St Joseph's RC parochial house, 38 Pilot Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 3AH

St Joseph's RC Parochial House, 38 Pilot Street, Belfast

St Joseph's RC Parochial House is a tall, mildly Italianate red brick rectory house of 1879–80, forming part of a terrace on the northeast side of Pilot Street, positioned at the rear of St Joseph's RC Church. The building is four storeys in height with characteristic 19th-century detailing in red sandstone.

The asymmetric front elevation (facing southwest, described herein as west) is distinguished by its varied window treatments and articulated stonework. The left-hand third of the elevation is set back from the terrace line. At ground floor level, a side flight of stone steps with brick facing and sandstone coping leads to the main entrance, positioned at first floor level beneath a large slated hood supported on curving timber brackets. The entrance itself comprises a panelled timber door with a plain semicircular fanlight. To the immediate left is a tall segmental-headed window, whilst to the left of the step base is a smaller flat-arched window with flush cill and bevelled lintel. Beneath the flight of steps, a flat-arched doorway with bevelled lintel and panelled timber door provides access to the basement-like ground floor level.

The recessed left section contains a tall semicircular-headed window at second floor and a smaller flat-arched window at third floor. The central and right-hand thirds have four unevenly spaced flat-arched windows at ground floor with flush cills and bevelled lintels. The first floor displays a pair of tall segmental-headed windows to the left and a larger segmental-headed window to the right. The second floor contains a pair of tall semicircular-headed windows to the left with a similar single window to the right. The third floor has two smaller flat-arched windows.

All front windows feature red sandstone cills, lintels, and arches, with blue brick over the arches at first and second floor levels. Red sandstone string courses run at cill level and arch-springing level to all floors except the ground floor. All windows are currently UPVC frames, approximating one-over-one sash proportions.

The north gable, visible only at third floor level, is blank, as is the south elevation, which is fully exposed only at second and third floor levels. Internal evidence suggests a narrow two-storey link stretches from the right side of the elevation to the church vestry section to the east. The rear façade contains a timber door with a small window to its left at ground floor level, with three windows apparently at each of the upper floors.

The roof is partly hipped and partly gabled, slated with natural slates, and features an overhang with exposed rafter ends. Three brick chimney stacks with uniform clay pots are positioned: one to the north gable, a larger stack to the south, and another large stack to the east. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.