Since 1984, the UAHS has published a (roughly) annual newsletter for its members. Originally called the Heritage Newsletter, it is now known as the Heritage Review. Back copies of most issues are still available from the office, but we give below the lead stories of each edition, together with a summary of other stories covered.
HN.1: 1984: Barry's Amusements, Bangor
HN.2:1985: Royal Avenue, Belfast
....................No Mean City conference
synopsis
HN.3: 1986: McCausland's Warehouse,
Belfast
HN.4: 1987: Great Universal Demolition (Robb's
store, Belfast)
HN.5: 1988: Taking the Waters (Ormeau
Baths, Belfast)
HN.6: 1989: Donegall Square Methodist
Church, Belfast
HN.7: 1990: Ewart's Warehouse, Belfast
HN.8: 1991: St Enoch's and Christ Church,
Belfast
HN.9: 1992: Robinson's Bar, Belfast
....................Editorial on when
development is right
HN.10: 1994: The old Synagogue, Belfast
HR.1: 1998: Limavady Town Hall
HR.2: 1999: Portrush Town Hall
HR.3: 2000: Jennymount Spinning Mill,
Belfast
HR.4: 2001: Ballyholme Hotel, Bangor
HR.5: 2002: Seaforde, Co Down
Barry's Amusements
Well-known to any visitor to the seaside resort of Bangor, the
twin turrets of Barry's Amusements have been a prominent feature
of the town's seafront since they were erected as the focal point
of the Grand Hotel some time around 1893. An intriguing photograph
in Bangor Town Hall shows the right-hand turret complete and apparently
in operation as an hotel before the building of the left hand
portion had even started, but it was obviously designed as a symmetrical
structure.
By 1930 the Hotel had closed, and for a while there was a cinema
at the back of the building, but the Amusement Arcade was in operation
before the war. Over the years the upper floors of the building
became disused, and when the property came on the market a couple
of years ago its future was uncertain. The Society, realising
its importance as a prominent part of a visually intact 19th century
seafront to Bangor Bay, drew attention to its plight, commissioning
a silkscreen print of it from Camilla Brown (copies of which are
still available from the Society's office), and asking the Historic
Buildings Council to list it.
Last October the HBB agreed to pursue the statutory listing, but
North Down Borough Council objected that because of the condition
of the building it was unlikely a developer would undertake its
restoration, leaving an eyesore on the main seafront. The Society
joined representatives of the Historic Buildings Branch of the
DoE in a deputation to the Council, which led to their withdrawing
their objections to the listing. By that time however tenders
for demolition were apparently in operation, and the HBB acted
promptly to spot-list Barry's.
That was not the end of the story of course; the new owner of
Barry's made it clear that he would ask for listed building consent
to demolish it, but the HBC offered extensive grant-aid for its
restoration, and immediately funded a holding operation by the
Society's ACE team, which proceeded to clear out tons of old machinery,
chocolate and paper that still filled the building, and to seal
it against vandalism.
On the night of 10 December a red glow lit up Bangor Bay when
a severe malicious fire destroyed outbuildings and the old ballroom
behind the main structure. Despite reports in the media that the
building had been gutted and that the "well-known local landmark"
of Barry's was now gone for ever, the work of our team in blocking
up all major openings at the rear of the building ensured that
the fire never reached the interior of the listed portion, and
the building control officers again declared the building to be
safe.
Ironically however, the planning sub-committee of the Borough
Council had voted the previous week not to support the listing
after all. The decision was extremely close, being decided by
a casting vote, and it is most unfortunate that councillors were
not aware at the time that the building had been cleaned out and
was about to be repainted. However when the outcome of that meeting
was made known, our team had to abandon the scheme, at the request
of the DoE. It was most frustrating that the council voted before
seeing the result of the team's work.
There has been very considerable interest and public support for
our campaign to save this building, but as we go to press its
fate still hangs in the balance. The DoE in Northern Ireland has
never to date listed a building against the wishes of a local
council - although in England it happens not infrequently, since
it is considered that architectural merit is not something many
local councillors are trained to judge - and unless the undoubted
public support for restoring the building is brought to bear on
the Borough Council, the listing is likely to be rescinded. A
planning application for listed building consent to demolish lodged
in December has been strongly opposed by the Society, on the grounds
that quite apart from the merits of the existing building, it
is not in a dangerous condition and there are no plans for a replacement
building; we have however, supported the proposed change of use
aspect of the application, for a shopping arcade with flats above
- pointing out that this is entirely compatible with the retention
of the listed building.
Stop Press: Barry's has been demolished, following a further meeting
immediately before Christmas between North Down Council and representatives
of the Historic Buildings Branch, at which the Council insisted
on delisting. This permitted immediate demolition without awaiting
the outcome of the planning application and gives the planners
negligible control over any replacement building on this important
location. Where a fine, if tattered, Victorian building once stood,
Messrs Gilmore have donated an imposing gap-site to the people
of Bangor.
We still have copies of Camilla Brown's screenprint of Barry's...
