Parochial House, 1 & 3 Convent Road, Cookstown, BT80 8QA

Parochial House, Convent Road, Cookstown

The Parochial House at 1 & 3 Convent Road is a four-bay two-storey residence built in 1904 to designs by Belfast architects E. & J. Byrne. The building was constructed in an early 20th century interpretation of Gothic Revival style, characterised by free and inventive treatment of the period's vocabulary. It was designed to serve as accommodation for Catholic clergy, with separate entrances for the parish priest and curates.

The main front and east elevations are built of squared rock-faced sandstone in irregular courses with ashlar sandstone dressings. The west and rear elevations are rendered. A projecting sandstone plinth and eaves course run around the building. The roofs are hipped and finished with Bangor blue slates in regular courses, topped with decorative finials and sandstone chimneys.

The south elevation displays symmetrical roof lines but an asymmetrical arrangement of wall openings. Windows are set in segmental arched openings and have been replaced with modern two-paned timber fixed and opening lights, though the original design called for two-paned sashes. The second bay from the right on the first floor contains a distinctive Gothic stone canopied niche with a white marble statue of the Virgin Mary, supported on a projecting canted corbel decorated with carved shamrocks and inscribed 'St Mary's 1904'. Two narrower windows flank this niche.

At each end of the ground floor are canted single-storey bays with rectangular timber windows set in ashlar sandstone surrounds with moulded cornices. The main entrance to the curates' section is located in the second bay from the left. It features a rectangular timber panelled door with segmental arched glazed fanlight, set within a moulded segmental arched surround flanked by colonnettes with foliated capitals. Above runs an ogee segmental-arched drip moulding with foliated stops and a large foliated finial. Three projecting sandstone steps provide access.

The east elevation has a projecting single-storey porch with flat parapet roof at its centre. The porch contains a doorway serving as the main entrance to the parish priest's accommodation. This entrance mirrors the curates' entrance but has a segmental drip moulding without a finial, and is approached by a single stone step. Three windows occupy the first floor of this elevation, two in the porch and one in the main block.

The west elevation is of smooth rendered finish, with the sandstone of the front façade returning as quoins at the corner. Windows are both segmental and square headed, of modern two-pane type, set in slightly raised narrow surrounds. A later modern single-storey parochial office projects from this elevation in matching materials and detailing. A yellow brick chimney of original date stands at the rear of the main front block.

The north rear elevation shows the deeply recessed main block between two long projecting return wings, all of rendered finish. Modern rectangular windows of varying sizes are present throughout, except for a pair of Gothic-headed windows in the main block and a small ocular window at attic level in the gable. Chimneys rise from the gable of the main block in sandstone, while the return gables have rendered chimney stacks.

Rainwater goods throughout are of cast iron.

E. & J. Byrne were established Belfast architects otherwise noted for their church and institutional commissions for the Catholic Church and for the Crown Bar in Belfast. This domestic parochial house represents an interesting departure from their better-known ecclesiastical and public building work.

The building stands set well back from Convent Road within its own grounds, approached by a tarmac driveway that loops in front and extends along the sides, expanding to form a car parking area on the west. The front boundary comprises a thick hedge and shrubs with the main gateway formed by a pair of square rock-faced coursed sandstone piers flanked by curving screen walls, now without gates, and a small ironwork pedestrian gate leading to a path to the house. A devotional statue stands on a modern brick base near the south-west corner of the garden. Behind the house are a paved courtyard and a modern single-storey garage. The grounds are laid out with lawns to front and rear.

Later modern additions, particularly the single-storey parochial office and garage, somewhat detract from the original character and external appearance of the building. Despite these alterations, the Parochial House remains a building of considerable local interest as a well-proportioned and ornamentally detailed example of early 20th century domestic architecture and as a testament to the architectural ambitions of a significant Belfast practice.