Chapel, St Malachy's College, Antrim Road, Belfast, BT15 2AE

St Malachy's College Chapel

This two-storey red brick Gothic Revival chapel was built in 1882 to the designs of architect Mortimer Thomson. It forms part of the St Malachy's College complex on the Antrim Road in Belfast and stands as a good example of late nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture surviving in original condition with much fabric and detailing of significance.

The chapel is L-shaped on plan, with a stair hall attached to the east gable adjoining the main college building, a single-storey flat-roofed corridor running to the north, and a further stair hall projection to the northwest. The principal north nave elevation is six windows wide, abutted to the west end by a lower two-storey gabled projection. At the northwest corner stands an octagonal turret, flush with the west gable and surmounted by a steep natural slate roof with dentilled eaves and lead finial.

The exterior exhibits an array of Gothic Revival architectural devices. The walling is red brick laid in Flemish bond with flush black brick courses, set on a rubblestone plinth. Steeply pitched natural slate roofs with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles sit behind slightly raised gables topped with sandstone coping, decorative apex, and gabletted kneeler stones. Moulded cast-iron guttering is supported on corbelled red brick eaves courses with cast-iron downpipes.

The chapel's fenestration is characterised by pointed-headed paired window openings with chamfered flush sandstone frames and sills containing leaded stained glass windows and weather-glazing. Ground floor openings have segmental heads with gauged brick heads and single-pane timber sash windows. The south nave elevation is seven windows wide with comparable detailing. The gabled stair hall projection features a quatrefoil opening to the gable formed in sandstone, a Tudor-arched window opening to the first floor with polychromatic brick and sandstone head and paired cusped sandstone window frame with leaded glazing, and paired pointed-headed window openings to the ground floor with timber casement windows. The corridor displays paired pointed-headed window openings detailed similarly but with steel casement windows. The east stair hall is set perpendicular to the main college building and features paired pointed-headed window openings with cusped sandstone frames and leaded steel windows rising to form a wall-head dormer. The west gable elevation contains a single rose window with a flush sandstone ashlar frame and gauged red brick relieving arch with black brick trim. A pair of large red brick chimneystacks rises above the eaves course to the south elevation.

The interior features a fine barrel-vaulted roof. Of particular note are the Harry Clarke windows installed in 1933, which constitute one of the best collections of such windows in the country. However, some sources attribute the stained glass to Richard J King, who worked for Harry Clarke and took over as manager when Clarke died, with King being active from 1928 to 1974.

St Malachy's College itself was built in 1865 to 1867 from designs by architect John O'Neill. The site's history extends back to 1833, when the Diocesan Seminary was founded by Bishop Crolly and officially opened on 3 November 1833, the feast day of St Malachy. The Seminary initially operated as both a boarding school and training institution for priests on the Crumlin Road, with day pupils attending St Patrick's National School in Donegall Street. By 1843 there were 50 boarders and 100 day pupils. The present site on the Antrim Road is shown on the 1858 Belfast town plan, with part of the earlier building's footprint retained to the north of the present college building, suggesting that some earlier fabric may survive within the current structure. O'Neill's original design for the college in 1865 to 1867 included a chapel and belfry stage to the tower, but these were not executed according to his plans. The central portion of the main building and a wing given to the Christian Brothers were constructed at this time. Dr Richard Marner was president of the college, succeeded in 1876 by Dr Henry, who added a further wing on land that had been intended as the original chapel site. By 1877 the school was known as St Malachy's Diocesan College. Mortimer Thompson's 1881 to 1882 additions included the present chapel, a wing to the south, and an entrance gateway on the Antrim Road.

The chapel sits within the grounds of St Malachy's College to the west side of the Antrim Road, accessed via a bitmac avenue.