Newington Presbyterian Church Limestone Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT1 5GS

Newington Presbyterian Church, Limestone Road, Belfast

Newington Presbyterian Church is a semi-detached, rustic red-brick Presbyterian church of rectangular plan, facing north-west and set on an elevated site on the south-west side of the Limestone Road, with its main entrance off Robina Street. It was built in 1951–52 by F.B. McKee & Co. Ltd to the designs of Young & Mackenzie, one of the leading and most prolific architectural practices serving the Presbyterian Church in Ulster. The building is a good example of the firm's later work, which is typically more classical in style, and shares an architectural kinship with Cavehill Methodist Church on the Cavehill Road nearby — also designed by Young & Mackenzie in a similar idiom and of comparable date. Together, the two buildings have group value as paired examples of an indeterminate post-war style in which traditional and modern elements are blended.

History

This is the second church on the site. The original Newington Presbyterian Church was built in 1874–75 at the corner of the Limestone Road and Robina Street, also to the designs of Young & Mackenzie, who at that time were described by the Dictionary of Irish Architects as "the most successful architectural practice in Belfast, who had become the leading architects for the Presbyterian Church in the North-East." That first church was a Gothic-style structure measuring 63 feet by 40 feet and rising to a height of 50 feet, constructed of locally quarried Dundonald red sandstone with Scrabo stone dressings and white string-courses. It was built for the Presbyterian Church Building Society by Russell Brothers of Belfast and Newcastle at an estimated cost of £2,000. The memorial stone was laid by Sir Edward Coey, a local magistrate, on 9th July 1874, and the church was officially opened on 22nd August 1875, when it was valued at £130 in the Annual Revisions of that year, though exempt from taxation. A school house was attached to the south-west side of the building. Transepts and a lecture hall were added in 1886–87. By the time of the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the building was valued at £350.

The original church was completely destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs during the Belfast Blitz on the night of 15–16th April 1941. For nearly a decade the congregation met in a single-storey hall hastily prepared for services. The foundation stone of the current church was laid on 30th May 1951 by the Right Reverend J.H.R. Gibson, Moderator of the General Assembly, and the building was officially opened on 20th September 1952. The new church and its adjoining church hall were jointly valued at £1,040 under the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956–72). The current organ was installed by the Irish Organ Company and dedicated on 24th February 1963. Triple stained glass windows in the north transept were installed as a memorial to Joseph Millar, a captain of the Boys' Brigade. During the Troubles, the church's stained glass windows were frequently damaged by vandals. The church remains in active use as a place of worship and had a congregation of approximately 300 families in 2006.

Exterior

The building presents a four-bay nave to the north-east side, with a projecting gable to the east. A dominant four-stage bell tower of austere, Art Deco character stands to the north-west, adjoined by a single-storey entrance porch. The church is attached to the south-west to Newington Church Hall, and a series of single-storey and two-storey extensions lies to the south-east.

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, overhanging eaves, and a shallow overhanging artificial stone verge on a brick eaves course, with artificial stone kneelers. Rainwater goods consist of ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering discharging to circular downpipes. The bell tower has a flat roof with flat stone coping on a brick dentilled eaves course. The entrance porch has a flat roof with a raised artificial stone parapet on a brick soldier course.

Walling is in rustic red brick with a two-stage plinth course. Square-headed paired openings have narrow continuous artificial stone band to their heads, painted sills, and leaded windows with coloured glass panes inset, except where otherwise noted.

The north-east elevation is four-bay, with a projecting gabled bay to the east side and the bell tower adjoining to the west. A two-bay single-storey extension to the east of the gable has a flat roof with a stepped parapet and flat coping, brick soldier course openings, and a timber panelled and glazed door. The projecting gable has recessed brick quoins and a Venetian-style opening with a brick soldier course to the head. The bell tower has recessed brick quoins and a shallow projecting central section of brickwork with dentillated brickwork topped by a flat artificial stone coping; the upper stage is recessed with chamfered corners. At the third stage, a window has a projecting balcony to the sill supported on scrolled brackets with a moulded coping. The upper-stage opening has timber lattice grilles. The north-east elevation of the entrance porch has a square-headed opening.

The north-west elevation presents the four-stage bell tower to the north and the three-bay gable of the main church body, with the single-storey projecting entrance porch attached to the adjoining church hall to the south-west. A plaque to the lower section of the tower reads: "THIS STONE WAS LAID BY THE RT. REV J.H.R. GIBSON M.A.D.D MODERATOR OF THE CENTRAL ASSEMBLY MAY 1951." Brick soldier courses are used to the heads throughout this elevation. The central square-headed window to the gable end is set within a round-headed blind arch. The side elevation of the entrance steps has rustic walling with flat rendered coping. Openings to the ground floor of the south-west extension are ascending in arrangement.

The south-west elevation is attached to the church hall, with the side elevation of a projecting apse having a square-headed opening. The south-east elevation is gabled, with a projecting apse on rectangular plan with chamfered corners.

Interior

The church retains a fine interior with much of its original Art Deco detailing largely intact.

Setting

The church occupies an elevated position on the Limestone Road. The site is laid to lawn to the north-east, bounded by a coursed rubble rock-faced stone retaining wall supporting rustic red brick piers with chamfered artificial stone copings and decorative metal railings inset. The boundary wall extends to the north-west along Robina Street. Together with the adjoining church hall and community buildings, the church makes a positive contribution to the character of the local area. The listing extends to the church building itself, along with the walling, piers, gates, and railings.