Bandstand in Town Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An octagonal bandstand consisting of eight circular cast iron columns with ornamental open-work cast iron spandrels at the top supporting a copper ogee domical roof surmounted by a square lantern with clockfaces and an ogee roof of lead topped by a decorative finial. Some disrepair to cover strips of main copper roof; cast iron guttering with replacement sections in PVC; ceiling sheeted in tongued and grooved timber in eight sections, with circular hole in centre; concrete floor in eight panels around central octagonal section; ornamental wrought iron railings enclosing seven sides at base with the eighth side partially closed around a fixed axial opening; concrete base and three concrete steps up to entrance which faces west.

The bandstand stands in a central position in a grassed area of an open public park, approached by a curving tarmac path of informal layout.

To the east within the park stands a small single-storey hipped-roofed pavilion of no architectural interest; and to the west, around a corner, stands the main entrance to the park comprising four square stone gate piers of plain design, now bereft of gates or railings, bearing inscriptions plaques.

Historical information

Erected in 1938 by Larne Urban District Council with money bequeathed by Robert Thomas Ross, a prominent business man and benefactor to the town; designed by the town surveyor, J.A. Caskey MCBE; contractors, W.H. Kane & Co. The park itself was established in 1933, its gateway presented as a memorial from the family of Sir Hugh Smiley of Drumalis.

References - Primary

1. Inscription plaque on bandstand
2. Inscription plaque on gateway

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A well proportioned example of a building type usually associated with the Victorian or Edwardian era, which still retains its original features.