St. John'S Presbyterian Church, Ormeau Road, Belfast, Bt7 3Hx

St. John's Presbyterian Church is a large and impressive Gothic Revival church built in 1892 to designs by the renowned local architect Vincent Craig, the talented younger brother of Lord Craigavon, with Robert Corry as contractor. It stands on a Latin cross plan at the prominent junction of Ormeau Road and Knockbreda Road in Belfast, in an area that was developing as a residential suburb during the late 19th century as Belfast expanded outwards along its main arterial routes. The building is constructed in two types of sandstone — Scrabo sandstone for the main walling and Locharbriggs sandstone for the dressings to openings and for the carved details. The roof is covered in natural Bangor blue slate, rainwater goods are in painted cast metal, and windows are generally leaded lights set within stone tracery, with the exception of three windows to one ground-floor room which have been replaced in uPVC.

The west-facing front elevation is dominated by a three-stage square tower on the left, which transitions through a hexagonal intermediate stage before rising to an octagonal tower and finally a tall spire. The intermediate stage is richly detailed, with attached corner columns in Locharbriggs sandstone, and the bell tower openings are topped with decorated gablets. The spire itself features a continuous circle of gablets at high level and four lucarnes below. The main entrance at the base of the tower has deeply moulded jambs and a tympanum containing a carved winged dragon set against a ground of leaves and flowers. Above this is a triangular pediment bearing a carved inscription on a scroll reading "A DAY IN THY COURTS IS BETTER THAN A THOUSAND." The pediment has a foliate label stop on both sides, and on the left side there is an additional carved winged dragon. Immediately to the right of the main entrance is a projecting stair tower with a ring of quatrefoil windows at its top. The west face of the nave carries a large pointed arched window with decorated sandstone tracery, and to the right of this is a secondary entrance door, less elaborately detailed than the main one.

The south elevation has a projecting staircase at the west end and a transept near the east end, with a mono-pitched roof between them covering the south aisle. The staircase tower has a continuous band of cusped windows at first-floor level. The south aisle has three pairs of lancet windows set between buttresses, with smaller paired clerestory windows above. The transept has a large traceried window, and beyond it are two further tall lancet windows. The east elevation is relatively plain, with three sandstone stringcourses, three windows on the ground floor, a chimney stack rising from the face of the wall, and a cusped circular window in the centre at high level. A single-storey projection on the left wraps around the south-east corner. The north elevation mirrors the south, except that there is a taller projection to the east of the transept housing a staircase leading to the organ and choir loft.

Internally, the church is characterised by very fine detailing. The nave arcades have columns of cut stone with moulded caps and springing arcade arches dividing the nave from the side aisles. The transept and chancel arches are of the same material. Above the level of the side aisles runs a row of clerestory windows providing light and ventilation. The woodwork is of selected pitch pine, handsomely polished, and the same material is used for the ceiling, which is designed so that the constructional timbers are exposed to view. Seating is arranged on the square in open benches with reclining backs. High-quality carvings of animals and flowers, also seen on the spire, are present on the nave arcades. At the time of its opening in 1892, the Northern Whig noted that the church heated by Musgrave's high-pressure system, that two ornamental stained glass windows — one in the front and one in the spire gable — were supplied by Carlisle and Wilson of North Street, that plumbing and gas fitting were carried out by John Dowling of King Street, and that the organ was enlarged by P. Conagher and Co. of Huddersfield, with a hydraulic engine attached. The total cost of the building was approximately £6,000.

The congregation, known as the Newtownbreda Presbyterian congregation, was established in 1842. Services were initially held in the Methodist church in Ballynafeigh, but by 1844 a dedicated meeting house and manse had been established on the present site and a new minister, the Reverend Andrew Crawford, ordained. By the early 1890s, suburban growth had increased the congregation sufficiently to require a larger building, and the present church was built on a previously undeveloped site just to the north of the existing meeting house. The foundation stone was laid on 4 April 1891 and the church opened for worship on 13 March 1892. The church also has a historical connection to the listed Rosetta Primary School, as the congregation's second minister, the Reverend Robert Workman, played a key role in the school's construction in 1867.

Following the completion of the new church, the old meeting house — a gable-fronted building in a vaguely Lombardic style with a campanile at its south-eastern corner — was converted into a hall. In 1957 a new freestanding hall, St. John's Memorial Hall, was built to the rear of the church in red clay brick in a stripped classical style. The older hall and manse, which stood to the north-east, were demolished in 1967 and a minor hall extension and car park were added. Further extensions in clay brick were completed in 2007, and these ancillary buildings now wrap around the south-east corner of the site with an extensive tarmacked car park in front of them.

Immediately in front of the west side of the church stands a First World War memorial, unveiled and dedicated on 1 May 1922, which is listed separately. The west and north boundaries of the churchyard are formed by a stepped sandstone dwarf wall with relatively simple wrought iron railings and gates. These sides of the grounds are grassed with some shrubs, and mature trees stand in the adjoining footpaths.

The church is of considerable architectural significance for its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form and quality of interior, as well as its prominent setting in an otherwise residential area. It also carries historical interest in terms of its age, authenticity, the importance of its architect, and its social and cultural significance to the local community. It has group value with the listed War Memorial within its grounds and with the listed St. John's Memorial Hall.