Old School House, 32 Townsend Street, Belfast

Old School House

32 Townsend Street, Belfast

A large, two to two and a half-storey detached hall built in 1876-78 as a school, lecture hall and sexton's house for the neighbouring contemporary Townsend Street Presbyterian Church. Designed by architects Young and Mackenzie, who also designed the church, it is a noteworthy and relatively unusual piece of 1870s architecture. The building matches the parent church in its use of materials but presents a less decorative, though typically high Victorian manse appearance. Its form and detailing survive in virtually original condition, and its significance is reinforced by its relationship to the contemporary church, the two buildings making an imposing group.

The school was opened on 21 September 1878, with the church following on 13 October. The building ceased operating as a school around 1925 and is now in use as a library, lecture hall, offices and meeting rooms.

The hall is long and narrow, set on a north-south axis and basically rectangular in plan. The integral former sexton's dwelling forms the northernmost quarter and is two and a half-storey with a symmetrical front façade. The former school and lecture halls are two-storey. A single-storey gabled porch projects at the north end, a large two-storey gabled stairwell projects to the north-east, and a part-two/part single-storey projection to the south contains another stairwell and a boiler house.

The east and north walls are rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with bevelled plinth. The south and remainder are largely brick. A small feature hip occurs to the east front; otherwise the roof is simply pitched and covered with natural slate. Ridge tiles are red fire clay with Cock's Comb embellishment and fire-clay finials. Rainwater goods are mainly replacement uPVC. Eaves overhang with exposed rafter tails. A much eroded stone chimneystack sits to the main ridge.

Stone wall areas feature various smooth string courses. The ground-floor string course intersects with window imposts, while first-floor courses integrate the window sills. Window openings are regularly arranged; most are semi-circular headed, though all ground-floor openings to the north side and some to the south ground floor, plus some smaller openings, are flat-headed. Frames are generally 2/2 timber sash, though some sashes have been replaced with single panes. Sills are cut stone. Lintels include radial brick and stone arches and flat brick arches.

The north façade features a central single-storey gabled porch with a window to either side. The first floor has three similar windows, and the second floor has three smaller, similar, closely-grouped openings. A slit, flat-headed window opens to the south cheek.

The east façade has a gabled two-storey stairwell to the right side. The front face of the rear projection is flush with the main east façade at the far left. A triple arrangement of window openings occurs to the first floor of the second projection, and a paired arrangement to the first floor of the southern projection. Otherwise, window and door openings are regularly arranged with flat-headed and semi-circular headed examples. Three semi-circular-headed door openings, each with a sheeted timber door, are present.

The south façade is largely covered by the rear projection and can only be viewed obliquely. The left side of the first floor has one semi-circular-headed window. Walls rise to a gable with parapet and stone skews. Two projecting chimneybreasts occur at the 'third' points of the west façade, though the chimneysstacks have been removed. Windows are regularly arranged; some ground-floor openings are paired.

The hall is located immediately to the rear (west) of the church itself, with the entire ensemble set on the corner of Townsend Street and Cargill Street in a mixed inner-city area of housing, light industrial units, and to the east, the Divis Street cutting of the Westlink by-pass. A narrow alleyway separates the church from its neighbour, and to the south the hall abuts neighbouring buildings.

The church, which this building served, replaced a smaller Classical-style structure from 1833. The cost of the whole ensemble amounted to around £10,000, with William McCammond of Antrim Road, Belfast, acting as builder. A 190-foot spire was originally intended to be added to the north-eastern stair tower of the church at a later date, but this was never carried out.