St Patrick's Church, Buncrana Road, Londonderry, BT48 7QL

St Patrick's Church is a Roman Catholic church on the Buncrana Road in Londonderry, built between 1932 and 1934. It represents a fine, well-composed example of Hiberno Romanesque design with characterful and lively detailing throughout both exterior and interior. The 1970s liturgical alterations to meet Vatican II requirements have not diminished the original design quality.

The church was designed by E. J. Toye, though he died before construction began and supervision of the works was carried out by J. P. McGrath. The builder was F. G. O'Hare of Warrenpoint. The Bishop of Derry, Dr Bernard O'Kane, laid the foundation stone on 25th February 1932. The church opened in 1934. The sandstone dressings are freestone from Anshenheath Quarries in Scotland, and Messrs Ewart & Son Ltd. of London provided and fixed the copper tiles on the tower dome.

The building is a large redbrick structure with a transeptual plan, featuring an attached bell tower and a projecting apsidal end relieved with sandstone dressings. Steep pitched slate roofs with grey stone tiles complete the composition.

The main entrance faces southwest and is placed symmetrically in the gable, which is constructed entirely in sandstone and projects slightly from the plane of the red brick. A pair of square-headed panelled doors features a double order of engaged columns on each side, decorated with moulded bases and cushion capitals enhanced with Celtic motifs. The columns support recessed arches enriched with chevrons and other designs, with further interwining patterns filling the tympanum, which is broken up by a circle and two quadrants. A moulded label crowns the arch. On either side of the entrance stands a single slim arched lancet trimmed with sandstone and capped with hood moulding. Above the entrance runs blank wall arcading from a clasping buttress on one side to the tower on the other. Immediately above this arcading is a large wheel window enclosed in an arched recess with double orders and decoration matching the entrance piece. The gable verge is emphasised by a slightly projecting moulded bargestone crowned at the apex with a small Celtic cross.

The red brick tower is located at the southeast corner of the nave and projects forward from the west front. Brick clasping buttresses rise to the belfry. Excluding the belfry, the tower has three stages. At ground level, a pair of slim lancets appears on each of the three exposed sides. The middle, higher stage features a decorative canopied niche containing a statue of St Patrick. The other two faces have single oculi with hood moulding. The third stage begins with a horizontal moulded string course running around all sides and includes a pair of arched lancets with double hood moulding. Above this is a corbel arcade linking the clasping buttresses. Pointed lancets occur on the three exposed sides. The top of the third stage, with its projecting cornice, is almost level with the gable apex.

The belfry has an arcade of three slim arched openings on each face, with the springing line linked by a moulded string course and arches emboldened with hoods. All decorative work is in sandstone. Above the square-planned belfry rises an ogee onion-type dome, wider at its base than the tower. The intervening space is filled with horizontal string mouldings and continuous corbelling. Circular eyebrow oculi appear on each side of the dome, which is covered with copper tiles and surmounted by a small metal cross.

The long sides are similar in composition, featuring double-glazed transepts with side extensions almost in line but with reversed roofs. The walls are punctuated with tall arched double-recessed lancets. The gables of the transepts and side chapels have two-light lancets with a sextet rosette above, set in an arched recess. Side porches are placed in the angles of the nave and transepts and have parapet roofs with arcaded corbels under moulded coping. Under the eaves of the nave roof and other roofs are continuous bold corbel arcades which add considerable visual interest to the façades. Small oculi punctuate each gable with a horizontal band of stone below. Transept quoins are picked out in stone.

A semi-circular apse projects from the east gable in a stilted fashion, with bold arcade corbelled over the eaves and four round-headed lancets with a deep plain stone band below. The gables on either side project to form recesses within, roofed with skirted copper sheets and featuring single arched lancets. Shallow confessionals project from the transept gables, decorated with side buttresses, skirted roofs, round-headed kneelers, and three small glazed oculi. All gables have broad bargestones with rounded and panelled kneelers.

A sacristy block is positioned at the northeast corner with a tall shouldered chimney stack. A boiler room is situated beneath external steps. The roofs have grey stone slates relieved with circular dormer vents. The walls are constructed of smooth red Bridgewater bricks.

The church is set well back from the Buncrana Road with a double avenue approach. The grounds are well planted, laid out, and well maintained. Each gateway features a pair of sandstone pillars with moulded bases and conical tops with arcaded corbelling. Each access has decorative wrought iron gates, and along the footpath to the road runs a low wall with decorative railings.

The plan is a typical Toye solution, though the overall form and style repeat designs of a church south of Newry designed by Ashlin and Coleman. Toye and Coleman collaborated on the belfry and spire of St Eugene's Cathedral and also on alterations to St Columb's Church in Waterside. The main entrance to Pennyburn resembles that of the Long Tower Church designed by Toye in 1906/7.

In 1941, the church suffered severe damage when a large bomb fell and exploded on the other side of the Buncrana Road. Messrs Corr & Associates designed the liturgical changes during the administration of Reverend E Mulvey around the 1970s. The building has been sensitively renovated since the survey in 2001 by FM Corr and Associates, with works concentrating on the fabric, including careful repair of the dome.

A presbytery in sympathy with the church in materials used stands adjacent to it within the grounds. The church, boundary wall, gates, and railings are all included in the listing.