Cliftonville Moravian Church, 424 Oldpark Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT14 6QF

Cliftonville Moravian Church is a free-standing, asymmetrical gable-fronted church built around 1909 on Oldpark Road in Belfast. Designed by architect James St John Phillips, it exemplifies the eclectic architectural style of the early twentieth century, combining Gothic Revival detailing with Arts and Crafts elements.

The church is constructed of machine-made red brick laid in Flemish bond with sandstone dressings. It is rectangular on plan, facing east, with a square-plan tower to the north and an entrance porch to the south, set slightly back from the road. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with black ridge tiles, rising behind a slightly raised front gable finished with roll-moulded saddleback sandstone coping. Replacement steel guttering is fitted on timber fascia with exposed timber rafter feet and cast-iron downpipes to the south and uPVC to the west.

The front elevation comprises a double-height gable to the left and the tower to the right. The gable features a large pointed-headed window with compound moulded sandstone surround, splayed sandstone sill, and curvilinear sandstone tracery window with leaded coloured glazing and storm glazing. The gable is flanked by two brick buttresses with stone offsets. The square-plan tower has a pyramidal terracotta tiled roof with finial and overhanging eaves. Its upper stage has square-headed window openings on each elevation with painted tripartite tracery frames containing leaded glazing and splayed sandstone sills. The windows are framed by brick piers set on a continuous splayed sandstone course. A diagonal buttress addresses the northeast corner. The entrance is a pointed-headed door opening with compound moulded sandstone arch and splayed jambs, containing double-leaf vertically-sheeted hardwood doors with a plain masonry overpanel. The door opens onto a sandstone platform with three steps.

The south nave elevation comprises five bays with paired window openings having flush relieving arches rising from flush sandstone panels with sandstone impost blocks. A timber-framed entrance porch with terracotta tiled roof and roll-moulded ridge tiles and finial stands to the right. The porch has timber bargeboard and fascia with cast-iron guttering, painted weatherboarding to the gable, and trefoil-headed timber-framed windows set on chamfered sandstone sills with leaded glazing. A trefoil-headed door opening to the right cheek contains double-leaf vertically-sheeted hardwood doors opening onto a concrete universal access ramp.

The gabled rear elevation includes a lower gabled chancel projection with a large pointed-headed window featuring curvilinear sandstone tracery and leaded coloured glazing. The lower brick section to the west has a square-headed window and door opening, with a boarded-up window and timber door to the north elevation.

The north nave elevation is four bays wide with paired trefoil-headed window openings formed in chamfered sandstone with flush sills and leaded coloured glazing. To the northwest corner of the tower is a clasping canted brick stair projection with sandstone ashlar roof and wall to the upper section; three diminutive trefoil-headed window openings with leaded coloured glazing and splayed sills sit on a continuous string course. All principal window openings feature pointed-headed lancet windows with leaded coloured glazing and flush splayed sandstone sills.

The church retains its original interior and fittings and most of its original external fabric. It was built of brick with Giffnock stone dressings and an open timber ceiling.

The site is enclosed to the road by a low red brick wall with sandstone coping and decorative wrought-iron railings. Two pairs of matching gates hang on red brick piers with saddleback sandstone capstones. The church and its setting constitute an important architectural feature on Oldpark Road.

The Moravian congregation in north and west Belfast grew from the mid to late nineteenth century as a result of Belfast's rapid industrialisation. Meetings began in 1890 in a room in an Orange Hall on Huss Street, and a Moravian church and school were built in Perth Street in 1893. In 1905, the Irish District Conference of the Moravian Church resolved to establish a presence in another residential area of Belfast, leading to the acquisition of the Oldpark Road site. Tenders were invited in October 1908, and the contractor appointed was H. Laverty & Sons of Cambridge Street, Belfast. The construction cost was £3,000. In 1930, Cliftonville Home Mission was recognised as a Moravian congregation. The church was damaged during the Belfast Blitz in 1941 but was subsequently repaired. It continues to serve the north and west Belfast Moravian church community.