Royal Avenue:
When the city fathers cleared away Hercules Place about 1880 the
replacement buildings which became Royal Avenue were built under
rigid development controls of height and cornice level but enlivened
by the vigorous and imaginative treatment of facades essayed by
the architects of the day and fully encouraged by their wealthy
clients. Although most of the ground-floor shopfronts have been
drastically changed, it is possible to feast the eye on a wealth
of Victorian detail from first-floor up as one walks down Royal
Avenue. An accidental gap in the sequence was created last year
by the fire in the Royal Avenue Hotel (see p. 16), but a much
more serious gap is likely to be inflicted during 1985 with the
full blessing of the Minister for the Environment and many members
of the City Council - although no detailed proposals yet exist
for a replacement building on the site.
It was in May 1984 that John Laing Developments Ltd lodged their
application for outline permission for a ten-storey office development
on the sites of the Grand Central Hotel and the Head Post Office
in Royal Avenue, with an extensive shopping arcade and car-parking
complex behind stretching back to engulf Smithfield Market and
beyond. It is possible that Chris Patten thought the planners
working in his Department of the Environment would not feel in
any way constrained by his enthusiastic pronouncements on this
development reported on the day the application was advertised-
it is certain that both he and the City Council were delighted
at the promises of jobs that would result from the development
and at the thought of major retail outlets taking up residence
in lower Royal Avenue. It did not seem to occur to either party
that there might be other ways of achieving these ends, or that
by processing the planning application in what must have been
record time they were more or less committing that development
to one developer whose interests may not ultimately concur with
theirs. Messrs Laing made it clear both in their application and
subsequently that they have little interest in retaining any of
the existing buildings - yet the Society had been in discussion
only weeks earlier with another developer who was fully prepared
to restore the Head Post Office building as an integral part of
his development. Unfortunately, they lost the race to get planning
permission, and Laings were able to take up options on the site.
The Grand Central Hotel, although one of the last buildings to
be erected in the original Royal Avenue development, is also one
of the most structurally worrying, mainly on account of subsidence
due to rotted piles. Although it would be possible to stabilise
this and to retain its impressive facade and tall dome, it would
be an expensive exercise, and this could provide an opportunity
for a really 'prestige' new building, matching the grandeur and
richness of the old hotel in new idioms - the cornice line must
be respected however, and in granting the outline permission for
the site, the planners have taken this into account by restricting
the height of the proposed development.
The Head Post Office, designed by J H Owen in 1886, is another
matter. Built solidly of Dungannon stone, its only sign of distress
(apart from the extraordinarily black grime with which it is coated)
is the concrete doorcase superimposed on its main entrance by
the GPO. The visiting speakers at our 'No Mean City' conference
in October (see supplement) were unanimous in their amazement
that such a building was not listed and that Belfast still does
not have a single conservation area designated - they were agreed
that Donegall Place/Royal Avenue would make an ideal core for
a city centre conservation area.
What makes this saga particularly frustrating is that the HBC
recommended such an area, which would have given at least initial
protection to the building, three years ago, but the DoE has not
processed it far enough to control such applications. The Society
has commented at length on many occasions during the year about
this issue, which it sees as probably the single most important
threat to our local architectural heritage this year.
Apart from the aesthetic and historical issues involved, we have
pointed out that an equal number of jobs would be created in a
refurbishment scheme and its resultant shops; that Marks &
Spencers appear to be delighted with their refurbishment at the
Water Office which provides them with a superb building, and that
in England refurbishment is being seen increasingly by developers
as an economic and popular option. Above all, if the redevelopment
option is pursued generally, then the condition of the older buildings
will decline, whereas refurbishment will reduce the risk of blight.
As we go to press, the demolition of the Post Office is under way, and the developers have their eyes on yet more buildings, 34-56 Royal Avenue which includes the old Avenue Cinema. The society is opposing this extension to the development.
No Mean City conference:
Extract from Roy Worskett's paper on "The Character of Towns":
In England we have learnt there are three main ingredients to
conservation: public opinion, the listing of buildings, and Conservation
Areas. Now just let me deal with those three things. Firstly,
public opinion: I think whichever city you go to in the United
Kingdom - whether it's Bath, Bristol, Newcastle or wherever -
it's public opinion that has really changed the authorities' view
of what they ought to be doing; and although I would have to admit
to finding the preservation groups in Bath a pain in the neck,
there was no doubt that Bath changed its course of action from
appalling redevelopment to conservation, largely because of the
pressure that was exerted. This happened not by a great sort of
democratic process, but by the activities of quite small groups
of people who were concerned to ensure that the destruction of
the city didn't continue.
The second thing I would put above anything else... is listing,
and not just having the building listed but actually sticking
to that legislation and ensuring that buildings that are listed
are not going to be given away at the slightest heave of the developer.
The authorities really have to stand behind listing, and that's
where public opinion comes into play and becomes very important.
