Former garage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey former garage building of 1920 with stepped ‘Art Deco’-like front façade and Belfast Truss roof. The property is set on the N side of Circular Road to the SE of Larne town centre.

The building in question appears to have been the front office section of a larger building which is now divided into two properties with the northern property (to the rear of this) still operating as a garage with this section (measuring roughly 15.5m x 14) serving as a store for a separate business. The front (S) elevation is in painted concrete block, is symmetrical and rises to an ‘Art Deco’-like stepped parapet. To the ground floor are two plain boarded up shop fronts with three relatively small windows to the first floor. Above this there is a narrow stringcourse and above this rises the parapet. To the centre of the parapet the date ‘1920’ and the word ‘GARAGE’ are spelt out in moulded characters.

The building has a bevelled corner to the SW with a single (boarded up) window to the ground floor and a tall recent signboard to the first floor. The W elevation is in painted block also. To far left on the ground floor there is a large vehicle entrance with roller shutter. To the right of this is a pedestrian doorway with a boarded up window to right again. The E elevation is abutted by a long single storey gabled building. The curved roof could not be seen due to the tall parapet to front and the restricted viewing angle to the W side (i.e. the narrow street).

Historical information

The building was originally a (commercial) garage and dates from 1920. It probably originally incorporated the now separate property to the north side, a property which still serves as a garage.

The Belfast truss was developed in the mid-nineteenth century to meet the demand for efficient, lightweight and long span roofs brought about by the industrial revolution. A detailed description of the historical development of the Belfast truss is included in the record for HB18/08/139. In brief, the first known reference to a curved wooden felted roof structure supported by bowstring girders is in an advertisement in the Dublin Builder for 1866 by the Belfast firm of felt-makers, McTear & Co. McTear’s continued making trusses until they went out of business in 1908.

A second Belfast felt supplier, Anderson & Co., began to produce trusses, to a slightly different design, in 1886. In 1896, Anderson’s launched their Mk II version; promoted as maximising long spans whilst maintaining light weight. This model was subsequently used by other companies, and is referred to by historians as the Belfast truss, although this term is widely used to apply to all timber bowstring trusses where the internal bracing members meet not on the bottom of the truss as was the convention but on the top curved member.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two storey former garage building of 1920 with stepped ‘Art Deco’-like front façade and Belfast Truss roof. The building probably originally incorporated the now separate property to the north side, a property which still serves as a garage. The façade’s Art-Deco-like appearance appears quite innovative for a building of 1920.

General comments

Surveyed as part of the Belfast Roof Truss survey.