Woodvale Presbyterian Church, Woodvale Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim., BT13 3BU

Woodvale Presbyterian Church is a free-standing asymmetrical double-height Gothic Revival stone church dating from 1899, located on a triangular site at the junction of Woodvale Road and Ballygomartin Road in Belfast. The building is cruciform on plan, facing south with a steeple to the southeast, a stair tower to the southwest, and a two-storey block to the rear built around 1920.

The church is constructed of uncoursed rock-faced basalt walling with sandstone dressings including quoins, trim to the plinth course, and stepped buttresses. Pitched natural slate roofs with terracotta ridge tiles and lead valleys are set behind slightly raised gables with sandstone ashlar coping. Ogee cast-iron guttering is set on a chamfered sandstone eaves course with cast-iron downpipes.

The south front elevation is dominated by a gabled nave with a four-stage square-plan tower and spire to the right and a two-stage square-plan stair tower to the left set at an angle. The bell tower has a tapered sandstone ashlar broached spire with an iron weather vane and pierced courses set on a deep moulded cornice with nail-head mouldings. The bell stage features pointed-headed openings on all four sides with continuous hood moulding and louvres, set on a continuous chamfered sill course. Each opening is fronted by a gilded clock face. Below the bell stage are a pair of diminutive lancets to the south and east elevations, followed by a pointed-headed opening with diminutive window openings on two levels and a sandstone panel between. The lower stage features a depressed pointed-headed door opening with a stepped voussoired head rising from splayed jambs, hood moulding with foliate label stops, and housing a double-leaf vertically-sheeted painted timber door opening onto two stone steps.

The stair tower has a steep natural slate pyramidal roof with a copper finial and a door opening similar to the bell tower but without hood moulding.

The central gable features a blind arcaded course below the apex with a quatrefoil panel and tapered stone finial above. A central pointed-headed window opening with Y-tracery is flanked by paired trefoil-headed lancets, all set on a stepped hood moulding over the principal entrance. To the left of the gable is a clerestorey window comprising three trefoil-headed window openings with sandstone ashlar surround and hood moulding.

The principal entrance is set within a shallow gabled surround with sandstone coping and diagonal buttresses. The opening features a stepped voussoired head rising from splayed jambs with hood moulding and foliate label stops. Two square-headed door openings are divided by a polished stone column on a circular plinth with a stiff-leaf capital, supporting an oversized carved sandstone panel depicting a tree with ribbon banners inscribed 'ARDENS / SED VIRENS / 1899 / WOODVALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH'. Painted vertically-sheeted timber doors open onto two stone steps.

The west nave elevation comprises three bays with a slightly advanced gabled transept. Trefoil-headed lancets are arranged in groups of three with storm glazing and flanked by stepped buttresses. The transept features a central pair of trefoil-headed lancets flanked by lower trefoil-headed lancets. At the re-entrant angle between the transept and the rear block is a shallow two-storey gabled projection with trefoil-headed window openings.

The rear elevation is abutted by the two-storey block built circa 1920. The west gable is cement rendered with no window openings. The north elevation has painted cement rendered walling with full-height shallow buttresses flanking pointed-headed window openings to each level fitted with uPVC windows and enclosed by wrought-iron railing.

The east nave elevation mirrors the west elevation, with the two-storey gabled rear block to the right. The rear block gable, built at a later date, has uncoursed rock-faced basalt walling with reconstituted stone dressings and window surrounds, returning to the north by a single bay. A central gabled entrance surround features a depressed pointed-headed door opening with double-leaf vertically-sheeted hardwood doors and overlight, opening into a small front area enclosed by iron railings and a pair of matching gates hung on iron piers.

Window openings throughout are pointed-headed and trefoil-headed lancets formed in chamfered sandstone with flush splayed sills and latticed coloured glass windows.

The church is situated on a triangular site enclosed by iron railings with a bitumac front area to the south apex, and a pair of decorative iron gates hung on cast-iron piers.