I would just like to pick out one local example, the Post Office
in Royal Avenue [in Belfast]; really, it seems inconceivable to
me that that building should ever go. I can't imagine now, in
virtually any English city, or virtually any other European city,
that that building would be allowed to be demolished. It isn't,
as I understand, even listed: that seems to me to be absolutely
unbelievable; and if this conference finishes today without making
a stand on that one particular building, and if necessary demanding
some form of Public Inquiry to see how it could be incorporated
into any new development - and no doubt the area does need development
- then I think we will be wasting our time. Certainly our experience
has been that if you can find one really good test case when you're
starting out to try and preserve buildings it sets a precedent,
if you win, for all the other buildings in the town.
The final point is the designation of areas: in the United Kingdom
there are now coming up to 400,000 buildings listed, but it's
very difficult indeed to preserve and find the right uses for
individual buildings unless you can cope with the environment
around that building. As I understand it, fewer than twenty villages
[in Northern Ireland] have been designated as Conservation Areas
and there are no Conservation Areas in Belfast, despite the fact
that you've had legislation since 1974. Now that I would have
thought you would find disgraceful; and if the conference today
is not producing some sort of resolution to say that both listing
and Conservation Areas should be followed up fast in the city,
then I think you're wasting your time. Don't think that because
you haven't hundreds of Georgian buildings or hundreds of medieval
buildings, that you have nothing worth listing; it's the buildings
that actually give Belfast its identity that you need to be looking
at...
There's no doubt from our experience that virtually any historic
building can be preserved, providing you actually stick to your
guns and require it to be preserved, and insist that the penalties
for non-preservation are adhered to.
Lyttle and McCauslands Seed Warehouses, Victoria Street,
Belfast:
The finest surviving Victorian warehouse in Belfast - but for
how much longer? Empty and neglected for ten years - divorced
from the city by the ever increasing traffic, surrounded by car
parks, quietly rotting away, unnoticed by the public eye and virtually
ignored by the public purse.
But, after this decade of decline comes some faint glimmer of
hope - public money invested in holding repairs, private money
interested in a restoration - maybe there can be life before death.
Belfast a century ago must have been an exciting place - brimming
with commercial self-confidence and enterprise. The population
grew from 50,000 in 1831 to 250,000 in 1891; linen, shipbuilding
and engineering mushroomed into vast industries and Belfast became
one of the commercial centres of Britain, and thus the world.
The city's prosperity is forever displayed in public buildings
such as the Court House (1846) Queen's College (1849) and the
Custom House (1857), but it is in commercial architecture that
the changes are perhaps most prominently displayed. Gloomy back
rooms behind dull Georgian facades held no attraction to the booming
new businesses wishing to display their wealth and stability to
new customers. The banks led the way but very soon the wealthier
merchants were vying for position, mostly around the commercial
centre of High Street.
It was an age of plenty for architect and tradesman alike. Freed
from Georgian puritanism and unfettered by the rigidity of one
true style, architects such as Hastings, Lanyon and Lynn were
free to apply a range of eclectic styles. William Hastings contributed
much to Belfast's architecture, and of his buildings still with
us, Great Victoria Street Baptist Church (1865) the Newsletter
Offices in Donegall Street (1873) and Lyttle and McCauslands seed
warehouses, are his best works.
As the architects moved from severe Georgian simplicity to full
blown Victorian exuberance, so the craftsmen kept pace, reaching
extraordinarily high levels of workmanship. Pre-eminent among
them was Thomas Fitzpatrick, sculptor, responsible for the stonework
on many of the city's finest buildings - the Custom House, the
Ulster Bank in Waring Street, the Ulster Brewery in Sandy Row
and Lyttle and McCauslands.
The four storey seed warehouses of Lyttle and McCauslands were
built in 1868 for two rival firms of seed merchants, with superficially
independent facades yet united by their common architect and builder
and eventually in reality as the firms merged.
The facade to the Lyttle building is the simpler, on a symmetrical
2-3-2 layout with central doorway, whilst the McCausland facade
breaks with tradition to give a 1-2-1-2 pattern allowing entrances
to be placed in the single bays. Whilst the Lyttle facade is heavily
adorned with intricate sculptured column heads, it is the McCausland
building that is exceptional by any standard. Five "caryatid"
heads support the ground floor cornice-a curly headed African,
a turbaned Indian, and a feathered Red Indian represent the far
corners of the globe (suggesting the all encompassing trade of
the firm) whilst Victoria and Albert as Demolo and Poseidon flank
the main entrance door.
Whilst the quality of these carvings in themselves is impressive,
the complete facade with its heavy string courses and individual
window heads right up to an intricate, almost celtic, parapet,
forms a unique composition of remarkable balance.
The interior is more strictly functional, with cast iron columns
supporting timber floor beams and an almost complete absence of
internal division. The once covered lightwell to the rear is now
gone with the demolition of the rear wings, but the essential
character still remains.
The Department of the Environment has owned the building for over
ten years. Acquired for a now shelved roads scheme and since allowed
to decline, it is an embarassment to its owners. Various studies
and reports have been undertaken as to the building's structural
stability and potential for re-use in a government office complex,
but all proved abortive.
In 1984, the Historic Buildings Branch of the D.O.E. commissioned
a condition report which was more encouraging as to the long term
viability of the building, but nevertheless estimated a cost of
approx £200,000 for holding repairs to stabilize the fabric
from further deterioration.
