[Extracts from Roger Mulholland, Architect of Belfast, by C E B Brett, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1976.]
... Roger Mulholland's career and success were closely bound up with the improving policy adopted by the fifth Earl of Donegall, landlord of the town. He had succeeded his uncle, at the age of 18, in 1757. By 1767 he had had a careful survey of the whole town carried out, and in that year he granted a very large number of new building leases. In 1769 he provided the town with a new Market House; in 1771 he presented the site for the Poorhouse; in 1773 he provided new and splendid Assembly Rooms above the Market House; soon after, he embarked upon the provision of the new St Anne's parish church for the town. At the same period he embarked on the first of a series of substantial improvement and development schemes. Thomas Humphreys, in the 'Irish Builder's Guide', of 1813 speaks of "the town of Belfast, whose flourishing aspect in buildings, of late years, far surpasses any other part of Ireland", and of "the liberality" of the second and impecunious Marquis of Donegal, "the lord of the soil, who sets his land or building ground, on such low rents as enables the industrious merchant and tradesman to lay out their money on useful and permanent buildings..." Lord Donegall was in the habit of employing first-rank English architects for his major ventures - Capability Brown at Fisherwick, in Staffordshire; Sir Robert Taylor for the Belfast Assembly Rooms; Francis Hiorne of Warwick for St Anne's church. But if the English architects supplied the drawings, it is doubtful whether they personally supervised the work. It seems that Roger Mulholland worked under Hiorne at St Anne's, and he may well have played a larger part in its erection than that of a jobbing carpenter.
The earliest building which can be
attributed with certainty to Roger Mulholland alone, and by far
the best documented, is the First Presbyterian (or Unitarian)
church in Rosemary Street, Belfast. The minutes of the Building
Committee are extremely illuminating. In April 1781 it was decided
to pull down the Old House, and to build a new one capable of
containing 600 sitters, without a gallery but "so contrived
to admit of a gallery being added in future should it ever be
found needful." Plans and estimates furnished by Mr Mullholm
or Mr Mullholland (variously spelled) were considered, and he
was ordered "to agree with a Bricklayer by the Lump to throw
down, clean and pile" the bricks of the old house for re-use.
On 12th May, there appears an exceptionally interesting entry:
"It has been much wished and urged that the figure of the
intended House should be altered to an Ellipsis, but no resolution
was come to on account of several difficulties that arose in respect
of the roofing of an Elliptical figure. But a mode of roofing
which promised fair to obviate said difficulties having been since
thought of, and directions given to Mr Mulholland to prepare a
Model of the house and roof agreeable to said method, the said
model was now produced and maturely considered... Resolved una
voce - that the new House be a perfect Ellipsis whose greater
axis shall be 72 feet and the lesser axis 49 1/2 feet in the inside
of the walls... That the said Elliptical House be roofed with
straight and similar rafters all equally long... As all the Purlines
in the house must be more or less curved, resolved that they must
not be cut in sweeps for diminishing strength, but that the curve
be formed by a saddle on the back of the Purlines..." At
the meeting a week later, Roger Mulholland's proposal (the only
one received) to build the Intended House for £1207. 10.
6, exclusive of the lead for the roof, was accepted.
The arrangement of the pewing caused the Committee much worry;
in June it was decided to thank Mr Francis Hiorne, Architect,
for the plan of a meeting house sent over by him, and to enclose
the ground plan of the Meeting House as building, "requesting
Mr Hiorne to favour us with a plan of the seats in the manner
he would think best to have them laid out." There is no further
minute till February 1782, when a volte-face took place: "Many
meetings of the Committee having been held since last July to
consider the best mode of seating the house; and a great variety
of plans, some procured from other places, and some drawn at home,
having been considered"; one, the minute does not say whose,
was selected; and it was suddenly decided to erect a gallery now,
at an estimated additional cost of £180-£200, as "a
gallery can never at any future day be put up so well, so cheap
or so perfect as done now." In April 1783, notice was given
to the congregation that the building was nearly completed. Unfortunately
there is no record of the final payment to Mulholland.
The building so lovingly erected is, indeed, of great merit and
distinction; within a few years of its completion, its architecture
was warmly praised by the Earl-Bishop of Derry, and by John Wesley.
The floor is compartmented like a honeycomb by the curving pews;
the gallery, carried on Corinthian columns, follows the curve
of the walls and adds some elegant double curves of its own; there
are two storeys of round-headed windows above and below the gallery,
from which unfortunately the Georgian glazing bars were removed
in the l9th century. Indeed, the building has suffered a number
of regrettable vicissitudes. In 1833 it was thought desirable
to build a new and deeper portico in order to give improved access
to the gallery. Designs were submitted by Duff & Jackson,
by John Miller, and by "Mr McGaffigin", but all were
rejected on the grounds of expense. Ultimately "Mr McGavigan"
carried out the work for £500.
In 1853 an organ was inserted in the gallery. In 1862, a new memorial
window to Dr. Bruce was inserted behind the pulpit; to make room
for it the canopy of the pulpit had to be removed, and was found
to contain a memorandum: "This Meeting House was erected
by the inhabitants of Belfast under the care and inspection of
Mr Roger Mulholland, who executed the same, both external and
internal parts thereof, on the first day of January in the year
of our Lord 1783 - this piece executed by Patrick Smyth."
In 1907, a new and larger organ was installed; very unhappily,
in order to accommodate it, the "perfect Ellipsis" to
which the building committee attached so much importance had to
be broken, and a sort of apse constructed behind the pulpit. Still
more recently, the church was quite extensively damaged by nearby
bombs. By the autumn of 1976, it has been thoroughly repaired,
restored, and brought back into use for worship. Architectural
purists (amongst whom I must number myself) will regret that the
opportunity was not taken to move the organ, and restore the full
ellipse of walls and pews. But even purists will rejoice that
the church has survived, and that its recent restoration may ensure
its survival for another two centuries or more...
Several of Mulholland's buildings are described in the Society's
book on Central Belfast.
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