Masonic Hall, The Square, Crossgar, Co Down, BT30 9EE

Masonic Hall, Crossgar

A two-storey red brick Masonic Hall built in 1910, situated on the north side of the Square in the heart of Crossgar. The building is distinguished by a broad, asymmetrical gable to the front, inspired by Jacobean styling, which faces south.

The front façade is composed with careful architectural detail. To the left of the ground floor is the main entrance, a relatively narrow timber-sheeted doorway with a three-pane semicircular fanlight. The doorway is flanked by brick pilasters supporting a sandstone entablature, which bears an inscribed panel reading "MASONIC HALL". A moulded terracotta keystone also supports the entablature, with short string courses positioned to either side of the entrance pilasters.

To the right of the entrance are two semicircular-headed windows with PVC frames. Each window features a decorative moulded keystone linked to a string course that follows the curve of the window head, with a cill course beneath. The windows and entrance are separated by simple pilasters extending to the first floor, where they culminate in slim sandstone capitals. Similar pilasters mark the edges of the façade, finished with inscribed sandstone cornerstones. The first floor contains three windows matching the ground floor arrangement.

The façade is topped by a decorative gable with terracotta coping. Within the gable is a large tympanum panel containing a sandstone date stone roundel inscribed "1910". Short piers with cornicing and spherical urn finials flank the gable edges.

The west façade has three windows to both ground and first floors, with matching pilasters and an eaves course above. The east façade is similar but features keystones and string courses to the windows.

A large single-storey brick gabled extension has been added to the rear, dating to approximately 1995. Its styling echoes elements of the main hall. The rear extension features a plain sheeted door to the left and a semicircular arched recess to the right on the west side, with two similar recesses to the west. The gable has a central pilaster with matching pilasters at the wall edges. The main hall's rear gable retains two central pilasters, largely obscured by the extension, and a panelled door with fanlight at ground floor right, alongside a narrow semicircular-headed window. The edge pilasters are topped with piers as on the front elevation, but without finials.

The gabled roof is covered in natural slate with a single brick chimney stack to the ridge. Rainwater goods are predominantly metal. The front and west boundaries are marked by a low brick wall with brick piers topped by decorative sandstone caps with ball finials, finished with simple wrought iron railings and wrought iron gates to the front. The east boundary is a higher wall finished in rough cast, with a curving brick section to the south-east (of recent date) incorporating piers to echo the original walling.