Since then much more of the surroundings have been demolished
and now McCauslands stands alone amongst a sea of surface level
car parking.
In 1985, the Society, in conjunction with Consarc Partnership
and George Chaplin, architects, submitted an application for grant
aid under the Urban Development Grant Feasibility Study scheme.
The idea was to carry out a full study of the McCauslands block
and the surrounding area, to put together a package for developers
who would use development on the vacant sites around to enable
the high cost of restoring the McCauslands block to be absorbed.
In January 1986 the Belfast Development Office replied, informing
the society that it could not grant-aid at present - partly because
an application for a building cost grant aid had been received
from a developer, and partly because the Belfast Planning Office,
as part of the Belfast Urban Area Plan Review, had not yet decided
on a framework for development for that area of the city.
The application still stands, and the Society awaits the resolution
of these issues. The Society feels that a feasibility study should
be carried out before an individual developer purchases the McCauslands
block, although we would be supportive of any proposals which
retain the building in a scheme to provide for its long term future.
Thus the whole area, and in particular the connection between
the city and the river, needs to be carefully considered and a
restored building set into a realistic context.
Meanwhile, in the hope that new uses can be found, the Historic
Monuments and Buildings Branch have funded the Society's ACE team
to carry out urgent holding repairs to prevent further decline.
These are confined to making the building watertight and treating
the extensive dry rot that has caught hold in the last few years,
but it will ensure that there is a building capable of full restoration
when the right development can be established.
The Department of the Environment, in all its various forms has
a responsibility to ensure the right development does happen.
Great Universal Demolition:
Castle Place, the Victorian hub of Belfast, saw the replacement
of the old Ulster Club a few years ago, then last year the redevelopment
of the opposite corner onto Donegall Place, and last summer it
was announced that further demolition would take place at the
large group of buildings formerly occupied by Robb's department
store (the one with the best Santa's grotto).
The Society objected strongly to the proposal of Great Universal
Stores, which involves the demolition of 1-15 Castle Place, its
return into Lombard Street, and a chunk of Rosemary Street opposite
the Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church. The Robb's buildings
were not erected at one time, and provided a varied but homogeneous
group. The earliest part was the former Donegall Arms Hotel, rebuilt
in the late 18th century by Thomas Sheridan, and a number of other
small buildings were linked in with the main Robb's building,
a massive stucco corner building of tremendous townscape value
with its rich decoration and rows of dormer windows.
It came as something of a shock to learn within a very short period
that listed building consent was being granted for the demolition
of these buildings subject to a contract being let for a replacement
building. The condition is of course significant, and perhaps
shows a lesson learnt from other gap sites in the city, but the
demolition does seem unnecessary, and particularly so with a listed
building in a potential conservation area. Surely demolition consent
could have been refused on the application, and granted only when
it has been demonstrated (as surely it could not have been) that
straightforward restoration and improvement was not viable? The
Society has met the letting agents for the building to discuss
the possibility of a replica or at least similar building on the
site, on the grounds that its townscape importance would merit
pastiche, but the indications are that yet another sizeable area
of Belfast's Victorian commercial core is about to be lost for
good.
Taking the Waters:
In October 1987, Belfast City Council Leisure Services Committee
announced its intention to close the Ormeau Avenue Public Baths,
a listed building designed by Robert Watt and dating from 1888.
Formally laid out and built in a robust red brick classical style,
the Baths were built to provide not only pools for swimming, but
also a public warm baths facility in an age when many working
class homes had neither hot water nor baths. Although the Baths
had been extended and partly refurbished in the 1950s, one pool
had developed structural cracks and been closed in the 1970s,
and with uncertainty over the future of the building, little maintenance
had been carried out in recent years.
The proposal to close the building was met by a storm of protest,
and a number of swimming clubs using the Baths formed an Action-Group
to save it. The Society shared their view that the building could
be upgraded on a viable basis, and commissioned a study into the
feasibility of this from Consarc Partnership using Urban Development
Grant.
The Feasibility Study recommended that the building should remain
in public ownership, and pointed out that it could provide much-needed
facilities in a convenient location. Although Belfast has a good
number of leisure centres, most concentrate on a rather narrow
'sports' market and there is a need for a Health and Fitness Centre;
the Baths' location is close to the City Centre and readily available
to those working in the city. The character of the building, which
has many original features, would lend prestige and interest to
the new centre, and with a rapidly returning population in that
area there will be a need for leisure facilities in any case.
Early in 1988, the Leisure Services Committee voted to close the
baths, but its future is still undecided. It will almost certainly
be sold, but the Society has urged the Council to impose stringent
conditions on the sale to ensure sympathetic restoration and re-use
of the building.
