The Church of the Pentecost (COI), Mount Merrion Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT6 0FS

The Church of the Pentecost, Church of Ireland

The Church of the Pentecost is a symmetrical, double-height red-brick Parish Church built in the modernist style, designed by Dennis O'Donoghue Hanna and consecrated in March 1963. It stands on the west side of Mount Merrion Avenue, south of Belfast city centre, on the fringes of the Cregagh Estate. An adjoining hall is listed separately.

Architectural Overview

The church is laid out on a cruciform plan with a steeply pitched pantile roof, a copper spire to the central ridgeline, and a timber eaves board. Aluminium half-round rainwater goods run along the overhanging eaves. The walling is stretcher-bonded red brick with tapered buttresses to the south gable. A vestry with a belfry tower projects to the north, and a single-storey flat-roofed extension has been added to the rear.

The principal elevation faces east and is dominated by a central projecting glazed gable of full height. Full-height metal casement windows with vertical glazing bars sit within a timber-sheeted surround to this east gable, and to the upper section only of the west gable. Entrance porches occupy the exposed sections to the north and south, each comprising recessed timber-and-glazed double-leaf doors with a tiled step. A marble plaque in the south porch records the consecration inscription: "This stone marks the consecration of The Church of the Pentecost by the Right Rev. F.J. Mitchell D.D. Bishop of Down and Dromore on 16th March 1963. Curate in charge The Rev. W.G. Neely B.D. Church Wardens W.M. Archer James Little."

The south gable is buttressed, carries an applied metal cross, and features subtle brick ornament to the gable. It is abutted to the left by the single-storey vestry, which has four panels with applied moulding material to its east elevation and five uPVC windows to its west elevation. The west (rear) elevation is abutted to the right by the single-storey flat-roofed extension, which is timber-clad with a felt roof and an opening to the south. The north gable is abutted at ground floor by the adjoining hall; its upper section is left blank.

Of particular architectural interest is the unusual and impressive roof structure. Architectural and interior detailing are of quality artisanship throughout, representative of the period. Among the notable interior and decorative features, the aluminium dove of the Pentecost is the work of Elizabeth Campbell; wheat and tares decorating a window in aluminium and brass are by Desmond Kinney; and stone plaques in the garden and vestry wall are by David Pettigrew.

Historical Context

The church's origins lie directly in the large post-war Cregagh Estate, built between 1945 and 1950 by the Housing Trust (now the Northern Ireland Housing Executive) to designs by T.F.O. Rippingham. The estate houses over 2,000 families and generated demand for a new place of worship in the area. The congregation began as a daughter church of St Finnian's on the Upper Knockbreda Road.

In April 1955, building work commenced on the Mount Merrion Avenue site, and a dual-purpose church/hall building — whose architect is uncertain, though possibly also Hanna — was dedicated in January 1956. The hall entered valuation records during the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) at a valuation of £225, later reduced to £180; this valuation was not amended to reflect the addition of the new church building in 1963. Mount Merrion separated from Cregagh Parish and became a parish in its own right in 1962, with the Reverend William Neely appointed curate-in-charge. Cregagh Parish contributed 50% of the building costs, which amounted to £16,000, though it is unclear whether this figure covers both the earlier and later buildings.

The dedication to the Pentecost was chosen under the terms of a bequest from the Reverend Donald Moore — a brother of a one-time Rector of Holywood and himself a Rector in the Church of England — who left several thousand pounds to the Dioceses of Down, Dromore and Connor for the erection of new churches, on condition that he specified their dedications. The church achieved full parochial status in 1967, when the Reverend William Neely became the incumbent. Since July 2007 the church has been linked with Willowfield Parish Church on the Woodstock Road.

Dennis O'Donoghue Hanna was the son of architect James Hanna and a lover of theatre and the arts, having attended the College of Art in Belfast or Dublin. He served as diocesan architect for the Diocese of Cashel in 1959 and for the Diocese of Connor in 1961, and was architect of five churches in total, including the Church of the Pentecost and the Church of St Brendan, both in the Diocese of Down. Paul Larmour describes Hanna as "concerned with the blending of traditional and modern styles and also with the fostering of modern ecclesiastical art."

Setting

The church stands at the edge of the Cregagh Estate, which comprises two-storey and single-storey red-brick terraced housing, with the Ravenhill Rugby grounds and stadium directly to the west, beside a busy carriageway. The site is lawned on all sides, enclosed to the front by mid-height metal railings with gates at the entrances, and there is a burial plot to the south. To the south, adjacent to the church grounds, stands the rectory, recognisably built in a similar modernist style but with most of its original windows, doors and screens replaced with modern equivalents. The church and adjoining hall together reflect the demographic changes brought about by concentrated post-war town planning in the area, and the church contributes to the character of the local Area of Townscape Character.