Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Steelstown Road, Londonderry, BT48 8EU

Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Steelstown Road, Londonderry

This Roman Catholic church, completed in 1979, is a notable example of modern architecture employing innovative structural approaches and new materials to achieve dignified and exciting forms. Designed by McCormick Tracey Mullarkey and built by F O'Connor Ltd for Bishop Edward Daly, the church was conceived as "socially correct" architecture using economical materials appropriate to this newly developing area of local authority housing in Shantallow. The building received a Civic Trust award in 1980 and makes a significant contribution to the urban character of the expanding district.

The church adopts an 'A' form, with asbestos slate cladding and a series of gables featuring decreasing ridge levels that step down progressively from south to north. The main entrance is positioned in the north gable, where a projecting porch advances beyond the main gable plane. The double softwood doors are diagonally sheeted and stained dark blue, with one-way sloping heads sympathetic to the roof pitch. The porch gable is clad in timber stained red.

The deep barges are finished in horizontal courses of slates running down to within 150 millimetres of paving level with a slight overhang. The main gable is similarly treated, with vertical stained timber cladding stopping 150 millimetres from paving level to create a recessed plinth.

The west elevation displays three planes of roof, with the ridge stepping down from south to north and the building width reducing in the same direction. The slating terminates approximately 800 millimetres above ground level (at pew top height), and continuous low-level windows extend the full length of the church. The in-situ concrete bases slope outward to match the roof pitch and rise to the plane of the low-level windows, serving as structural supports to counter thrust from the inclined steel framework. The space between the glass and the outer extent of these bases is filled with loose cobbles, though originally intended to be a water sheet to create reflections within the nave. Steps between each roof plane are slated. The longer rooflight on the higher plane permits daylight to be reflected into the nave interior. The top ends of the concrete bases are decorated with paired volutes.

The south gable, at the sanctuary end, is both splayed and inclined, entirely clad in slate with mitred joints where the inclined planes meet. A single exit is positioned toward the southeast corner.

The east side of the church, largely concealed from public view, consists of a single roof plane with a series of inclined rooflights providing reflected light to the east side of the nave. At both ends the roof continues downward to the low-level windows as on the west side, with the sacrament chapel and sacristries interrupting the glazing run.

The rooflights were originally formed from a plastic material called Filon but were replaced in 1989 with tinted double glass in aluminium frames due to discoloration.

A meeting room, erected in 1985 with a single pitch roof matching the angle used on the church nave, is connected to the building by a passage. A parochial house was added in 1989.

The church sits close and parallel to Steelstown Road with ground rising slightly above the footwalk. A low retaining wall is formed with broad steps leading through an open steel portal arch sloped to match the church roof. The setting includes lawn, paving, paths, steps and the steel arch. The site benefits from a backdrop of mature planting in adjacent house gardens.