St Matthews Church, Gordon Street, Paisley

St Matthews Church, located on Gordon Street in Paisley, was designed by architect W D McLennan in 1907 and features an Art Nouveau interpretation of Perpendicular Gothic style. The church comprises a nave and aisles, with halls and offices attached at the rear (west). It is constructed from snecked and stugged ashlar with polished dressings.

The east front showcases a prominent 7-light traceried window above low mullioned windows, flanked by bold buttresses that rise to clasp gables. A curved porch on the south side has a door facing south and a quadrant to the north, situated in the re-entrant angle between the nave and the main gables, which includes a small angle turret. The doors are segmentally arched.

The north elevation features various gables, with a bold transept that projects similarly to the east window. An additional window on the west side is set in a very low gable, with a flattened segmentally arched bay that includes a recessed door and windows. The 6-bay north elevation has end bays of the aisle that are curved, with the eastern bay containing a door and the western bay featuring an angle turret. Between these bays are 3-light mullioned windows, and the church has 4-light painted arch clerestory windows, except for a blind east bay. The buttresses rise through the eaves to form pinnacles.

The south chancel wall is blind above a single-storey vestry, which has a door with a segmentally-arched hood that breaks through the eaves. The church is topped with slate roofs. The interior features 4-centred arches to the aisles, with a clerestory to the south, and a galleried aisleless bay to the east. The chancel arch is flanked by two pointed arches, with the left arch being blind. The organ is housed in a side arch of the chancel, and there is a gallery in the north transept. The roof is a complex queen post and collar beam structure.

The church contains outstanding furnishings, most of which were designed by McLennan, including the organ case, font, pulpit, and very fine stalls. The windows feature small patterns of coloured glass, except for the stained glass window on the west side. The vestry includes a fine tiled fireplace and built-in cupboards. Boundary railings and a notice board were also designed by McLennan.