Belmont Presbyterian Church, 92 Sydenham Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 2DT is a Grade B1 listed building in the Belfast local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. First listed on 1 May 1986.

Belmont Presbyterian Church, 92 Sydenham Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 2DT

WRENN ID
waiting-groin-bistre
Grade
B1
Local Planning Authority
Belfast
Country
Northern Ireland
Date first listed
1 May 1986
Source
NI Environment Agency listing

Description

Belmont Presbyterian Church is a double-height red brick Gothic-revival church built in 1860 to a design by architect W. J. Barre. It occupies a prominent position on Sydenham Avenue in Belfast.

The church is planned on a cruciform layout set on an east-west axis. It features a pitched natural slate roof with decorative cut slate bands, crested red clay ridge tiles, red clay finials, and sandstone coping to the gables. The walling is constructed in red brick laid to English garden-wall bond with buff-brick dressings, quoins, and a chamfered plinth course. Chamfered yellow-brick corbels at the eaves support cast-iron ogee-moulded guttering with circular downpipes.

The principal western elevation presents two gables at the ends of the nave and north aisle. The main gable displays a large five-part traceried window with a carved cruciform at the apex, while the north aisle gable contains a lancet window. Both gables feature raised stone verges and small lancet openings at higher level. A square-plan four-stage tower stands to the southwest corner, topped with pinnacles and a parapet, with three-stage angled buttresses. At the belfry stage are large trefoil louvred openings on each elevation; the second stage contains a lancet window. The tower has a door opening to its south elevation at the first stage and two small trefoil windows to the west.

A projecting single-storey four-bay porch extends from the main western elevation, topped with a hipped slate roof and featuring two-stage buttresses and a parapet. A three-sided outshot with hipped slate roof joins the northwest side. The porch contains two square-headed door openings to the west and one to the south, each with segmental arch hood moulding and decorated tympanum fitted with modern glazed timber doors. A platform with three nosed stone steps provides access. The north and south bays of the porch and the outshot contain square-headed stained leaded glass windows.

The north elevation comprises the five-bay north aisle and the north transept. The north aisle bays are separated by three-stage buttresses and each contains a double lancet window opening with stained leaded glazing and fixed external secondary glazing. The transept is a gabled five-sided canted bay with two-stage buttresses, featuring a large three-part tracery window with pointed-arch hood mouldings on head stops and a lancet window to each canted bay.

The south elevation mirrors the north in composition, consisting of a four-bay south aisle separated by two-stage buttresses, each with double lancet windows, and a matching gabled five-sided canted transept to the east end with three-stage buttresses. This transept displays a large three-part tracery window with pointed-arch hood mouldings and lancet windows to each canted bay.

Throughout the building, lancet windows feature sandstone keystones and splayed sills with stained leaded glazing and fixed external secondary glazing where noted.

The east elevation is abutted by an adjoining modern hall dating from the 1960s.

The church complex occupies its own grounds, fronting onto Sydenham Avenue. An L-shaped modern extension and hall extend to the north and east. A listed Hall and Gate Lodge stand to the southeast, with car parks to the west and north. The site is partly lawned and concrete paved, enclosed to the south by a red brick wall with stone coping topped by cast-iron railings. Square red brick gate piers with buff brick quoins and single-stage buttresses, topped by cast-iron finials, support cast-iron gates at the main entrance. A cast-iron gate and hedge provide access to the southwest pedestrian entrance.

Detailed Attributes

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