched two-light window opening to the gable, two pairs of mullioned windows to the second floor with flat hood mouldings, and a ground floor and first floor arrangement set within a single sandstone frame with a Tudor-arched five-light window to the first floor. The ground floor also has a five-light window alongside a later door opening, with five panels bearing heraldic shields above.

The central entrance bay is surmounted by a crenellated gable and poppy-head finial, flanked by square turrets with gargoyles at their base and surmounted by four-sided sprocketed stone pinnacles. From ground to second floor the bay is filled by a full-height Tudor arch containing oriel windows and elaborate carvings. The compound moulded Tudor-arched front entrance has a deeply set archivolt embellished with foliate mouldings and a central angel, with Celtic knotwork to the spandrels. The door opening is flanked by diminutive niches with pinnacles and poppy-head finials. At first floor level are three bowed trefoil-headed oriel windows rising from corbelled bases filled with figurative carvings, with a date shield to the centre reading "1905." Square panels above the oriels carry carved heraldic shields, and a crenellated triple bowed parapet wall fronts the recessed second-floor windows. The deeply set arch is embellished with carved heads, and the first and second floors are framed by vertical panels filled with carved grotesques surmounted by pinnacles and lions; these cross the arch as a billet moulding and meet as a large foliate finial with ribbon carving reading "Ardens Sen Virens." The entrance has replacement double-leaf doors with raised-and-fielded panels, surmounted by a cusped leaded overlight.

The remainder of the west elevation has mullioned windows to the second floor with transoms to the first and ground floors, drip moulds appropriate to their profile — Tudor-arched at ground floor, square-headed at upper floors — with hood mouldings and foliate stops. The south section has a central shallow breakfront oriel to the upper two levels, surmounted by a carved panel depicting four heraldic shields with crowns and angels, with a gable above flanked by pinnacles.

Principal South Elevation

The main south elevation faces Howard Street and shares the same general character and detailing as the west elevation. It is nine windows wide with a central gable lit by an oriel and framed by tourelles, all rising from first-floor level and supported on corbelled bases.

The east end of the south elevation is terminated by a two-storey pinnacled gabled end bay. Its upper floor is lit by a large stained and leaded Perpendicular tracery window with enriched apron panels over a deep chamfered stone sill, framed by engaged crenellated octagonal piers rising above eaves level. There are two diminutive rectangular windows to either side at sill level and a stepped string course running beneath. The ground floor has a symmetrical arrangement of two Tudor-arched windows flanking a central Gothic-headed door opening with a square-headed blind arcaded overpanel framed by enriched piers.

To the right of the terminating gable, a two-storey link block connects to the east wing, with a mullioned window over a large sheeted opening. To the right of the terminating bay is a full-height link with single cusped lights to the upper floors over a Tudor-arched opening with an ornamented head and trefoil roundels, infilled with a modern window. Beyond this is a breakfront with a tapered roof, having a richly carved roundel panel at parapet level flanked by pinnacles and bearing the inscription "The Word of God Which Liveth And Abideth."

The south entrance below has a compound moulded surround with a hood moulding bearing foliate label stops, flanked by pinnacles rising to second-floor height and with elaborately carved spandrels. Replacement aluminium glazed doors open onto three stone steps. The gabled central bay has a pair of square-headed transomed and mullioned windows beneath the oriel, with a Gothic-arched door to the left and a door with a large rectangular mullioned transom to the right, both having double-leaf hardwood panelled doors opening onto two stone steps. Otherwise, mullioned Tudor-arched openings are irregularly arranged across the ground, first, and second floors, generally plainly detailed with label moulds, with the exception of those to the ground floor, which have cusped blind arcades above.

North Elevation (Upper Queen Street)

This secondary elevation has a recessed central section flanked by two gabled projections. The westernmost bay is three windows wide, with three-light window openings to each level, each toplight being Tudor-arched. Adjacent to it is a gabled projection with a recessed door opening fitted with replacement timber windows and doors, surmounted by a plaque reading "Presbyterian Church in Ireland / Church House & Assembly Hall," with a four-light transomed and mullioned window above. The recessed sections have largely cusped-headed three-light and five-light tracery windows, abutted by single-storey wings with square-headed window and door openings fitted with vertically-sheeted hardwood doors. The easternmost section is three windows wide, with square-headed window openings to the upper floors having rock-faced voussoired heads and replacement timber casement windows, and Tudor-arched window openings to the ground floor fitted with steel grilles.

East Elevation (Wellington Street)

This four-storey secondary elevation is seven windows wide, with each bay surmounted by a plain gable with lead-lined coping. There are broad Tudor-arched window openings to the third floor, segmental-headed openings to the first and second floors, and replacement timber casement windows throughout. The ground floor has modern shop units with voussoired heads over aluminium shop display windows. The central bay has a Tudor-arched door opening fitted with replacement glazed aluminium doors, wall-mounted lettering reading "Fisherwick Buildings," a hood moulding, and figurative label stops with a hood cornice. The south end of the east elevation connects to the main south elevation via a low crenellated link block. The detailing here is plainer, with a central gable having a simple pinnacle, three openings to each floor, those to the centre set in a shallow breakfront from first to third floors, and Gothic-headed openings at ground floor including a central door opening.

Interior

The large semi-circular assembly hall was three storeys in height, with a stone arcade inset with Tudor-style timber balconies. Larmour, writing in 1987, described it as "one of the most impressive interiors in Belfast." Above the hall hangs an ornamental Art Nouveau roof light completed by stained glass craftsman William Douglas, who also executed the Barkly Memorial window in the minor hall. Two later stained glass windows were added in the mid-to-late 20th century: the Carrickfergus window in the foyer of the assembly hall, and the Rosemary Street window on the second-floor landing. Although some of the original interior has been lost — particularly following bomb damage in the 1970s and the 1992 refurbishment and conversion — the rooms that remain intact display fine timber and stone masonry craftsmanship matching the richness of the exterior detailing.

Setting

The building occupies a complete quadrangular city block at a prominent central Belfast junction. The principal west elevation fronts Fisherwick Place, the principal south elevation fronts Howard Street, and the secondary elevations front Upper Queen Street to the north and Wellington Street to the east. The square-plan clock tower marks the southwest corner where the two principal elevations meet, forming a powerful and highly visible termination to Howard Street. The building lies within a conservation area.