St Mary's Church of Ireland, 236 Crumlin Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT14 7GL

St Mary's Church of Ireland is a prominent, free-standing, double-height Gothic Revival church built between 1865 and 1869 to designs by the London-based ecclesiastical architect William Slater. It stands on the south side of Crumlin Road, Belfast, and forms a noteworthy group with the former St Mary's School to its south, both buildings representing the first wave of construction undertaken by the Belfast Church Extension and Endowment Society, which was founded in 1863 to provide Church of Ireland accommodation for the city's rapidly expanding population. St Mary's was the first church built under this initiative and was intended by Slater — who was appointed architect to the Marcus Beresford Fund and designed solely for the Church of Ireland in Ireland — to serve as a model example of church design, capable of accommodating a congregation of 700 to 800.

The church is cruciform on plan, aligned east to west about a grand central bell-tower and spire. The plan comprises a nave with north and south side aisles, a lean-to porch at the north, north and south transepts, and a chancel at the east. Roofs are pitched natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles — the nave and south aisle roof were replaced around 1960 following bomb damage sustained during an air raid on Easter Tuesday 1941 — with lead valleys, stone verges with acroteria supported on corbelled kneeler stones, and cast-iron ogee-profile rainwater goods, some of which have been replaced in cast metal.

The exterior walling is polychromatic coursed rock-faced sandstone — mainly white sandstone with red sandstone plinth and stringcourses — with a projecting sandstone plinth course finished with a chamfered ashlar capping. Arched openings throughout are equilateral in form with stepped ashlar quoins and rock-faced polychromatic voussoirs. Doors are equilateral-arched, timber braced and sheeted, set within equilateral-arched openings with stepped ovolo and cavetto polychromatic moulded ashlar surrounds. Windows are generally cusped lancets with leaded glass and storm glazing unless otherwise noted.

The north elevation presents a projecting single-storey entrance porch abutting the north aisle on the right and the projecting north transept on the left. The north aisle is lit by three bipartite cusped lancets, each with a cinquefoil oculus above, containing leaded glass. The north transept has three staged lancet windows at its centre; the right cheek is blank, while the left cheek contains bipartite lancets with a cinquefoil oculus above, as on the nave, with leaded stained glass. The single-storey entrance porch is detailed in the same manner as the nave. The north gable contains equilateral-arched stepped ovolo and cavetto moulded ashlar openings enclosed by a decorative cast-iron gate screen; the left and right cheeks have angle buttresses with weatherings at the north side, forming an extension of the north gable.

The east elevation is dominated by a double-height apsidal chancel at its centre, covered by a hipped roof. Each face of the apse contains a single window, each divided by a double-height buttress with offset and weathering. The right cheek contains two stained glass windows. The chancel is abutted on the left by a two-storey vestry with organ loft over; the vestry's east elevation contains paired windows at each floor on the right. All five chancel windows contain leaded stained glass donated by and dedicated to the Blakiston-Houston family. The south cheek of the chancel extends to meet the south transept, which has an entrance door on the left with a single window above; the door is accessed via eight stone steps adjoining a roughly coursed rock-faced stone boundary wall.

The south elevation, which faces the former school, comprises the projecting south transept on the right and a south aisle lit by four bipartite cusped lancets with cinquefoil oculi above, containing leaded glass. The bipartite window and cinquefoil on the left contain stained glass dated 1968.

The west elevation is symmetrical, with the central nave gable flanked by narrower side aisle gables. The central gable has timber sheeted entrance doors at its centre enclosed by a decorative cast-iron gate screen, surmounted by three stained glass lancet windows and a stained glass tracery oculus at the apex comprising five cusped quatrefoils. Where the central nave meets the side aisles there are angle buttresses with weatherings, surmounted by gargoyles which formerly served as rainwater exits from the concealed roof valleys between the roof slopes.

The central bell-tower is a commanding feature. A circular stair tower with a conical roof abuts it at the south-east, containing a winding stair to the belfry. The tower is finished with a splay-foot spire with lucarnes on all four sides and a weather-cock supported on a moulded corbel table. The lucarnes have timber sheeted sides; their fronts are cusped and vented with timber louvres under timber corbels supporting hipped natural slate roofs with decorative finials. The tower walling matches the nave, with projecting piers at each corner bearing torus mouldings. A cavetto moulded stringcourse divides the first and second stages. At the first stage, each face has five arcaded torus moulded cusped lancet windows with a continuous hoodmould over, each springing from a colonnette with a Gothic crocket capital. At the second stage, each face has five cusped and vented louvred openings at the belfry level, again springing from colonnettes — most of the colonnettes at this stage have now been removed — with Gothic crocket capitals, which remain intact.

The interior contains many features of good quality. Much original fabric and fine stone detailing survive throughout the building.

Regarding the history of its construction and patronage: the foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1865 by Reverend Marcus Beresford, whose Fund provided the financial assistance that made the building possible. Mrs R. Blakiston-Houston gifted the site, and her son shared payment of the architect's fixed fee of £250 with Mr Ewart Jr. The contract was undertaken by Mr James Henry of Rosewood Buildings. The original intended cost was £2,400, but final costs varied between estimates of £4,000 to £5,000 recorded in the Belfast Revaluations of 1900 and a figure in excess of £6,000 cited by Larmour. The church was first valued in the Annual Revisions of 1863 to 1881 at £250, rising to £840 in the second General Revaluation of 1956 to 1972. The building was consecrated on 28 November 1868. In early 1899 a bell and organ were installed at costs of £150 and £900 respectively. The dominating central tower and spire combined with the polychromatic exterior treatment are characteristic of High Victorian church architecture; Walker notes that during this era there was active competition between Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland architecture, both of which employed the Gothic style.

Following the 1941 air raid damage to the interior and roof, a new steel truss roof was designed in 1945 by Dennis O'D Hanna. During the mid-1960s the building underwent complete renovation. The organ was enlarged in 1964 and refurbished in 2006.

The church is sited in walled grounds to the south of Crumlin Road, surrounded on adjacent streets by terraced housing developed during the 1860s. The former school is aligned east to west at the south of the site. A single-storey boiler house at the west provides access to a basement-level boiler room via a dog-leg stone staircase with quarter winders. Shared car parking is provided at the south. Both the church and school share an enclosed site accessed via double cast-iron entrance gates at the north, east, and west, all supported on square rubble piers with ashlar piers at the north.