Knock Presbyterian Church, Knock Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT5 6JH

Knock Presbyterian Church is a six-bay, T-shaped sandstone Gothic Revival gabled church, built in 1875–76 to designs by the Belfast architectural partnership of Young & Mackenzie, and subsequently refurbished in 1896 and 1907. It stands at the corner of Knock Road and King's Road, Belfast, on a slightly elevated site orientated east to west. The site is bounded to the north and east by rock-faced sandstone walls with mild steel railings along part of the north boundary. At the north-east corner of the site, where Knock Road meets King's Road, there is an ornate cast-iron vehicular entrance comprising decorative gate piers, double gates and railings. The site also contains the original hall complex, extended in 1932, and a later hall complex dating from 1964. Although the church is of architectural interest, it has been altered internally and was not considered to be of special interest for listing purposes, as better examples of this style already exist on the statutory list.

The church has rock-faced sandstone walls with smooth sandstone details throughout. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with crocketed stone skews, a stone finial to the east gable end, a modern chimneystack to the west end, and black terracotta ridge tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods include ogee gutters resting on exposed timber rafter ends, with square-profile downpipes.

The principal elevation faces east. Stone steps with handrails lead to a projecting twin-gabled entrance porch with two pairs of timber sheeted doors with ornate iron straps. The doors are set in identical square-headed lugged openings, themselves set within equilateral arches with concentric moulded archivolts and hood mouldings springing from ornate label-stops at the outer edges and meeting at a carved symbolic eagle at the centre. The porch has steeply pitched gabled roofs, diagonal buttresses to the outer corners, and a single buttress to the centre. Behind the porch is a single-storey section with a hipped natural slate roof behind a crenellated parapet, stepped diagonal buttresses topped with gablets at the angled corners, and pointed trefoil arched windows set within equilateral arched openings with hood mouldings. The main gable of the church rises behind the porch with stone skews, a string course at the springing point of a large equilateral arched window with geometrical bar tracery and smooth sandstone detail under a pointed Saracenic arched hood moulding with ornate label-stops, crowned with a decorative carved engaged pommel. Three small arrow-loop windows sit below a stone finial at the apex of the roof. To either side of the gable, set back slightly, are stone walls with hipped slated roofs with cast-iron gutters on exposed timber rafter ends. To the north-east side is a flat-roofed staircase projection, originally built as the base of a tower that was never completed.

The south elevation has the blank side wall of the porch at the east end with a slightly projecting plinth to the base of the main church body wall. There is a marked change of stonework at the west end of the first bay, which reflects the 1907 extension. This bay has a smaller equilateral arched window with hood moulding and simple bar tracery; the remaining four bays each have dropped arch windows with contrasting stone architraves and simple bar tracery. At the east end of the south transept is a projecting two-storey staircase enclosure with a crenellated parapet to the flat roof, two string courses, diagonal stepped buttresses to the corners, an equilateral arched window with hood moulding and geometric tracery to first-floor level on the east elevation, a square-headed lugged door opening with a pair of timber sheeted doors with ornate straps offset to ground-floor level, and small pointed trefoil arch window openings with equilateral arched hood mouldings also on the east elevation. The south transept gable has a pitched natural slate roof, a pair of dropped arch window openings with bar tracery at lower level, and a circular window above. The gable steps back to the main church body with two small windows at ground and first-floor levels, followed by the junction with the block extended in 1932.

The 1932 extension is a three-bay, two-storey block with a hipped natural slate roof and composite sandstone block walls. To the first floor are two square-headed window openings with uPVC windows. At ground-floor level there is one doorway with a modern timber and glazed door under a cantilevered hipped porch, and two window openings with smooth stone surrounds and uPVC windows, together with a stainless steel flue. This block meets the 1964 extension, which is built in pale buff concrete brick with a pitched concrete-tiled roof to the main hall and a flat roof to the ancillary accommodation, with a mix of timber and uPVC windows in square-headed openings.

The west elevation is largely formed by the 1964 extension. To the south end there is a pitched concrete-tiled roof, concrete brick walls, a timber fascia with uPVC rainwater goods, and uPVC windows. To the north end there is a single-storey flat-roofed projecting extension with composite sandstone block walls, a rendered plinth and rendered panels around the window openings, a deep timber fascia, uPVC rainwater goods, and uPVC windows. The main west wall of the church behind comprises seven bays with composite sandstone block walls, a pitched slated roof, uPVC windows, and metal rainwater goods; the upper south bay is concealed by the 1964 extension, and the lower three bays are hidden behind a single-storey foyer. The 1964 foyer extension has a flat roof and timber and glazed walls at ground-floor level, with composite sandstone block walls to the upper floor set back behind the foyer's flat roof.

