The English architect (and future MP and Mayor of Belfast) Sir Charles Lanyon renowned for many buildings in Ireland, particularly in Belfast, designed a new Gothic styled school and chapel for the Ulster Magdalene Asylum in 1851.
[5] The Ulster Magdalene Asylum in Belfast maintained a close relationship with other Protestant evangelical organisations set up in the Victorian era such as the Belfast Midnight Mission (which was a rescue for "unfortunate women and their offspring") as well as the Belfast Female Mission, a School was affiliated to the Asylum run by the Church Education Society these organisations shared members and trustees.
The Magdalene Asylum was run by a board of trustees, five clergymen and four lay members of the church.
While the Ulster Magdalene Asylum was established by the Church of Ireland, similar institutions in Belfast were established for other denominations such as the Catholic refuge was set up at the Good Shepherd Convent, Ballynafeigh (established in 1867), or the earlier Ulster Female Penitentiary and Laundry,[1] Edgar Home,[6] named after its founder Rev.
The Chapel survives as the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Donegall Pass, Belfast, and it celebrated its 175 anniversary in 2014.