Donegall Square Methodist Church:
Over the last ten years, the vestry of the Donegall Square Methodist
Church have made repeated attempts to have their building delisted,
with a view to redeveloping the site with an office block incorporating
a smaller church, and a further application was made early in
1988 which the Society strenuously opposed. It is inevitable that
with demographic changes, and indeed the reduced level of church-going
that is occurring even here, many churches find themselves with
property which is too large for their purposes, and expensive
to maintain, and the usual result is the merging of congregations
and an application to sell or demolish the redundant church. The
Methodists' Victorian flagship, Carlisle Memorial Church at Carlisle
Circus, became redundant some five years ago and faced demolition,
but was acquired by Ulster Provident Housing Association for conversion
to housing and an arts centre, which is currently going ahead.
Donegall Square is a much more valuable location, and finding
a new user for it should be less problematic. Unfortunately the
vestry takes the view that it must continue to retain the site,
and will not consider a sale which would enable it to build or
take over more suitable premises nearby while enabling a new owner
to restore the church, and while they press for demolition no
repairs are being carried out to the property.
The Society is sympathetic to the problems facing the small congregation,
but feels that this Church is important not only in its own right,
but also as a vital element of townscape in Donegall Square. It
is one of the last classical churches to be built in the city,
designed by Isaac Farrell of Dublin in 1847, and complements the
later Victorian and Edwardian buildings of the square, many of
which have been expensively and carefully restored in recent years.
It is unusual for the local newspapers to mention architectural
conservation in their editorials, but the Belfast Telegraph did
so last year, saying that the church was 'a part of Belfast's
cultural heritage which the city should not lose'. It is also
the most visible symbol of Methodism in the city, and the Methodist
Church in the province as a whole should be helping to save this
building. Generous grant aid is available for its restoration,
and a public appeal for funds to help could well be effective,
but so far the vestry shows no sign of abandoning the redevelopment
plans.
The Ewart's Building:
The Society viewed with concern a planning application in April
1989 to develop the site behind the listed Ewart's head office
building in Bedford Street, Belfast. Our concern was heightened
by the apparent support given to the project by the Minister of
Economic Development, Richard Needham, who unveiled the plans.
Mr. Needham also has responsibility for planning in Belfast, and
at the time of the ceremony the planning application was still
under consideration.
The listed building on the site, designed by James Hamilton of
Glasgow in 1869 with an extension by James Ewart in 1883, was
built for the Bedford Street Weaving Company and later acquired
by Ewart's. The Society was pleased to learn that this was to
be retained in the re-development but concerned that no attempt
was made to integrate the listed building into the overall development.
We opposed the plan because it was out of scale with the listed
buildings on the site and with the adjacent Ulster Hall and Bryson
House, two attractive listed buildings. The Society believes that
high-rise blocks are inappropriate in central Belfast and that
no more should be erected, particularly on sites close to the
City Hall. The site is within the proposed Linen Conservation
Area, which will probably be designated in 1992, and the development
will rise from four storeys on Bedford Street to seventeen storeys
at the rear of the site.
The Society was not opposed to development on the site in principle,
but to the proposed plan. We were dismayed to learn that planning
permission was granted without any major changes being requested
by the planning authorities. At the Society's AGM in February
1990, the President said he believed that in time it would become
Belfast's most hated building. It remains to be seen whether or
not the prediction will come true.
St Enoch's Church:
A number of Belfast churches feature prominently in this issue,
as they are under threat. St Enoch's Church in Carlisle Circus
is such a case, but it had courageously survived until vandals
set fire to the building and its extraordinary interior. The damage
was severe but not irreparable, and restoration was explored.
Unfortunately the slowness and parsimoniousness of grant available
to assist the restoration led to the congregation pressing for
permission for an altogether new church on the same site. Carlisle
Circus was a fine piece of Victorian townscape, which has already
lost part of its enclosure; Carlisle Memorial Church was saved
by a change of use, and it is to be hoped that if the congregation
does not restore St Enoch's, they will permit a suitable new use
to be found for it.
Christ Church:
Christ Church, College Square North, is a neo-classical building
designed in 1833 by William Farrell. Then a suburban church with
a parish covering much of what is now South and West Belfast it
was built to serve "the humble classes, who were numerous
in the district." The main facade features a two storey entrance
porch flanked by two giant Ionic columns supporting a heavy entablature.
The interior is dominated by an unusual three-decked pulpit of
1878 by William Batt.
The locality in which Christ Church is situated has changed greatly
over the last thirty years, with surrounding housing lost to redevelopment
and the construction of the Westlink, and population shifts have
left it isolated from its parishioners. The building has suffered
from vandalism, bomb-damage and dry rot, and the Society has been
involved in a number of meetings with representatives of the church,
first advising on colour schemes for redecoration a number of
years ago, and more recently suggesting priorities for the repair
of the fabric, with cure of the dry rot the most urgent item.
A historic building of this size is not cheap to look after, and
although the present rector and his small flock have fought valiantly
to preserve their church, major repairs to it are needed. While
these are by no means insuperable, a Diocesan Report has recommended
the closure and disposal of Christ Church when the present incumbent
leaves. Redundant churches are becoming a major problem and cause
the Society much concern.
Bats Go To Church:
Research published in 1990 revealed that Ireland' s bat populations
are religiously segregated - long-eared bats tend to live in Catholic
churches and natterers in Protestant ones. However the schism
appears to have an architectural basis rather than a doctrinal
one, with the natterers prefering the cosy enclosed roofspaces
of classical churches in which to huddle together, and the long-ears
the more spacious high roofs of gothic ones.
