Coláiste Feirste Teach Chapel (Formerly Our Lady's Convent), Beechmount, Falls Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT12 7PY

Former chapel, now used as a school library, built in 1935 to designs by architect Frank McArdle for Our Lady's Convent. The building is grade B2 listed and forms part of the Coláiste Feirste Irish-language secondary school complex on an elevated site on the west side of the Falls Road, Belfast, between Beechview Park and Rockdale Street.

ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW

The chapel is rectilinear on plan, constructed in red brick laid to Flemish bond on a painted concrete splayed plinth. The roof is pitched natural slate with a lead ridge, a cross-shaped weathervane, and copper ventilation grilles set flush with the slate at regular intervals. Moulded reconstituted stone cornicing supports ogee guttering discharging to circular downpipes; all rainwater goods appear to be uPVC, including hoppers to the north elevation, with some original cast iron surviving. Windows throughout have stained leaded glazing unless otherwise noted.

Later additions include a small octagonal stair tower to the south-east, a two-storey corridor to the south-west connecting the chapel to the former hospital building, and a single-storey flat-roofed abutment to the north-east.

PRINCIPAL (SOUTH) ELEVATION

The gabled principal elevation faces south. A hexagonal stair tower sits to the east and a two-storey connecting corridor to the west links the chapel to the former hospital, now used as classrooms. The ground floor of this corridor is brick to match the chapel; the first floor is a modern glazed addition with a curvilinear roof. The gable has a plain painted timber bargeboard. At ground floor level there are two square-headed paired windows with painted concrete toothed quoins, splayed cills and reveals, and flush lintels with relieving arches above formed in soldier-coursed brick. Above these, at first floor level, is a large pointed arch window with plain intersecting-bar tracery, a moulded hood, and fitted storm glazing. A small quatrefoil window sits above this. The gable is flanked by two-stage brick buttresses with painted concrete tapered weathering caps. The stair tower has narrow square-headed windows.

REAR (NORTH) ELEVATION

The rear elevation consists of the canted bay of the chancel, with each bay separated by two-stage buttresses. Each canted bay has paired semi-circular arch windows with moulded stone cills and decorated arches above. The reverse side of the two-storey connecting corridor to the former hospital is set back six bays from the canted end. At ground floor level there is a square-headed opening with a painted concrete lintel and flush splayed cill containing leaded lights with an inward-opening hopper, and a double door opening onto nosed steps flanked by dwarf brick retaining walls with double canted concrete copings, painted.

WEST ELEVATION

The west elevation is six bays wide. Each bay has a round-arched opening formed in alternating bands of soldier-coursed brick and painted concrete voussoirs, with a circular arched window and moulded cills. The bays are separated by two-stage buttresses. The two-storey connecting corridor is attached to the last bay to the south.

EAST ELEVATION

The east elevation is six bays wide, with the single-storey flat-roofed abutment covering the last two bays to the north. Each bay has a semi-circular arched window with moulded cills and a decorated arch above, separated by two-stage buttresses. The abutment is approached by a concrete staircase with metal railings on a brick retaining wall. A shallow pointed arch door opening faces east, fitted with a timber sheeted door set within a depressed pointed arch. Square-headed windows with painted stone cills and lintels face south and east. All windows and doors to the abutment have painted concrete flush splayed cills and lintels with a stop-chamfered detail to the brick reveals; the arched door head is formed in alternating bands of soldier-coursed brick and painted concrete voussoirs, as elsewhere on the building. The splayed plinth detail matches that of the chapel. A decorative cast iron hopper and downpipe runs from the parapet at the south elevation of the abutment.

SETTING

To the east, the chapel is connected to the two-storey pitched-roof return of Beechmount House through a two-storey flat-roofed red brick extension with a modern glazed enclosure at first floor level. High rendered brick walling aligns the north-east site boundary, stepping to respond to the site's topography. The yard to the east is landscaped with a small pathway, pond, and some planting, and is almost fully enclosed to the south and east by the house, to the west by the chapel, and to the north by the boundary wall. A second yard on the west side of the chapel is enclosed by a palisade fence running between the north-west corner of the chapel and the north-east corner of the former hospital. To the south, the chapel connects with the two-storey pitched-roof red brick former Our Lady's Hospital buildings through a modern two-storey corridor. A tarmacked yard to the south is enclosed by the chapel to the north, the former hospital buildings to the west, and modern school buildings to the south and east. The original entrance steps and retaining walls to the north and east elevations have survived and add further interest to the building.

The chapel shares group value and social significance with Beechmount House, reputedly one of the oldest houses in the city, and the former Convent Hospital.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Originally a private residence, Beechmount was for many years a hospital before becoming a school. Up until 1932, the Beechmount estate was home to a number of gentlemen's families. It was considered a first-class dwelling surrounded by beech trees in what was originally a rural setting, from which it takes its name. Following the industrial expansion of Belfast, the growth of terraced streets along the Falls Road, and the demographic shift in the area following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the house became an unattractive prospect as a private residence.

In 1932 the estate was purchased by Catholic bishop Dr Mageean on behalf of the Diocese of Down and Connor. On 15 September 1932 he celebrated Mass there and formally handed the property to the Sisters of Mercy, who used it to provide additional accommodation for elderly patients and invalids who could not be cared for at the Mater Hospital due to lack of space. The building was named Our Lady's Hospital. The annual report of the Mater Hospital for 1932 advertised it as: "This hospital is for the reception of patients the treatments of whose complaints is of too prolonged duration for their reception in an ordinary hospital. This noble service was carried on for many years in the old Hospice on the Crumlin Road. As the accommodation there was found inadequate, His Lordship, the Most Rev. Dr Mageean, acquired the present Hospital which was formerly the residence of the Riddell family."

As the original house was insufficiently large, plans were drawn up for a purpose-built hospital alongside it. By 1935 this new building had been completed, constructed in red brick on an E-plan and similar in character to the Mater, but on a smaller scale. After its completion the old house became the residence for the Sisters and staff. The foundation stone of the chapel was blessed on 11 February 1934 and the chapel was completed by 27 October 1935. It was built between the original house and the new hospital. Frank McArdle was the architect for both the chapel and the conversion of the house to a hospital; the total cost was £50,000.

Early in 1974 a large part of the grounds was levelled to provide playing fields for a new extension to St Mary's Training College. By 1976 the hospital had four large and twelve small wards with capacity for 140 patients. By the 1980s it was recognised that the hospital would require a major upgrade, and in 1990 the decision was made to build a new nursing home. The existing buildings were subsequently transferred to the trustees of the Irish-language medium secondary school in west Belfast, previously known as Méanscoil Feirste and now called Coláiste Feirste.