Facelift for celebrated church

Facelift for celebrated church

20 August 2014

WORK is underway on a £1million year-long restoration of one of Northern Ireland’s most distinctive churches. After five years of fundraising and planning by the the Friends of Portaferry Presbyterian Church (FPPC) keys were finally handed over to the contractors this week.

Dating back to 1839, Portaferry Presbyterian Church is a grade A listed building and rated as one of the best neo-classical buildings in Great Britain and Ireland.

In May this year the ownership of the building passed to FPPC. The congregation has moved out for the restoration into the church hall but the intention is that they will come back into the church once it is restored.

After restoration the building will be known as ‘Portico’ and will become a centre dedicated to the history of the region, built heritage and to the heritage of Christian church music.

Portaferry Presbyterian Church was designed by John Millar and built in 1839. James Curl, author of the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, described it as “one of the most distinguished Neo-classical buildings in Ulster” and “in the first rank of Neo-classical designs in the whole of the British Isles”.

The project will include work to the roof, rerendering, rewiring, new heating, lighting and sound systems, a complete rebuild of the organ, floodlighting, the installation of a state of the art recording facility, an extension with an anteroom and a complete programme of external landscaping.

The design team for the project includes architect Bill Maxwell of Maxwell Pierce, Enniskillen. David McIlderry of Wells Kennedy has been entrusted with the restoration of the organ which has been removed completely for the duration of the building work.

Ian McDonnell, chairman of FPPC, said: “This is a momentous day in the history of this building, which like so many old churches was facing an uncertain future.

“Now, it’s restoration and rejuvenation have begun and in a year’s time we will have a world-class example of the Greek Revival style of architecture and a centre dedicated to the history of the region and to the history of Christian church music as well as a superb venue for our concerts and other arts events.

“We are very grateful to all those who have supported us in our fundraising, which is ongoing, especially to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This has been a steep learning curve for us and an enormous undertaking but we are thrilled to see the project take this enormous step forward”.

The main project funder is the Heritage Lottery Fund with a grant of £935,700. Paul Mullan, head of the fund in Northern Ireland added his congratulations.

“Heritage Lottery Fund were delighted to fund this ambitious project based around this striking Grade A listed building in Portaferry,” he said. “The project will ensure that the historic building finds a new use which will once again place it at the centre of the community and we congratulate the team on taking this major step forward today.

“Our significant investment in this project will see this restoration project take place alongside the other significant HLF funded scheme in the town, the Portaferry Townscape Heritage Initiative.”

Additional funding has been made available from the Wolfson Foundation, Ulster Garden Villages, the Esmee Mitchel Trust, the TBF Thompson Foundation, the Idlewild Trust, the Pilgrim Trust, the Allchurches Trust, the Elsie Harvey Trust, the Ministerial Action Group for Ulster Scots; the Trusthouse Foundation and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dublin.

From now on FPPC, which hosts a number of prestigious concerts in the church, will be recruiting volunteers to help with the displays and other activities in the building. Anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer should contact Alice McClure, Project Manager, at info@friendsppc.org to register their interest. Volunteers are required for a wide range of activities and many different skills are needed.