Robinson's Bar:
On the night of March 14 1991 a firebomb attack was made on Robinson's
Bar in Great Victoria Street, next-door-but-one to the famous
Crown Bar. Its first and second floors were totally destroyed,
and (although not obviously damaged by the fire) the front elevation
was subsequently demolished, leading to speculation that yet another
office development was planned for the "Golden Mile".
Although work has not yet started, it is understood that reproduction
of the Bar with its early Victorian facade is planned.
Editorial:
Probably the most prominent planning controversy of the last year
concerned the proposal to build an office block almost opposite
St Malachy's Church in Belfast's Alfred Street. The Church wanted
the site to remain as open space, and sought a judicial review
against the planning approval, but despite considerable public
sympathy for the Church's position, the approval was considered
to have been correctly granted, and construction is now under
way.
The Church's objections were chiefly based on the height of the
new building, although its bulk will probably have more impact.
The proposal was in fact reduced in height from an original application
for a twelve storey building to one much closer to the height
of an adjacent listed warehouse of 1911 by James Hanna. There
is even a precedent for a substantial building on the site, which
was previously occupied by Dunville's whiskey warehouse.
A rather unusual twist to the application however was that, although
nominally a private development, the new building was custom-designed
to suit the DoE, which is to occupy the completed block [now Clarence
Court]. The Department was therefore in effect sitting in judgement
on its own application. Nevertheless, in the absence of any height
control, with precious few aesthetic guidelines, and a generally
laissez faire approach to development in the centre of Belfast
in recent years, the Department could hardly be faulted on having
approved a building much more modest in scale than, for example,
the Atrium development approved the previous year for an equally
sensitive site in Bedford Street. The Alfred Street application
provided a focus for public unease over the scale of redevelopment
in Belfast in recent years, but is no worse than some of the banal
and arbitrary developments that have sprung up in Great Victoria
Street and have made the nickname "The Golden Mile"
seem heavily ironic. In recent years, planning control seems to
have been abandoned in favour of development at any cost; and
the true cost of that policy is becoming apparent now that the
heat has gone out of the office boom and it may prove difficult
to attract developers to Laganside. If the lid had been kept on
a few years ago there would have been more steam left to power
the Laganside initiative.
While sharing the Church's concern for the setting of Thomas Jackson's
1840 Gothic church, the Society decided not to enter the debate
over Alfred Street, though we objected to the original planning
application for a twelve storey building, and commented on the
aesthetic appearance of the second application. The UAHS was not
convinced by the suggestion that an open space to one side would
necessarily enhance the setting of the Church, any more than St
Anne's Cathedral has been improved by the recently formed Cathedral
Open Space, which the Society had opposed. Apparently planners
are now realising that it was unwise to create so much open space
around St Annes and are considering building houses in Academy
Street! The intriguing vista of the Cathedral from winding Church
Street has been lost and replaced by a general view, but the not
dissimilar vista of St Malachy's from Clarence Street will be
recreated when the site is redeveloped.
Comparison between the two sites is interesting however, in that
St Anne's was designed as a facade building in a street, whereas
St Malachy's actually started life in isolation, and in that sense
there was greater justification for an open space in Alfred Street.
However to create a formal symmetrical space would entail the
demolition of the fine Hanna warehouse, to which the UAHS would
be opposed. Time has moved on, and the St Malachy's site is now
historically an urban one.
If the Dunville building was still standing there would be no
call for it to be demolished; the important factor now is to ensure
that the new building (here and on other gap sites) is of a high
standard. Recent planning documents pay lip service to conservation
and high design standards, but consideration of the setting of
listed buildings still does not receive high enough priority.
The controversy over St Malachy's demonstrated public concern
over the issue; and the UAHS continues to press for planning controls
that enhance our listed buildings and conservation areas. Sometimes
that means an open space, more often it means new development
on a gap site - the common factor is the quality and scale of
the new development, and always the historic building should form
the starting point.
Even recessions have silver linings, and conservationists have
been able to breathe easier since the demise of the building boom
of the late 1980s which seemed to be pulling down everything over
fifty years of age standing on commercially viable sites. Comparatively
little demolition has taken place during the last year, although
equally it has been difficult to see where money might come from
to restore historic buildings at risk. In a climate of financial
stringency, congratulations are due to those involved in the painstaking
restoration of Downpatrick Courthouse, badly damaged by a bomb
in 1971 and re-opened in 1991 by the Lord Chancellor; and on the
expedition with which the Grand Opera House, seriously damaged
by a 1000 lb bomb at the end of 1991, was repaired and able to
get back to normal business less than six months later.
The Old Synagogue, Belfast:
Old buildings frequently serve different purposes in the course
of their lives, but few have been quite as various as the former
Synagogue at 113 Great Victoria Street Belfast, a polychrome Gothic
building in yellow brick with red and black brick and stone decoration.
