Congregational Church Hall, Baltic Street, Montrose

Congregational Church Hall, Baltic Street, Montrose

This is a 2-storey classical church building dating from 1841, with asymmetrical memorial hall additions extending northwards along Baltic Street. The complex is constructed in sandstone ashlar on the front and side elevations, with stugged, squared and snecked stonework on the remaining sides and rear. The building features a base course, band course above the ground floor, first-floor cill cornice, eaves cornice and corniced parapet. The entrance facade is dominated by a full-width pediment with a raised central pilastered and pedimented feature.

The church occupies the southern part of the complex. The entrance elevation on the south is symmetrical and gable-ended, comprising three bays. At its centre is a central pilastered porch with entablature, multi-panelled 2-leaf doors and flanking porches with consoled and pedimented heads. Above these are two leaded lights in timber frames with slender columnar mullions and round arches, separated by a slender transom astragal. The first floor maintains the symmetry but its windows lack pedimented heads. The full-width pedimented wallhead features octagonal end dies. A raised centre bay bisects the pediment, containing paired pilasters that frame a central glazed oculus and support a triglyph frieze, cornice and miniature pediment. This is flanked by octagonal dies with facetted dome caps.

The west and east elevations of the church each comprise four bays with regular fenestration and raised margins. The north elevation adjoins the Memorial Hall.

The Memorial Hall is subdivided into sections. The western (principal) elevation consists of two distinct parts. A single-storey entrance link and 2-storey block on the left form the main composition. The single-storey section comprises four bays with a central porch and corner pilasters. Above the doorway is a carved panel inscribed "Congregational Church Memorial Hall 1877". The entrance features two stone steps to 2-leaf panelled doors and a rectangular 2-pane fanlight, with a further door in the return to the right. Two windows flank the porch with lugged, architraved margins. A moulded wallhead forms a cornice with cast-iron guttering.

The adjoining 2-storey block displays three bays, with the outer bays advanced. It has a base course, band course above ground floor, cornice, parapet and pediment. The centre bay contains tripartite windows set within a pilaster arcade at both ground and first floors. The outer bays have architraved windows at ground floor; those at first floor are blind and carry carved inscriptions reading "Congregational Church Memorial Hall" and "Father". The centre bay extends to a divided pediment with fluted pilasters topped by small pediment capitals. These frame a carved, keystoned, depressed arch panel dated "11th July 1895".

The north elevation of the Memorial Hall shows a single bay of 2-light windows offset to the left at both ground and first floors.

The east elevation features an advanced, triple gable-ended single-storey wing to the left, with two windows to the centre bay and a single window to the left bay. A bipartite window and door occupy the return to the left, with a bipartite window in the return to the right. To the right is a 2-storey, 3-bay block; the left bay sits in a shallow advance with a low 2-storey projection, with a door at ground level, a window above, and a single bay return to the right containing a high first-floor window above the projection. The two bays to the right contain windows at both ground and first floors, with the outer bay forming a splayed corner.

Windows throughout are timber sash and case type: those on the east and west elevations of the church have 20 panes, while the central section of the hall features large 4-pane versions; elsewhere plate glass is employed. The roofs are grey slate with piended construction. Two shouldered and corniced chimney stacks stand to the north; two brick gablehead stacks rise at the triple gable; a small corniced ridge stack sits at the north end of the centre section, with ventilators to the north ridge.

The interior was not observed in 1997.

The boundary comprises a coped stone dwarf wall fronting the church entrance and cast-iron post and railing to the Hall entrance.