Description

Alexander Petrie, 1880. Rectangular-plan gable-fronted Gothic church with twin short spirelets and projecting stair bays to SW and NE. Squared and snecked stugged buff sandstone with ashlar dressings. Ground floor and first floor cill courses, continuous hoodmould, corbelled eaves cornice.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: central Gothic-arched timber-panelled door in gabled projecting porch flanked by single lancets. Single lancets to projecting stair bays. 4 single lancets at 1st floor level. Projecting flat buttresses rising to octagonal spirelets.

NE (CHANCELLOR STREET) ELEVATION: projecting gabled stair tower to left; flanking buttresses. Hoodmoulded 4-centred arch door on ground floor, quatrefoil window over. Hoodmoulded single lancet to upper level. 5 regular bays of double lancets divided by set-back buttresses. Continuous hoodmould. Shouldered-arched openings to the lower level (most now blocked up). Stone steps to lower entrance. Galvanised access ramp.

SW ELEVATION: as NE elevation. All lower openings blocked up.

INTERIOR: on 2 levels, main body with large hall below.

Tiled entrance hall with plasterwork cornice. Stone stairs to either side with cast iron balusters, leading to lower hall and galleries. Coved ceiling to main body, divided into panels with plaster ribs. Timber galleries supported on cast iron columns to three sides. Open pews to galleries and lower level. Central table and raised pulpit with large elder's box; decorated with blind trefoil panels. Gothic sounding board. 2-leaf timber boarded doors. Metal-framed windows, clear with bands of yellow, blue and green coloured glass (some glass to SE renewed). Graded grey slates with clay ridge tiles. Cast iron rainwater goods. Decorative cast iron railings and gates.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such.

Despite some alterations to the interior, this church remains in good condition, with a good quality interior, including an unusually large and decorative elders box. The church is also notable in having had 2 large lower halls, which have since been made into a single space.

The church was initially known as Partick East Free Church and later as Partick Highland Free Church. It was built as part of the continued Westward Expansion of Glasgow to accommodate the influx of workers from the Highlands. It was one of the first buildings on Dowanhill Street, later surrounded by tenements.

Alexander Petrie ( died c1906 ) worked in Glasgow from around 1871. His principal output consisted of Board schools and UP and Free Churches.

A recent programme of works (2004) involved some internal alterations. Several rows of pews were removed and a lobby formed in the main body of the church under the SE gallery. A later suspended ceiling was removed, revealing the original plastered finish.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77777795

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)