John White Memorial Congregational Church, Tennent Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT13 3GD

A double-height red-brick gabled Congregational Church in the Classical style with square tower; dated 1903 and built to designs by John Seeds; located to the west side of Tennant Street in North Belfast. Rectangular plan with projecting entrance porch to front and two-stage square tower to southwest corner; abutted at east by a two-storey church hall (HB26/36/008B). Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge crestings and square metal ventilator to centre of ridge line; raised moulded sandstone verges to gables with kneeler stones to porch. Rainwater goods behind moulded stone parapet with aluminium downpipes and hoppers. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick on a chamfered brick plinth with sandstone dressings. Windows are leaded-and-stained glass in fixed timber frames with painted projecting sills, round-headed at gallery level; large Venetian-style window to west divided by brick pilasters with plain sandstone entablatures over square openings and red-brick voussoirs to larger central opening; stepped brick plinth under continuous sill. West-facing gabled front is enclosed at left by corner pier with moulded imposts; vented oculus to apex; decorative slender brick pilasters to apex of gable, to either side of which the verge rises to a point. Gabled entrance porch with slate roof to ground floor centre is flanked by two windows and contains timber-sheeted double-leaf entrance doors surmounted by a leaded-and-stained glass transom light in a chamfered brick reveal. Doors are flanked by brick pilasters and surmounted by red-brick voussoirs; fronted by decorative wrought-iron gates. Inscribed sandstone plaque to far left reads “THIS STONE WAS LAID / IN MEMORY OF MATTHEW/ R. McCAUSLAND THROUGH/ WHOSE UNTIRING LABOURS/THIS CHURCH WAS FOUNDED/ 18TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 1903”. Tower at right is topped by a brick parapet; inset at second stage contains a window with keyblock at south and west face; entrance doors to ground floor (as described at porch); window to ground floor at south face. The north elevation has five windows at each floor vertically divided by brick pilasters. The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining church hall (HB26/36/008B). The south elevation has four windows to gallery level; abutted at ground floor left by a single-storey red-brick extension (abutting east face of tower). Setting Situated on a corner site at the junction of Tennant Street and Matchett Street, in a residential area. Street-fronted with cast-iron railings. Modern single-storey red-brick church hall to south. Car-park to rear accessed from Matchett Street via modern metal gates supported in square concrete piers; enclosed to west by red-brick boundary walls with piers supporting metal railings. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Flemish bonded red-brick Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass in fixed timber frames RWG: Aluminium