€1m grant for Presbyterian HQ

THE NORTHERN Ireland Environment Agency is providing €1 million towards the €4 million cost of repairing the Presbyterian Church…

THE NORTHERN Ireland Environment Agency is providing €1 million towards the €4 million cost of repairing the Presbyterian Church's headquarters in city centre Belfast, the church has announced.

Repair work to the Grade A listed Church House is already under way.

Church House is one of the city's landmark buildings located at the junction of Howard Street and Fisherwick Place, close to the Europa Hotel and the Grand Opera House.

"This is very welcome news for the Presbyterian Church which has already embarked on the restoration project and which it is hoped will be completed by the summer of 2010," said a church spokesman.

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"It is also good news for those who are concerned to preserve the architectural heritage of Belfast and of which Church House is regarded as a significant part," he added.

Church House, a three-storey building, was built in 1905 in the style of a Scottish baronial castle. It was renovated in 1992 to provide more accommodation and houses a 1,300-seater assembly hall, offices and a shopping mall.

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times