Dowanvale Free Church Of Scotland, 35 Dowanhill Street

Dowanvale Free Church of Scotland, built in 1880 by Alexander Petrie, is a rectangular-plan, gable-fronted Gothic church featuring twin short spirelets and projecting stair bays on the southwest and northeast sides. The church is constructed from squared and snecked stugged buff sandstone with ashlar dressings. It has ground floor and first floor cill courses, a continuous hoodmould, and a corbelled eaves cornice.

On the southeast, or principal elevation, there is a central Gothic-arched timber-panelled door located in a gabled projecting porch, flanked by single lancet windows. The projecting stair bays also feature single lancets. Above, at the first floor level, there are four single lancets, and the projecting flat buttresses rise to octagonal spirelets.

The northeast elevation, facing Chancellor Street, includes a projecting gabled stair tower to the left with flanking buttresses. It has a hoodmoulded four-centred arch door on the ground floor with a quatrefoil window above, and a hoodmoulded single lancet at the upper level. There are five regular bays of double lancets divided by set-back buttresses, with a continuous hoodmould. The lower level has shouldered-arched openings, most of which are now blocked up, and there are stone steps leading to the lower entrance, along with a galvanised access ramp.

The southwest elevation mirrors the northeast elevation, but all lower openings are blocked up.

Inside, the church is arranged over two levels, with a large hall below. The tiled entrance hall features a plasterwork cornice, and there are stone stairs on either side with cast iron balusters leading to the lower hall and galleries. The main body of the church has a coved ceiling divided into panels with plaster ribs. Timber galleries supported by cast iron columns extend along three sides, with open pews in both the galleries and the lower level. The central table and raised pulpit, which includes a large elder's box, are decorated with blind trefoil panels and a Gothic sounding board. The church has two-leaf timber boarded doors and metal-framed windows with clear glass, accented by bands of yellow, blue, and green coloured glass, some of which have been renewed on the southeast side. The roof is covered with graded grey slates and clay ridge tiles, and it features cast iron rainwater goods, along with decorative cast iron railings and gates.