Parochial House, St Peter's Cathedral, St Peters Square, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT12 4BU

Parochial House, St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast

This four-and-a-half-storey, L-shaped parochial house was begun in 1867 to designs by the Belfast architect John O'Neill, and is constructed in ashlar sandstone. It is attached to the south-east corner of St Peter's Cathedral, itself a symmetrical Gothic Revival church of 1866 built in Scrabo sandstone to designs by Father Jeremiah Thompson Mortimer McAuley. The listing covers the parochial house and the stone walls to the west elevation.

Historical Background

The site lies in the Divis area of central west Belfast and was given to Bishop Denvir in 1858 by Bernard (Barney) Hughes — a Belfast baker, flour merchant and philanthropist — who had obtained the land from John Alexander Esq. of Milford, Co. Carlow at a high annual rent. Hughes transferred tenure to the Bishop for the purpose of erecting a church, reserving only a nominal peppercorn rent. Hughes was celebrated for his affordable, nutritious loaves and baps, said to have relieved the suffering of those affected by the Famine. Griffith's Valuation of 1860 records the site as originally 'vacant' and confirms the Roman Catholic chapel was then 'in progress', with an observation that the land was 'a free gift from Mr. B. Hughes'. The church first appears on an 1864 map of the city; the contracted builders were initially John Ross of Great George Street, with John Murphy of Great George Street undertaking the final construction.

Father McAuley oversaw construction until September 1862, when he left Belfast to complete his ecclesiastical training. John O'Neill — a prolific architect of many prominent churches in and around Belfast — took over and completed the cathedral, before beginning work on this parochial house in 1867. Although never intended as a cathedral, St Peter's became known as a 'Pro Cathedral' soon after construction, performing most ceremonies associated with a cathedral; the 'Pro' derives from the Latin 'pro tempore', meaning temporary or provisional. In 1986 the church received official Cathedral status within the Diocese of Down and Connor. Architectural historians have noted that St Peter's is the first example of a Gothic Revival church in Belfast, described by Paul Larmour as 'Continental Cathedralesque' in form, with its vast twin spires forming a prominent landmark within the Falls Road area.

The three-storey presbytery, yard and Sacristan's House were valued at £60 and £9 respectively in 1900. The Annual Revisions of 1882 to 1890 valued the church at £450, rising to £675 by 1900, reflecting additions to the building. By the first general revaluation of 1935 the church's value had risen significantly to £1,120. In 1946 to 1950, architect Padraic Gregory enlarged the original porches on the north and south elevations, creating new side chapels and adding a new high altar and marble baldacchino. In the 1960s the altar was relocated to a central position, and in the 1980s the sanctuary and crossing area were rearranged. A large stained-glass western window was added in the twentieth century, requiring the organ to be divided into two separate pieces. Major renovations of both interior and exterior were carried out in 2002 to 2005. Rapid population growth in Belfast during the mid-19th century, driven by industrialisation, had seen the Catholic proportion of the city's population grow from less than 10% in the late 18th century to one third of 140,000 by 1866. With only three Catholic churches serving the community on the Antrim side of the River Lagan before 1860, St Peter's represented the beginning of a much-needed period of church expansion for a community largely confined to the small residential area south of Divis Street known as the 'Pound Loney'.

Exterior

The south elevation, which contains the main entrance, fronts onto modern housing on Milford Place. The east elevation of both cathedral and parochial house faces onto St Peter's Square East and St Peter's Place, with a pedestrian entrance to the grounds from St Peter's Place. The grounds of both the cathedral and parochial house are bounded by stone walls and piers with ornamental metal railings, and surrounded by hard landscaping in the form of paviors. Within the grounds, on the north side, stands a modern building — the St Peter's Immaculata Youth Centre.

All windows are replacement timber double-glazed units set within smooth sandstone heads, chamfered sandstone reveals, and stone cills. The roof is steeply pitched in natural slate with copings to the gables.

The south elevation sits at the extreme right of the cathedral's own south elevation. A four-and-a-half-storey gable rises to the right, with two windows to each floor, all equally spaced and vertically aligned. A continuous sandstone cill course runs beneath the second-floor windows. The gable is corbelled at the eaves and rises to a plain apex surmounted by a stone Celtic cross. To the left of this elevation is a two-storey modern extension built in natural stone with a flat roof, metal railings to the parapet, and timber fencing attached behind the metal. On the ground floor left side is the entrance, with a modern front door beneath a pitched slate roof on a projecting porch supported by timber brackets either side. Two windows sit above this on the first floor. At third-floor level, the original building is visible above the modern extension, with two windows beneath stone modillions under the eaves.

The west elevation of the parochial house abuts the south elevation of the cathedral. It comprises a four-storey gable to the left, a two-storey modern extension to the right, and the exposed third storey of the original building behind. The gable has steps leading to first-floor timber double doors on the extreme left, with two narrow lancet windows with trefoil heads to their right. Below, at original lower-ground-floor level, is a window fitted with metal bars between the reveals. An arched opening beneath the steps leads to a basement area. A continuous stone cill course runs beneath two second-floor windows, with similar windows again at third-floor level. The gable apex is plain. The modern extension to the right of the main gable has two windows on both ground and first floor levels, with metal railings to the flat roof parapet above, and one window at the exposed third-floor level of the original building behind. The modern entrance extension contains stained glass by CWS.

The east elevation consists of the main block to the left and several smaller elements to the right, linking with the south elevation of the cathedral. The main block is four storeys with an attic. There are three windows on each level, fairly evenly spaced, with the ground-floor windows being smaller than those above. A continuous stone cill course runs beneath the second-floor windows. Stone verges flank each side of the natural slate roof. A single rooflight is roughly aligned with the middle windows. Stone modillions sit beneath the corbelled eaves. To the right, a tall stone wall with a door leads to the rear yard, beyond which several small modern flat-roofed extensions have been added to the north elevation to create additional service space.

The north elevation abuts the side chapel on the south side of the cathedral but rises above it, with an exposed gable wall at high level alongside modern flat-roofed extensions rising from the rear yard. The exposed gable wall has a window at both second- and third-floor levels, approximately centred in the gable. On the extreme right at half-landing level is a further window, and on the extreme left at attic level is a small, square, single-paned window close to the verge. The ground, first, and second-floor levels of the gable are obscured by the modern extensions.

Rainwater goods to the south elevation are cast iron or cast metal.

Interior and Surviving Fabric

Despite the modern additions and the replacement of all original windows, a substantial amount of original historic fabric and fine detailing survives. This includes the steep slated gables with corbelled eaves, and internally, original joinery and cornicing.

Setting

The twin spires of St Peter's Cathedral are a prominent feature of the Belfast skyline, visible across much of the city from a considerable distance. The immediate setting, however, is now densely surrounded by modern housing and other buildings, having been subject to extensive redevelopment schemes from the 1960s to the 1990s. First- and second-edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1832 to 1833 and 1858 show that the Falls area was undeveloped until the 1850s. The cathedral and parochial house survive together as the most significant group of historic buildings in the immediate and wider area.