Ulsterville Presbyterian Church, Lisburn Road, Belfast

Ulsterville Presbyterian Church, Lisburn Road, Belfast

This Gothic Revival Presbyterian church was built in 1923 to designs by architect Samuel Stevenson. The building is symmetrical on plan and elevation, with its main entrance facing east. The east elevation comprises a nave gable flanked by polygonal piers, topped with octagonal turrets and pinnacles, and lower stair towers with parapet roofs.

The church is constructed primarily in squared and pitched basalt with Giffnock sandstone dressings. Red brick with reconstituted stone dressings has been used on the less public elevations to the south and west. The roof is finished in natural slate with sprocketted eaves to the north and south aisles, and red terracotta ridge tiles. The nave above the parapet is clad in lead. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The front elevation features a projecting base plinth with cavetto moulded sandstone top, toothed quoins at impost level, and hood moulds above the openings. Twin pointed arched doors to the ground floor entrance have a date stone inscribed '1923' between them. Above are a five-part window ascending in height to the centre, and a three-part blind opening. The doors feature concentric pointed arches on engaged sandstone columns with foliated capitals and moulded bases, with stained glass over-lights above nine-panelled painted timber sliding doors. The five-part windows above have simpler concentric arches with chamfered edges. Three courses of dressed sandstone slope over the entrance. Stepped buttresses flank the piers, which have plain sandstone quoins. The nave entrance is marked by projecting string courses aligning with the main roof eaves, and the stair towers have quatrefoil windows above pairs of lancet windows, with blind arcades to the parapets and stepped buttresses with pinnacles at the outer ends. Engraved stones on each buttress were laid by benefactors in 1923: Mrs Hamilton McCleery of Dunmurray; C.M. Legg Esq, Jr. of Carrickfergus; Dr Joseph Fulton of Belfast; and The Rt. Hon. H.M. Pollock M.P.D.L.

The north elevation comprises six equally spaced bays divided by stepped buttresses, with the stair tower at the east end matching the front elevation detail. Pointed arched openings have toothed quoins to the reveals and simple chamfered edges. A single window above a pair of windows serves the stair tower; tripartite openings occupy the remaining five bays, nearly full width and with taller middle windows. A plain sandstone eaves course with roll moulded lower edge supports ogee cast iron guttering. Lead sheeting clads an octagonal base midway along the ridge, possibly the base of a former louvered roof vent, and also covers the nave wall above the parapet. Storm glazing with zinc-wrapped edges set back from the reveals has been fitted to all windows, with modern retractable awnings added to each bay.

The west elevation is largely blank, finished in red brick with toothed sandstone quoins above the north and south end buttresses, raised sandstone coping, and carved kneeler stones. A chimney is positioned offset to the south of the apex. A single opening centred on the gable contains a cusped timber frame with a circular middle pane surrounded by half-rounds, all plain single glazed with an applied motif to the centre. A flat roofed extension spans the full width of the gable at ground floor level, finished in painted render with slim powder coated metal trim to the parapet roof. Two square-based glazed lanterns with hipped roofs project beyond the parapet at mid-plan to the restaurant. A 'ghost' marking of a former 1970s extension, now demolished, is visible in the brickwork above the flat roof.

The south elevation mirrors the north elevation in form. The stair tower has a pointed arched door with hood mould and blind tympanum at ground floor level. The remaining five bays are finished in red brick with reconstituted stone dressings. The second bay from the west has concrete basement steps bound by modern metal railings and a sheeted timber door painted black.

The church is set back and elevated above pavement level, approached by broad stone steps centred on the entrance. Decorative wrought iron gates mounted on cast iron square pillars imprinted with 'Ulsterville' and matching railings on low reconstituted stone walling with coping flank the approach on either side. Low gradient ramps surfaced in resin bonded gravel rise from the base of the steps to provide level access on both sides of the church, with planting beds between the steps and ramp. A painted rendered wall with canted coping and modern railings tops the north boundary, aligned with steps leading to Mount Prospect Park; a ceramic black and white tiled street sign typical of the Edwardian era is fixed to this wall. The flat roofed addition extends to the west boundary. A plain rendered wall with precast concrete coping forms the south boundary, with a sheeted timber door midway along to a bin enclosure. The south-west end terminates with marble clad walls and a projecting metal clad canopy to the modern addition.

The church was located at the north end of Lisburn Road, a main arterial route in a densely populated area of Belfast. It sits between rows of shops to the front with residential housing to the rear, elevated above pavement level. Despite its compact site, the church remains amongst the most prominent buildings in the Lisburn Road Area of Townscape Character.

The building was converted to commercial use circa 2013, with a flat roofed extension containing a restaurant and café added at this time.