M028 Additions and alterations to Belhaven Church

This Gothic Revival church of 1876–7 was designed by James Sellars, John Keppie's former employer. John Honeyman & Keppie were associated with the building on four occasions over a period of 23 years. In 1890–1 they made sketches for proposed alterations, but no work appears to have been carried out. In 1898, they supervised the installation of electricity and new woodwork; redecoration and repairs were also carried out at this time. In 1904, a bathroom was added at the S.W. corner of the Beadle's house. And in 1913, a memorial brass to Rev. Dr Robert Drummond (1828–1911), minister of Belhaven Church from 1880 until his death, was made and installed. 1 A report on Belhaven Church was produced as part of the Mackintosh Built Heritage Survey, carried out between 2015 and 2016. 2

Authorship: There is stylistic evidence to suggest that Mackintosh contributed at least to the 1898 woodwork. The Gothic surround to the choir passage door installed at this time has a distinctive arched top in the form of a flattened ogee. This has parallels in a number of his furniture designs, and the blind tracery in the gable includes unusual horizontal ovals of the type he later used in the window tracery at Queen's Cross Church, and in the chancel woodwork at Bridge of Allan Church.
Corroboratory evidence is provided by Ronald Harrison, an early student of Mackintosh's architecture in the 1930s, who had access to the office records. He included Belhaven on a list he compiled of works he believed were by Mackintosh; he also made a tracing of an original drawing for the choir passage door, perhaps in the belief that the drawing was by Mackintosh. 3 The choir and pulpit-stair newel posts are also distinctive, and can be compared with a design by Mackintosh for a choir enclosure for an unidentified church, which has similar terminal posts. 4