Ballysillan Presbyterian Church, Belfast, Co. Antrim

Ballysillan Presbyterian Church is a six-bay late-Victorian Gothic Revival gabled church built in 1891 to designs by architect Samuel Stevenson. It stands at the corner of the Crumlin and Ballysillan Roads, oriented south-west to north-east, and is bounded by cast-iron railings with ornate gate piers on its south-west boundary, a stone wall to the south-east, railings and vehicular gates to the north-east, and the gable wall of a neighbouring house to the north-west. The site also contains a former national school to the rear and a hall complex to the north-west.

The church is constructed of rock-faced sandstone with smooth sandstone details and exhibits the eclectic detailing characteristic of Gothic Revival design. The steeply pitched natural slate roof has bellcast detail with sandstone skews to the parapet gables, cast-iron ogee gutters resting on a flat sandstone cornice, and a mixture of cast-iron and uPVC downpipes.

The main elevation faces south-west. The rock-faced projecting sandstone plinth supports walls with stepped buttresses rising in four stages to form pinnacles with conical stone caps, string courses, and niches. A pair of equilateral arched door openings are each flanked by plain columns with foliated capitals and double torus base, with concentric moulded archivolts and modern timber glazed doors set with steps and ramped access. A memorial plaque is positioned between the door openings below a flat 'tiled' stone string course. Above this are five Gothic lancet arched windows increasing in height from outside to the central window, which features 'Y' shaped tracery. All windows contain a mix of diamond and square leaded coloured glass panes with hood moulding following the line of the window heads. Three shallow niches to the apex of the gable echo the window openings below. The gable is flanked by staircase enclosures on each side, each a single bay with stepped set-back buttresses, two lancet windows at different heights, and quatrefoil windows with smooth surround and hood moulding. A smooth entablature with blind arcade forms the parapet, and pinnacles with finials terminate the outer walls.

The north-west elevation features a projecting plinth and rock-faced sandstone walls with stepped buttresses separating groups of three lancet windows, with the central window taller than those flanking it. The windows have smooth sandstone surrounds and the cornice supports rainwater goods. A projecting bay to the south-west has set-back stepped buttresses, an equilateral arched door opening with smooth architrave, a pair of timber doors, and a glazed fanlight. A lancet arched window sits above the door. A smooth entablature and blind arcade form the parapet with pinnacles and finials to each external corner.

The north-east elevation is attached to the former school complex at the rear of the site, with the apex of the church gable visible above its roof. The south-east elevation mirrors the north-west elevation but has the school gable attached to the north-east.

The former school is a seven-bay two-storey gabled structure with red-brick walls in English Garden Wall bond and a pitched natural slate roof. Window openings are square-headed with metal windows and concrete cills and lintels to both floors. uPVC rainwater goods are installed throughout. The rock-faced sandstone gable of the former school has a central equilateral arched door opening with paired timber doors and a blind panel above. The smooth sandstone architrave has 'Ballysillan National School' carved around the apex, with hood moulding running into single-stage buttresses either side of the door. Two lancet arched windows flank the door at ground floor level, and three lancet arched windows occupy the upper section, with the central window taller than those flanking it. Small stepped buttresses with pitched stone-capped coping flank the gable at either end.