Presbyterian Church, Great James Street, Londonderry, County Londonderry

Londonderry Third Presbyterian Church, Great James Street

This is a three-bay, two-storey classical church built over a basement, erected between 1835 and 1837 to designs by Stewart Gordon (died 1860), who had only recently been appointed County Surveyor in 1834. The commission made this his first major public work for the county. The interior was remodelled in 1863. The building is also known as the 'Scots Church' and stands at the junction of Great James Street and Queen Street in the townland of Edenballymore, within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

Historical context

The church was one of the first buildings to be constructed in the northerly expansion of Londonderry outside the City Walls during the early Victorian period. The laying out of Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street — following a geometric street pattern — represented the most ambitious town planning project in the city since the construction of the walled city between 1613 and 1619. This expansion was driven by a remarkable period of economic and population growth in the early 19th century. By the 1830s a second Orthodox Presbyterian church had become necessary, as Presbyterians were the largest denomination within the city walls, with John Hume noting that their birth rate was probably higher than that of other groups and that half the population in adjacent rural districts was Presbyterian.

The Ordnance Survey Memoir of 1837 records that the first stone was laid on 27th April 1835, and describes the church as forming "a considerable ornament to the suburb of Edenballymore." At that point still under construction, it was described as rectangular, measuring 80 feet by 50 feet, with four Ionic columns and four pilasters to the front. The memoir notes that the material was chiefly whinstone, with the pillars, flags and steps of freestone from Scotland. The church was intended to accommodate a congregation of 1,200 persons, and the total cost of construction was estimated at £2,000.

Despite now being known as Londonderry Third Presbyterian Church, this was in fact only the second Orthodox Presbyterian church built in the city at the time of its completion. Londonderry Second Presbyterian on the Strand Road — also designed by Stewart Gordon — was not constructed until 1847, a full decade later. Gordon's design for Great James Street bears a strong resemblance to the Courthouse he subsequently designed in Coleraine in 1850–52.

O'Hagan's map of 1847 captioned the building simply as 'Presbyterian Church', while the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853 recorded it as 'Scots Church'. Both maps depicted the church as a simple rectangular building, as the two later extensions to the south and east had not yet been added. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 valued the church and its associated national schoolhouse (now demolished) together at £150, a figure that remained unchanged through annual revisions until 1931.

The minister of Great James Street Presbyterian Church in 1852 was the Reverend J. Denham, who resided at the adjoining manse at No. 35 Great James Street.

Materials and construction

The Natural Stone Database records that the church was primarily built in Barony Glen Sandstone, a popular stone quarried locally at Dungiven and found in many of Londonderry's 19th-century buildings. Giffnock Sandstone, quarried in Glasgow, was used for the dressings and carved details. This accords with the Ordnance Survey Memoir's note that the steps and dressed stonework were of Scottish freestone.

Exterior

The principal elevation faces north. The façade is ashlar Barony Glen Sandstone with Giffnock Sandstone dressings and carved details. The dominant feature is a projecting tetrastyle portico with a pediment, supported by four fluted Corinthian columns with responding pilasters. The portico is approached by a broad flight of steps, each side of which is flanked by large, over-scaled fluted and scrolled stone balustrades following the rake of the steps. At lower ground level, modern arched doors with sidelights are positioned to either side of the steps.

The central doorway is a double door with a fanlight and a keystone arch, with a date stone above. To each side bay there is a large pedimented window flanked by pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The critic Jeremy Williams described the church as "the most elegant neo-classical church in the city," noting that "the tetrastyle Ionic portico with windows on either side plays down its scale, so that on entering one experiences an unexpected spaciousness." The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, writing in 1970, praised the neo-classical design but observed that "it would be a much more interesting building if it did not face north, for then the interplay of shadow and highlight could be enjoyed."

The east and west elevations are symmetrical, each comprising a five-bay, two-storey façade over basement finished in cement render. The basement and ground-floor windows are segmental-headed; the upper-floor windows are round-headed.

The south elevation comprises a blank rendered gable with a chimney to the main church body and rendered toothed quoins. To the west there is a cat-slide roof with smooth rendered walling and a lined segmental-arched opening at first-floor level.

A two-storey hipped-roof extension is finished in cement-rendered roughcast with round-headed windows to the upper level facing east and west, and a small round-arched window to the lower level. This extension is abutted on both sides by lower flat-roofed additions, with a square-headed double door opening to the east side and a stepped-down arrangement at two intervals to the west.

The main roof is a hipped slate roof carrying two large and one small copper ventilation cowls along the mid-ridge, clay ridge tiles, and a rendered chimney stack to the south with seven clay pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods are used throughout.

Interior

The interior layout has been largely retained with its detailing intact. The 1863 remodelling, carried out by the Derry- and Belfast-based firm Boyd & Batt (active c.1862–1871), included the mahogany-fronted galleries that survive to this day. Further interior work was undertaken in 1900 by the Derry-based architect and engineer Matthew Alexander Robinson (1872–1929) — also responsible for Austin's Department Store (1906) and the reconstruction of the Guildhall (1909–12). This work comprised the installation of new heating, lighting and ventilation systems, together with an obelisk and memorial table erected in memory of the Reverend J. M. Rodgers, who had served as minister until his death in 1899.

Later alterations and extensions

The rear extension was added in 1984 to accommodate a staircase and liftshaft, originally constructed when the building was converted to use as a glassworks factory. A modern extension incorporating a stairwell and passenger lift was added to the south end of the east elevation. A further side extension was added in 1997.

Setting and boundary treatment

The church is set back from the adjacent terraces at the south end of Queen Street and its junction with Great James Street. The churchyard boundary is formed by an ashlar Barony Glen Sandstone plinth wall with segmental capping stones and pillars, with ornate wrought-iron decorative gates and railings that enhance the character of the setting and add further interest. The building has group value with the flanking former manse at No. 35 Great James Street.

Subsequent history

The rateable value of the church was increased to £300 under the First Revaluation of 1935 and then doubled to £600 under the Second Revaluation of 1956–72. The church was included in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area in 1978, described as "an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," and was listed in 1979.

During the Troubles, a high proportion of the Protestant population migrated from the cityside to the waterside, causing a sharp decline in congregations. Between 1971 and 1991 the Presbyterian population of the cityside fell from 4,227 to only 656. Londonderry Third Presbyterian was closed by 1982, when the remaining congregation relocated to the waterside and established Kilfennan Presbyterian Church, described as "an emotional and difficult time for all those concerned." Since falling vacant, the building was used for a period as the city library before being converted into a glassworks factory, after which it again fell vacant. In 2003 an application was made for the demolition of the former church. In January 2014, the adjoining Irish language and cultural centre Culturlann agreed to purchase both the former church and its manse, with the intention of converting them into additional accommodation space for its classes and programmes.

Windows are timber sliding sash throughout, with fixed and casement windows to the southern extensions.