St Stephen's Church of Ireland, Millfield, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 1JS

St Stephen's Church of Ireland, Millfield, Belfast

St Stephen's Church of Ireland is a mid-Victorian red brick church, originally built in 1868–69 to designs by Thomas Drew, and substantially remodelled in 1963 to designs by architect E. Seaton, A.R.I.B.A., of Messrs W & M Given of Coleraine. The listing covers the church and its boundary railings.

Thomas Drew (1838–1910) was a Dublin-based architect, originally born in Belfast, who had trained as an apprentice under Charles Lanyon before moving to Dublin in 1862, where he was described by the Irish Builder as "a young architect of uncommon talent." In 1865 he was appointed architect to the united Down, Connor and Dromore Diocese. According to the Dictionary of Irish Architects, St Stephen's was the first entirely new church Drew completed in that role — all his previous diocesan work had involved alterations and additions to existing structures. Church architecture remained Drew's principal activity throughout his career, culminating in his design for St Anne's Cathedral, completed in 1904. The foundation stone of St Stephen's was laid on 8th May 1868, and the church was consecrated on 28th October 1869. It was originally a mid-Victorian barn-type church in the Gothic style, and when first completed possessed a campanile tower on the north-west side, positioned to the north of its rounded apse.

The church first appeared in the Annual Revisions in 1869, when both the church and the rear single-storey schoolhouse — now the church hall — were valued together at £250. By the Belfast revaluation of 1900 the building had increased in value, and detailed floor plan records from that time show that the general layout has been maintained, apart from the relocation of the bell tower, ever since. The schoolhouse was valued separately at £55 and was noted as being fitted with gas and used by the congregation for concerts and lectures. No further changes in value were recorded before the Annual Revisions were cancelled in 1930. Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland the church was valued at £270 and the schoolhouse — by then described as an Elementary School — at £80. Remarkably, the church survived the Belfast Blitz of 1941 when much of Millfield Street was demolished, sustaining only minor damage. By the end of the Second General Revaluation in 1972, the site's value had risen to £632, partly reflecting the 1963 refronting.

That refronting was necessitated by the widening of the road in 1963, which required the removal of the original façade. The original campanile tower was also taken down at this time and replaced with a new red brick and limestone tower attached to the new façade. The architectural commentator Brett, noting Drew's "exuberant personality," suggested he may not have been "an entirely suitable person to embark on a programme of cheap churches," and described the original interior as "fussy and cavernous," not the best example of Drew's preference for "robust and virile" Gothic design. Neither Brett nor Patton admired the 1963 alterations: Patton remarked that the church had been "decapitated… with its former entrance replaced by a boxy new front and firestation-like campanile with a glass box at its tip containing a neon cross," while Brett described it simply as a "totally inappropriate refronting." Nevertheless, the changes represent an interesting and unusual record of the altered circumstances of both the church and its site, and the building is also representative of the work of two noteworthy architects.

The church is a free-standing, gable-fronted, double-height red brick structure, rectangular on plan and facing east, with multi-gabled nave arcades projecting at north and south, and a semi-circular chancel at the west end abutted by a vestry annexe to the south. The pitched roofs are covered in natural slate with blue/black ridge tiles, lead valleys, raised stone verges supported on sandstone kneeler stones, concealed gutters, and cast-iron rainwater goods with hoppers. The walls are in Flemish-bonded red brick with black brick string courses. Double-height brick angle buttresses with brick offsets serve the chancel and north nave arcade. Window openings are equilateral-arched, formed in chamfered brick surrounds with plain stop chamfers and polychromatic brick voussoirs; they contain leaded stained glass covered externally by protective reinforced plastic unless otherwise noted.

The east elevation, which forms the entrance front, is dominated by the 1963 projecting gabled entrance porch. This features stepped full-height ashlar limestone piers flanking a central shallow gabled red brick panel, all surmounted by limestone coping. The entrance doors are vertically sheeted timber, pierced by a series of vertical openings at high level, with a transom light over, surmounted by a concrete canopy topped with cast-metal railings. The entrance is reached by three masonry steps. Above the canopy is a large vertical etched glass window with cast concrete reveal and mullions at the centre of the elevation. The entrance is flanked to the north and south by the nave arcade, each lit by triangular pseudo-arched windows — three to the north and four to the south — each illustrating one of the seven signs of Christ. The red brick bell tower is attached at the north corner of this façade; its east elevation carries a flat ashlar limestone panel, surmounted by a modern glazed belfry with a copper-clad roof construction. Access to the church grounds is via two cast-metal doors on the east and west elevations.

The south elevation is five bays wide. Four gabled bays to the right form the nave arcade, each containing paired windows. The fifth bay to the left is abutted by an irregular lean-to vestry annexe, with a red brick chimney at the junction between chancel and vestry. A replacement entrance door at the south-west corner is accessed via a concrete ramp with a tubular mild-steel handrail, with a diminished square-headed window to the south. The west elevation is dominated at its centre by the semi-circular chancel with a conical roof and finial, its six windows divided by two angle buttresses. The vestry annexe to the right contains a square-headed window to the right and an equilateral-arched window to the left, the latter positioned over stepped access to a basement boiler room. To the left, the north nave arcade contains two large equilateral-arched openings, both now blocked, abutted by a lean-to store, which itself has a diminished window to the south (now bricked up) and a square-headed door opening to the west. The north elevation of the nave arcade is five bays wide; each bay contains two windows, which are smaller than those on the south side, except for the rightmost bay which contains a single window. An adjoining store to the right has an equilateral-arched door opening, now bricked up. The left bay of the north arcade is abutted by the red brick bell tower described above.

Despite the extensive exterior alterations, the original Victorian arcaded interior form survives. The interior is notable for an almost complete collection of stained glass windows throughout, some of which are by the artist D. I. Braniff. Patton records that St Stephen's contains "the finest collection in the province of stained glass by Daniel Braniff." The collection also includes a display window from the associated St Luke's Parish Church, in memory of the Canon of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, who held that position from 1920 to 1935.

St Stephen's was an independent congregation from its consecration in 1869. In 1980, following a decline in attendance, the parish was joined with St Luke's, after which time the two congregations shared curates. In 2006 the church became the sole Anglican church in the parish following the closure of St Luke's, and in 2009 it celebrated its 140th anniversary. The church was listed in 1992 and has continued in use as a place of worship throughout. More recently the church has been preparing for renovation work to address damp, including repointing of the brickwork and redecoration of the interior.

The church stands on a small, isolated city-centre site to the west of Millfield Street, within close proximity of Belfast Metropolitan College. The church hall to the west has similar detailing and was built around 1870. The site is adjacent to a car park to the north and Belfast Metropolitan College buildings to the south and west. The grounds are accessed at the south-east corner via painted mild-steel railings enclosing both vehicular and pedestrian entrances.