The north elevation has the blank side wall of the porch at the east end with a slightly projecting plinth at the base of the main church body wall. The first bay has a small equilateral arched window with hood moulding and simple bar tracery. At the east end of the north elevation is a projecting two-storey staircase enclosure with a flat roof, five-sided detailing to the roof corners, and angled stepped buttresses to the corners. The east elevation of this enclosure has an equilateral arched window with hood moulding, a string course at sill level, and geometric tracery at first-floor level, with a blank wall at ground-floor level. The first-floor level of the north elevation of this enclosure has a small circular window with hood moulding and a string course below, with a blank wall at ground-floor level. On the west elevation of the enclosure at ground-floor level there is an equilateral arched door opening with hood moulding and a pair of timber sheeted doors. The third, fourth, and fifth bays of the main church on the north elevation have dropped arch windows in each bay with contrasting stone architraves, simple bar tracery, and banding to the walls. At the west end of the north elevation the north transept projects, with a gabled pitched natural slate roof. The east elevation of the transept has a single dropped arch window; the north elevation has a pair of dropped arch window openings with bar tracery at lower level and a circular window above. Attached to the transept is a projecting staircase enclosure with diagonal stepped buttresses at the corners and a crenellated parapet roof with a string course. This enclosure has a circular window at first-floor level and, on the east elevation, a square-headed lugged door opening with a pair of timber sheeted doors with a diamond-patterned overlight set in a classical doorway with engaged Ionic columns, all set back under a pointed Saracenic arched hood moulding with a pointed gable moulding above incorporating a recessed niche at the apex. The north elevation of this enclosure has a large equilateral arched window with hood moulding at first-floor level, a stepped string course at sill level, and three small lancet arched windows with hood mouldings at ground-floor level. The 1932 extension adjoins at the north, forming a three-bay, two-storey block with a central gable, a hipped natural slate roof, sandstone walls, and metal rainwater goods on a timber fascia. The projecting gabled ground-floor central bay originally contained a door, now replaced by a window. Circular windows appear at the apex of the central gable and in the upper east and west bays. The other window openings are arched with modern timber tracery; the lower east bay has a modern timber and glazed door.

The congregation of Knock Presbyterian Church traces its origins to 1870, when Thomas McClure of Belmont House — a local Member of Parliament and the most prominent landowner in the area — allocated a vacant mill at the corner of Knock Road and Cherryvalley to a Mr James McConville to set up a Sunday school for Presbyterian children in the Knock district. Unusually, the congregation grew out of its Sunday school, and in 1872 efforts were made to establish a church near the former mill site, with Dundela Presbyterian Church established as a Church Extension Project. The foundation stone was laid on 9 November 1875 by Thomas McClure, who had contributed generously to the building fund, and the church was officially opened on 27 January 1876 under the name Knock Presbyterian. The congregation's name was subsequently changed to Dundela. The completed church was originally a simpler rectangular building lacking its present transepts and lecture halls, and was valued at £50 in 1876. A first lecture hall was constructed in 1880, valued at £40.

Young & Mackenzie, the architects responsible for the original design, were described by the Dictionary of Irish Architects as the most successful architectural practice in Belfast in the late 19th century and the leading architects for the Presbyterian Church in the north-east.

The church underwent two extensive refurbishments: in 1896 a new roof and the current transepts were added, expanding the accommodation to 500; in 1907 the church was lengthened, galleries were added, and an additional entrance porch was constructed, increasing capacity to 800. On 6 June 1920 three memorial windows in the north wall and a war memorial tablet in the vestibule were dedicated to members of the congregation who died in the First World War. In 1921 the congregation reverted the name to Knock Presbyterian Church. Following the Second World War, a second memorial tablet was installed in the south-west wall of the church. The first organ was installed in 1909 and was rebuilt in the mid-20th century during the ministry of the Reverend Robin C. Elliot.

The original lecture hall was extended in 1932 to designs by William D. R. Taggart (1872–1940), a local architect and civil engineer who predominantly carried out domestic work in the Belfast suburbs. The extension added two new classrooms for the Sunday school and a vestry room, was carried out by the building firm of Thomas Wilson & Sons, and was reopened on 25 October 1932 by James Craig, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

In 1963–64 a new suite of lecture halls was added to the north-west side of the church to designs by Gordon McKnight, a local architect based in Holywood who had first come to prominence for his design of Orangefield Presbyterian Church (built 1955–57). McKnight went on to design over thirty modernist churches for Protestant denominations over a four-decade career. The new hall was officially opened on 10 October 1964 by Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

An extensive renovation was carried out in 1998–99, which slightly reduced the seating capacity but created a new vestibule and refurbished the minister's room, church office, music room, and ancillary accommodation. Knock Presbyterian Church and its hall are included within the King's Road Conservation Area, designated in 2000 as an area exhibiting a very high standard of townscape character, with many period Victorian and Edwardian properties contributing to the special quality of its suburban setting.