Built in 1871 by Francis Stirrat, the Jews grew too numerous for
it and about 1900 it became an Orange Hall. Latterly the Apostolic
Church took it over, but it fell into poor repair and when an
application was made to build a new structure behind the retained
facade, the Society did not object since it seemed likely to ensure
the future of the decorative facade. Unfortunately, despite the
erection of a massive piece of structural steelwork beside the
facade, the front elevation was lost soon after demolition got
under way in the summer of 1993.
Since this was a listed building, the Society was greatly concerned
to see steelwork for a completely different building being erected
within weeks of the collapse. The retention of facades is a notoriously
tricky operation, and the loss of Stirrat's elevation may have
been as great a disappointment to the church as it was to us,
but there seems no good reason why, once the collapse had taken
place, the materials from the facade could not have been used
in a reconstruction of the original design which had contributed
so greatly to the townscape of the area. Surely there must have
been good photographic and survey records of the elevation prepared
in order to build the new structure into it, and it would have
been a relatively straightforward matter to have recreated it.
The Society is still in correspondence with the Planning Service
on the matter.
Limavady Town Hall:
Limavady Borough Council applied successfully for the demolition
of the Alexander Memorial Hall, which presents an elegant sandstone
facade to Main Street, Limavady. The Society objected to the proposal
and a local campaigner drummed up over 2,500 objections. This
pressure resulted in a meeting being convened at the Council buildings
in February 1998. Annesley Malley, a newly elected UAHS committee
member, long standing member of the Historic Buildings Council
and member of the Foyle Civic Trust unearthed and shared with
the councillors several facts about the building which had, until
then, remained under wraps. He discovered that the building was
constructed in 1863, and had been designed by the respected architect,
Thomas Turner (whose brother was the ironmaster for the Palmhouse
at Botanic Gardens, Belfast). This had been unconfirmed until
now. Not only that, but through his research he brought to light
the fact that the Alexander family, after whom the Hall was named,
were the founders of the Bank of Ireland. The councillors went
away in a pensive mood, and are reviewing their decision to start
with a cleared site. The 'lofty and confident' facade may live
to see another day, and may form a beautifully appropriate entrance
to the new Museum and Arts Centre which has been proposed for
the site.
Kiss me Quick: Portrush Town Hall:
Built in 1872 by the famous firm of Lanyon Lynn and Lanyon,
Portrush Town Hall is a fun seaside Victorian building. Coleraine
Borough Council, custodians of the listed building, failed to
maintain it over the years and applied successfully for Listed
Building Consent to demolish the building in March 1998. The Environment
and Heritage Service supported demolition stating that most of
brickwork was spalled and severe damp had destroyed the interior.
Findings by Carrig, a firm of specialist conservation engineers
concurred with the Society in estimating that a much smaller percentage
of the brick exterior would need to be replaced, and agreed with
us that restoration would be feasible. While the building is severely
damp because of blocked gutters and broken downpipes arising from
poor maintenance, restoration is still possible, and indeed a
project to restore the building would probably be eligible for
finance from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The UAHS addressed the Council on a number of occasions and highlighted
the cultural and economic benefits of restoration. Councillors
were shown slides of buildings which had suffered comparable problems
and have been successfully restored. Local groups also made representations
to the Council and a petition of over 2000 signatures in support
of restoration of the building was submitted. Despite local pressure
and the likelihood that a scheme of restoration would be viewed
favourably by a number of sources including the Heritage Lottery
Fund, the Council voted for the option of demolition and new-build
with little hope of securing equivalent funding, and with no firm
idea of what would replace this fine example of seaside High Victorian
architecture. The last possible means of rescuing the building
is if the Council can be persuaded to hand over the reins via
a lease to a local Building Preservation Trust.
Jennymount Spinning Mill, Belfast:
Most of you will know Jennymount Mill - it is a spectacular
group of buildings you pass as you head north out of Belfast along
the M2 - the seven-storey red brick block by Lanyon, the long
roof ridge of the four-storey spinning mill, and one of the most
exciting and beautiful chimneys in Ulster.
A distraught Caroline Maguire (architect with Consarc and member
of the UAHS Committee) rang the office one Friday afternoon in
late November saying that demolition was underway on the spinning
mill, and that its total destruction was imminent, probably during
the next week. Over the weekend we brought in the cameras of both
UTV and the BBC as well as sending material to the newspapers.
Jennymount mill is important for a variety of reasons. The earliest
buildings on the site date from 1856, but in 1864 the offices,
engine house and chimney were constructed with John Lanyon as
architect and are adorned with carved heads of Wordsworth, Galileo
and others from the workshop of the Fitzpatrick stone carvers.
Similar heads are to be seen on Yorkshire House, Donegall Square.
The classically proportioned spinning mill runs parallel to the
railway, but the most impressive building on the site is the Italiante
palazzo building of 1891 also by Lanyon.
This part of north Belfast once housed both the extensive York
Street mill complex (now demolished and replaced by Yorkgate),
the Milewater mill (now the site of Thomson's feed mill) and the
Jennymount Mill. Indeed Jennymount is important because it is
one of the most intact mills remaining within greater Belfast.
