St Mary's Church of Ireland School, 236-238 Crumlin Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT14 7GL

St Mary's Church of Ireland School is a double-height former school built around 1885 to designs by architect W.H. Lynn. The building is rectangular in plan, aligned east-west, and located on the south side of Crumlin Road in Belfast, directly south of St Mary's Parish Church.

The building is constructed of polychromatic coursed tooled sandstone with a projecting plinth course capped in chamfered ashlar. The walling is predominantly white tooled sandstone with three tooled red sandstone stringcourses. It features a pitched natural slate roof with blue and black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys, and stone verges supported on corbelled kneeler stones. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods drain from the roof. Coursed tooled sandstone chimneysstacks with bellcast ashlar coping and clay pots rise from the building.

The principal north elevation comprises a central gabled projection with paired chimneysstacks, containing an entrance door with a transom light above on the left, flanked by a window at mid-level on the right and a larger window at the centre at first floor level, surmounted by a glazed oculus at the apex. The entrance door, which accesses the church hall, kitchen and meeting rooms, is reached via a flagged ramp and steps with a stone plinth wall and concrete coping supporting a painted mild steel handrail. The cheeks either side of the central projection are blank. This central projection is flanked by a series of four windows on each side. At the left, a gabled projection contains paired windows on the north gable surmounted by a glazed oculus at the apex, with blank cheeks. At the right, a larger gabled projection extends further than the left and contains two windows on the north gable surmounted by a blank oculus and a gable chimneystack; its left cheek is abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension, whilst its right cheek contains two windows. The lean-to extension is detailed to match the main building and features a lean-to natural slate roof.

The east elevation contains an entrance door at the left, accessed via a flaged ramp with stone plinth wall and concrete coping supporting a painted mild steel handrail. This door accesses the doctor's surgery located at the west end of the building. A diminished window is positioned at the right and a single window at the north. The east gabled elevation contains paired windows at the centre with a glazed oculus and acroter at the apex, and an entrance door at the left in a rendered ruled-and-lined surround. At the south-east corner, a single-storey-with-basement extension abuts the building in similar detailing. This eastern extension contains paired diminished windows at the centre with a glazed oculus above, and an entrance door at the right (north) cheek, accessed by stone steps with a half landing connecting to the pavement on Silvio Street. The left (south) cheek adjoins a two-storey-with-attic red brick house, now derelict, formerly the rectory.

The south elevation faces into an enclosed yard accessible only through the building. It contains a central wall-head gable with paired windows at the first and second floor surmounted by a blind oculus at the apex. To the right, a series of five windows is interrupted by entrance doors with diminished windows above at the first and fourth positions from the left. The doors are accessed via tooled stone steps with ashlar coping; the steps at the left are concrete construction, whilst the steps at the right are raised by cased concrete and surmounted by a painted mild steel handrail. Windows are flanked at the left by a wall-head chimneystack. A single-storey-with-basement extension abuts at the left, its left cheek containing a replacement door at basement level and two windows at first floor, with the left window occupying a former door opening now partially blocked. The south gable adjoins a two-storey-with-attic red brick house, now derelict, which encloses the east side of the yard. The left section of the main south elevation is abutted by an engineering brick single-storey extension adjoining the left gable projection. This left gabled projection has a blank face with partially rendered façade, indicating a formerly attached building has been removed. The left cheek contains four windows, and the right cheek was not visible.

The west gabled elevation projects slightly forward from the adjoining projecting bays and contains four windows surmounted by a blank oculus and gable chimneystack.

All openings feature square-headed designs with stepped ashlar jambs containing timber casement windows. Openings in projecting bays have tooled polychromatic relieving arches over. Metal screen protection is applied externally to the glazing unless otherwise stated. Doors are square-headed timber vertically sheeted elements contained within chamfered stepped ashlar surrounds with tooled relieving arches above. Doors are fitted with aluminium checker plate to the external face to prevent vandalism, attached with traditional style forged hinges.

The building contains a church hall, kitchen, and meeting rooms, with a doctor's surgery occupying the west end.

The building is situated within the walled grounds of St Mary's Church, surrounded on adjacent streets by terraced housing. Car parking between the church and former school is accessed at east and west via painted cast-iron gates supported on roughly coursed basalt rubble piers with sandstone pyramidal caps. The east stone steps are enclosed by cast-iron gates and roughly coursed basalt walling.