St James C.o.I, 202/206 Antrim Road, Belfast, Co.Antrim, BT36 7QX

St James's Church of Ireland is a large Gothic Revival church built in sandstone, situated prominently at the junction of the Antrim Road and Cliftonville Road in Belfast. It was originally constructed between 1869 and 1871 to designs by William Henry Lynn (1829–1915) of the well-known architectural firm Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon, though historians including Brett, Larmour, and the Dictionary of Irish Architects attribute the design to Lynn personally. The foundation stone was laid on 11th September 1869, with McLaughlin & Harvey as contractors, and the completed church was consecrated on 2nd March 1871. The red sandstone used in the masonry was imported from St Bees in Cumberland.

The Antrim Road had been laid out in 1830, and the church was built at the entrance to Cliftonville, a speculative housing development laid out by Thomas Jackson during the 1830s. The church sits on a triangular plot to the north of the Antrim Road and Cliftonville Road junction, enclosed by dwarf sandstone walling topped by wrought iron arrow-head railings set between square-section pillars with roll-top coping.

The church has a rectangular plan orientated east–west, with a large central nave, gabled north and south side aisles, and a large gabled projecting chancel to the east abutted by a gabled vestry with an attached flat-roofed porch. A three-stage square tower topped by a hexagonal broached spire stands at the south-east end of the nave, and gabled entrance porches project from both the north-west and south-west ends. The building is composed of several gabled sections and rooflines of varying height, giving the overall form considerable interest. Walling is laid in random-coursed rock-faced Coursehill Sandstone with smooth sandstone dressings and quoins set on a double plinth course. The roof is natural Westmoreland slate with terracotta roll-top ridge tiles and leaded valleys. Cast iron rainwater goods include ogee guttering discharging to rectangular hoppers and circular-section downpipes. Raised stone verges to the gable ends have moulded stone finials to the apex.

The original three-stage tower, which survived the Second World War intact, has angle buttresses to its corners. The first stage has a small door opening at the north-east corner buttress at the junction with the church, featuring a hood mould with carved head stops and a timber four-panelled door set behind a metal screen. The second stage has small lancet windows, and the third stage has Gothic pointed arch louvred traceried openings to the belfry. The hexagonal broached spire, set on a moulded dentilated cornice on its square base, is surmounted by a cross finial and features lucarnes.

The south elevation is the principal front. It shows the square tower to the east with the chancel extending slightly beyond it, and the central nave extending one bay beyond the gabled five-bay aisle to the west. The south aisle has three gabled central bays flanked by a single tracery window with leaded stained glazing to the east and a gabled shallow projecting main entrance porch to the west. The entrance has a pointed arch doorway with hood mould and square label stops, a moulded surround, and flanking plain colonettes. The door itself is a square-headed two-leaf twelve-panel timber door with a fanlight above divided by decorated timber Y-tracery, recessed behind a decorative metalwork screen. The three gabled central bays have decorated tracery windows, moulded stone trefoils within indented roundels to the gable faces, and single-stage buttresses between each bay.

The west elevation is dominated by a large fourteen-light decorated Y-tracery window in the gable of the nave, with smaller tracery windows to both north and south aisles. The south aisle has a small Gothic ogee-arched window to the bottom right, now blind. Raised stone verges with coping, moulded kneelers, and apex finials terminate the gables. The north aisle runs to the full extent of the nave, while the south aisle is set back by one bay.

The north elevation consists of a gabled aisle running the full length of the nave and a gabled projecting eastern chancel, abutted to the north by a parallel lower gabled vestry projecting from the eastern end of the side aisle. The vestry has a flat-roofed porch attached to the north, with buttresses and a pointed arch doorway housing a timber panelled door on its north side. A gabled entrance porch projects from the north-west end of the aisle, housing a pointed arch doorway and a small tracery window on its east side. The three central bays of the north aisle, corresponding to the bays of the south elevation, have gables with tracery windows and separating single-stage buttresses, with a single tracery window to the east.

The east elevation shows the square tower to the west with its corner buttresses and small pointed arch windows with carved head hood stops to the first stage — depicting two faces, one young and one old, intended to greet worshippers. The second stage has two small lancet windows and the belfry level has large tracery openings topped by the broached stone spire. The projecting central chancel has a large tracery stained glass window, and there is a tripartite pointed arch window to the vestry gable at ground floor level, and a two-part pointed arch window to the vestry porch gable at ground floor level. Angle buttresses are provided to the corners, with a moulded cill course running from the chancel window across both chancel and vestry. Cinquefoil details appear to the chancel and side aisle gables. Windows throughout are Decorated Gothic pointed arch openings with stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds and splayed cills, generally fitted with fixed lights of clear leaded glass composed of small square panes, with some windows having stained glass.

The church underwent several notable alterations in the late 19th century. A parsonage was constructed in 1875 to designs by Thomas Drew to the west of the church, though this has since been demolished; its gate screen is retained at the lower entrance to the adjoining building. In 1881 Lynn extended the north and west sides of the church and installed new gates and railings. In 1886 Henry Seaver (1860–1841) designed a new pulpit carved from Caen stone with a granite base, replaced the original church steps with marble, paved the floor with encaustic tiles, and added additional choir stalls. In 1891 a stained glass window by Hogarth Studios of London was installed in memory of Sir John Preston, a member of the congregation and former Mayor of Belfast.

The church was severely damaged on 15th April 1941 when falling incendiary bombs during the Belfast Blitz reduced it to a shell, leaving only the tower, steeple, and belfry of the original structure standing. The 1891 Hogarth Studios stained glass window was among the losses. Reconstruction was carried out in stages: the nave and chancel were rebuilt between 1946 and 1950, with the remainder completed between 1952 and 1954. According to St James's Select Vestry, the new church was erected on the old foundations and follows the architectural style and character of the original, with some modifications made to admit more light. The reconstruction was designed by Richard Mills Close (1880–1949), who had been appointed architect to St Anne's Cathedral in 1923. Following Close's death in 1949, Captain James Young of Young and Mackenzie was appointed to see the project through to completion in 1954. W F Clokey and Co installed the glazing. The oak choir stalls, prayer desk, and reredos salvaged from the original church were reinstated internally. The restored church was consecrated on 11th September 1954.

Internally, many interesting fixtures salvaged from the original structure remain intact, lending the interior considerable historical character.

The setting of the church is enhanced by the whole complex being enclosed within dressed sandstone boundary walling topped by wrought iron arrow-head railings set between square-section pillars, with ornate cast iron railings and gates adding further distinction. Mature trees line the boundary of the interior setting, with the area to the south set to lawn and crossed by a wide tarmacked path linking gates on Cliftonville Road to gates on Antrim Road. A second set of gates to the north on the Antrim Road gives access to a tarmacked area to the north of the church. The boundary walling continues north along the Antrim Road, with a pedestrian gate to the front of the former national school — also designed by Lynn and dating from 1872 — which was converted to use as a church hall in 1957 and is listed separately. The former school also has a smaller spire. Together, St James's Church and the associated boundary walling and gate screen largely define the character of the lower Cliftonville Road.

The church was listed in 1987. It served as an Anglican place of worship until 2008, when it was closed and merged with the congregation of St Peter's Church of Ireland on the Antrim Road to form the Parish of St Peter and St James, a consequence partly of a dwindling congregation during the Northern Ireland Troubles as parishioners moved out of the area. At the time of the most recent survey, the building was in use by the congregation of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.