St. Matthew's Church of Ireland, Shankhill Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT13 3LA

St. Matthew's Church of Ireland is a High Victorian gabled brick church dating from 1869–72, located on the north side of Shankhill Road at its junction with Woodvale Road in Belfast. It was designed by the Dublin-based architects Welland & Gillespie and constructed by the local firm John Lowry & Son. The building represents a distinctive architectural blend of Byzantine, neo-Gothic and Celtic-Revival styles.

The church has an irregular cruciform plan with rounded ends to three sides and two single-storey hipped roof extensions to the south-east and north-east corners. The west elevation features a prominent gable, and a circular tower with a conical spire rises from the south-west corner. The pitched natural slate roof has projecting eaves with roll-top black-clay ridge tiles and metal finials. The hipped slate roofs to the extensions have angled black clay ridge tiles. The gable has a raised crow-stepped verge.

The walling is laid in buff brick in Flemish bond with decorative red brick banding and a projecting plinth. Semi-circular cast iron guttering with polygonal hoppers discharges to circular downpipes. Window openings are elongated lancets, with faint cusping forming trefoil arches in buff brick headers and splayed cills containing stained leaded glazing. Trefoil door openings have curved buff brick surrounds with wrought iron gates featuring stylised flower heads and quatrefoil cut-outs to square panels at the base.

The principal west-facing gabled elevation displays a three-stage round tower to the south end with tall narrow lancet windows to the belfry stage and a conical brick spire topped by a continuous foliated carved stone cornice. Two stepped projecting brick strings and a projecting brick band mark the cill level of the belfry windows. A double-height gable to the centre contains three lancet windows at ground floor level and a large plate tracery rose window formed in brick above. A semi-circular two-storey stair tower to the north end has a raised parapet. Twin projecting string courses in continuous red brick headers run just below eaves height.

The north elevation comprises a semi-circular stair tower to the west, a double-height bay to the east, a semi-circular apse to the centre, and a single-storey three-bay extension to the east. The stair tower has an eastward-facing door opening onto a stone step, with lancet windows at varying heights, flush red brick string courses, polychromatic banding, and projecting angled brick string courses just above plinth height and below eaves height. The apse contains seven window openings. The northern extension is built in polychromatic brickwork with buff brick walling and red and black brick dressings. A modern square-headed door opening with concrete head and toothed yellow brick jamb occupies the west bay and opens onto a curved ramp with buff brick retaining wall that steps to align with the ramp. The remaining bays have pointed arch window openings formed in brick headers with stained leaded glazing.

The east elevation consists of two angled faces of the single-storey extension to the north with hipped roof, a semi-circular apse to the centre, and a three-bay extension to the south. The northern extension's east face has two pointed arch windows; the apse has seven windows; the southern extension has three pointed arch windows.

The south elevation comprises the three-bay extension to the east, a semi-circular apse to the centre, a two-storey bay, and a single-storey lean-to porch at the foot of the tower to the west. The extension contains two windows and a door opening to two steps at the west bay. The apse contains seven windows. The bay immediately west has pointed arch windows. The porch has a pointed arch entrance opening with a recessed trefoil arch door, a leaded roof, and decorative stone carving at eaves level.

The site is enclosed by painted wrought iron railings to the south and east and rendered walling to the north and west. The railings consist of circular section railings with pointed heads; double gates are supported on square section standards with scrolled finials. A narrow tarmaced area lies to the south, with lawned ground elsewhere. The site is bounded by Yew Street to the rear, with Olive Street and Cambrai Street nearby.