Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Selected: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHAPEL LANE, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)

Name: UNKNOWN ARCHITECT
Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHAPEL LANE, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1783-84
Nature: New church consisting of 3-bay pedimented centre with projecting single-bay wings on both sides. Set back from road. Entrace by two gates on either side of 3-bay sacristan's cottage. Opened 30 May 1784.
Refs: Rev. Patrick Rogers, The story of Old St Mary's(1941), 22(illus.)-23

Name: O'NEILL, JOHN
Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHAPEL LANE, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1868-69
Nature: Improvements in Romanesque style. Addition of 5 bays, porch, 90ft tower and apsidal sanctuary. Building brought forward to within a few feet of street, entailing demolition of sacristan's cottage.. Builder: John Connor & Sons, York St. Dedicated 23 Nov 1868. Cost: £3,000. Altar by Thomas Earp, London.
Refs: IB 10, 15 Jul 1868, 182; 11, 1 Jan 1869, 9; J. O'Laverty, History of the Diocese of Down and Connor II (1880), ?; J.J. Tracey, 'A dissertation on the buildings of John O'Neill and O'Neill and Byrne, architects, 1862-1883', unpublished thesis presented as part of Master of Architecture degree course, Queen's University, Belfast, 1987, 55,138-140,fig.5

Name: MCDONNELL, JOHN JOSEPH
Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHAPEL LANE, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1883
Nature: New organ case.
Refs: IB 23, 15 Jul 1883, 218(illus.)

Name: GREGORY, PATRICK (PADRAIG) BERNARD
Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, CHAPEL LANE, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1936;1939-41;19
Nature: Improvements, 1936. New staircase, apse, confessionals and sacristy, 1940-41. Lourdes grotto and campanile in garden by P.& B. Gregory, 1953-4.
Refs: IB 78, 31 Oct 1936, 993; 81, 25 Nov 1939, 967; 82, 3 Feb,31 Aug 1940, 82,545; Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (1987), 38 (no. 77, illus.); Marcus Patton, Central Belfast: an historical Gazetteer (UAHS, 1993), 58-59