The current owner of the large site has made many attempts to
find tenants for the buildings, but has had a very frustrating
time. He has been successful in getting an Urban Development Grant
for the refurbishment of the seven-storey Lanyon building. Ironically
it was the work on this building that triggered the start of the
demolition of the four-storey block.
The UAHS invited the Director of the UK-wide organisation Regeneration
through Heritage to come over to see if they could help put pressure
on the relevant bodies to ensure that the mill will be retained
and that demolition will cease. Letters were sent to both the
Minister for the Environment, Mr Foster, and Nigel Dodds, Minister
for Social Development, to ask for intervention.
Although the problem has not yet been fully solved the UAHS has
been instrumental in bringing various sides together to look at
positive new uses for the buildings, and we hope to see Jennymount
as the flagship site for the future regeneration of this part
of North Belfast.
For the full text of this issue of Heritage Review in Acrobat
format, click here.
It's always sad to lose a friend. The Ballyholme Hotel provided
comfortable short and longer term accommodation, full of character
despite, or perhaps because of, its somewhat dated furnishings
and manner. In many ways it was a period piece; one only had to
have afternoon tea there to know what service and quality of a
previous generation might have been like. The welcome was warm,
personal and sincere.
Understandably perhaps, the balance shifted toward residential
care and, perhaps inevitably, there was a requirement for the
kinds of adaptation that less-abled, elderly, people need. Fair
enough, but did that really necessitate an application for delisting
in order to install the odd ramp and handrail? Would it not have
been possible to issue a Listed Building Consent for the changes?
Apparently not, according to a hotel spokesperson. Delisting was
duly requested and, despite the efforts by the Society and many
locals, it was granted on grounds including the change of windows
(Why had that been allowed when the building was listed? If it
was not approved, why were the owners not fined for making the
unauthorised change? Why couldn't the correct windows be reinstated
and the listing remain in force?). Another factor cited was the
lack of legally defensible documentation of the rear elevation
(as if it mattered!).
Sadly, the cynics among us were proved right: shortly after delisting
the building was sold, the bulldozer moved in, the front elevation
was reduced to half a storey and the rest of the site cleared
for future development. So what was once a fine example of a series
of terrace houses with an interesting history and constituting
an important element in the streetscape overlooking Ballyholme
Bay, is now a pathetic, miniature, forlorn stage set. No one wants
friends to end up like that.
See also the entry in our Bangor List.
For the full text of this issue of Heritage Review in Acrobat format, click here.
We had hoped that after numerous meetings and much correspondence,
and in particular after SAVE's heavily critical report, agreement
could by now have been reached between Environment & Heritage
Service and the voluntary sector on the subject of de-listing.
Sadly, yet another instance has occurred in the village of Seaforde
near Newcastle.
Often thought to be a conservation area on account of its nearly
intact grouping of almshouses, early 19th century terraces, parish
church and big house complete with demesne and mature trees, Seaforde
has in fact no official protection apart from the listing of many
of its buildings, and the involvement of Hearth twenty years ago
in restoring and managing a dozen of its houses that had been
nearly derelict. The former village shop has lain empty for a
dozen years, and was recently acquired by a developer who applied
to build apartments and new houses on the site and its hinterland.
There has been other new housing in Seaforde during recent years,
but it has been built behind the street frontage or on the side
roads from it; as a result the visual impact has been as minimal
as could be hoped, and no historic buildings have been lost. Many
of the villagers were upset by the new proposal and objected to
it, as did Hearth since the shop is in a key location at the centre
of the village and has important group value.
Fortunately the shop was listed, and the planners were ready to
refuse permission for the development when EHS announced to Down
District Council that it intended to de-list the building. While
the application may still be refused on the grounds of over-development,
it makes the planners' job very much more difficult. We understand
that the Historic Buildings Council has once again taken a different
view from EHS. The EHS argument is that the buildings are structurally
unsound and that any restoration would lead to an unacceptable
loss of historic fabric (they envisage demolition of the entire
rear wall), despite the existence of an early shopfront and a
reasonable interior to the adjacent house. Hearth has expressed
interest in restoring the building (which had been withdrawn from
sale a few years ago, and was sold privately to the developer),
and argued that the structural problems could be overcome without
undue loss of fabric. Hearth also argued that the demolition of
the building would devalue the work it had already carried out
(on what were in some cases far more derelict buildings) next
door, and that the group value was vital to the integrity of the
village.
At the time we go to press the outcome of this application is
still not known, but if EHS persists in de-listing the building
it will lead inevitably to its demolition. Given that the building
is contemporary with its neighbours and an important component
in the fabric of the village, not significantly altered and adjacent
to buildings which are still (for the time being!) listed, why
the hurry to delist it against strong objections from local people,
the HBC, Hearth and the UAHS? It appears that EHS is taking the
narrow view that it is preserving a list of perfect buildings
in perfect condition, rather than being part of a planning process
in which they should not only consider the setting of other listed
buildings but also play a part in the planning process generally.
For the full text of this issue of Heritage Review in Acrobat format, click here. [Sorry, this is not available yet]
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