Shankill Baptist Church, Tennent Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT14 7GL

Shankill Baptist Church

A symmetrical, gable-fronted Baptist church of double-height design, built around 1905 to designs by James A. Hanna. The building stands on the west side of Tennent Street in Belfast, facing east. It is rectangular in plan and abutted at its south-west corner by a brick extension built around 1985, at its west by Glenwood Primary School (built around 1920), and at its north-east by terraced housing (also built around 1920).

The church is constructed in garden-wall bonded red brick with a projecting sandstone plinth course topped with lead capping. A sandstone continuous string course runs at sill level. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys, and narrow torus moulded stone verges supported on stone kneelers. Replacement uPVC ogee rainwater goods are mounted on a brick corbel-course. A louvered lantern with projecting moulded rafters supports an ogee copper-covered dome roof crowned with a spike finial. The lantern openings are cusped and vented.

Double-height stepped angle buttresses with offsets and stone weathering articulate the exterior. All window openings are equilateral-arched with chamfered brick reveals and plain stop chamfers, sandstone splayed sills, and original Art Nouveau leaded stained glass with external storm-glazing. The east gable windows have chamfered ashlar sandstone heads with hood moulds, plain sandstone mullions, and transoms.

The gabled east elevation comprises a projecting gabled entrance porch at the centre, flanked by single windows on either side. The porch features squat lateral buttresses with offsets and weathering, surmounted by a sandstone torus moulded stone verge with projecting polygonal piers (one above each buttress and one to the centre of each verge) and a gothic style finial. The entrance doors are replacement timber-sheeted in an equilateral arched opening, framed by timber-framed replacement sidelights with an original stained glass fanlight above and storm-glazing. The entrance is accessed by six tiled steps via original cast-iron gates with three replacement mild steel handrails. Directly above the entrance is a large Art Nouveau stained glass window comprising five narrow lights divided by flying mullions and rising to eaves level, contained within a pseudo-four-centred arched sandstone surround. The moulded architrave is flanked by slender piers extending below the splayed sill and breaking the eaves. Brick tourelles rise from the east verge on each side of the main entrance, supported on corbels decorated with fleurons below and featuring sandstone detailing including octagonal pointed capping.

The south nave elevation is largely abutted at its left by the double-height modern extension built around 1985. The exposed section at the right contains a secondary entrance between two buttresses with offsets and weathering. This entrance comprises a pseudo-four-centred arch with a replacement timber-sheeted door at the left and a window with trefoil above at the right, surmounted by a stained glass fanlight and a lean-to natural slate roof. The entrance is accessed by two paved steps. Between the entrance and the modern extension, three angle buttresses divide four further equilateral-arched windows with splayed sandstone sills and no mullions or transoms. The window at the right has been altered, diminished in height, with a disabled access door below accessed via a ramp.

The west elevation was not fully surveyed. The interior confirms that the west gable contains three leaded stained glass lancets, whilst the south-west extension is blank. The west gable faces onto the back of Glenwood Primary School.

The north elevation was also not fully surveyed. A lean-to single-storey annex adjoins the end terrace of Tennent Street at the left, while a single-storey concrete block extension adjoins the south side of Glenwood Primary School at the right, enclosing access to the west side of the church. The exposed section above this extension contains a single window above a former external door (now located inside). Three angle buttresses with offsets and weathering divide three pointed-arched windows at the centre.

The church stands on a city centre site to the north of Shankill Road. A modern hall was constructed at the north-west corner of the site, with access to a small public car park at the south. Pedestrian access is provided via two pairs of decorative cast-iron gates (paint finish removed) and brick piers at the east, with railings supported on a brick plinth wall with stone chamfered coping. The church is entirely enclosed to the west and north by Glenwood Primary School and terraced housing along Tennent Street, both built around 1920.