Exterior

In the late 1880s, the (mainly Ulster-Scots) Presbyterians of Belfast were a power-force of industrialists and commercial businessmen.  Their decision to move from office accommodation in Belfast’s May Street to new purpose-built Assembly Building's, at a key city centre junction, was an architectural statement of their growing confidence and prosperity.

The building stands on the site of the former Fisherwick Place Presbyterian Church and was designed by Young & Mackenzie, also responsible for the Scottish Provident Building, Robinson & Cleaver’s, and Belfast’s Ocean Building.  

Robert Young was descended from a “Scotch Border” family and, in the late 1860s, formed an architectural partnership with his former pupil, John Mackenzie, son of the minister of Malone Presbyterian Church.  The partnership went on to become the most successful in Belfast’s history.  

Church House, as it was known for decades, was designed in the style of a Scottish baronial castle, with ornate carving ranging from dragons to angels, and gables, turrets and pinnacles. The building was completed in 1905 at a cost of over £70,000 and was officially opened by the Duke of Argyll.