Omagh Orange Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached symmetrical sandstone Ruskinian Gothic Orange hall, dated 1869, located to the west side of Mountjoy Road. Rectangular on plan, four-window-wide with central two openings contained in shallow gabled breakfront, facing east; two-storey pitched roofed modern extension with entrance porch (of no interest) to rear.

Hipped natural slate roof, blue/black angled ridge tiles, lead hip caps; lower cast-iron fretted ridge to breakfront with stone coped verge and apex blocking; stone chimneystacks to south and north with moulded caps; quatrefoil-perforated sandstone parapet concealing gutter, round cast-iron downpipes; ogee-profile uPVC gutters to rear. Walling is ashlar sandstone over plinth. Ground floor windows are segmental arch-headed replacement timber eight-light casements with chamfered rebated reveals and label-ended hoodmoulds; first floor windows are similar with gothic heads, hoodmould sprung from impost-level stringcourse with polychrome red brick and sandstone voussoirs.

Principal (east) elevation has four windows at each floor (those to breakfront are closely set with balconette detailed as parapet and supported on moulded corbels to first floor; walling has stop-end-chamfered corners, moulded sill course over stringcourse and moulded stringcourses to first floor impost level; apex has three roundels inset with figurative carving, high-relief sculptural panel of King William III on horseback at the Battle of the Boyne in moulded frame over inscribed date “1690;” ground floor windows have polychromatic relieving arches (set between balconette corbels) and are separated by single crocketed column with polished granite shaft; first floor window hoodmoulds are sprung from crocketed imposts.

South elevation is blank with central chimneybreast containing date plaque inscribed: “Orange Hall / 1869.”

Rear elevation is abutted centrally by modern extension; exposed section is blank.

North elevation is detailed as south but without date plaque; ground floor right end has square-headed three-light timber casement with metal grille.

Setting:-
Situated in tarmac parking lot enclosed by steel gate and railings over splayed rendered plinth; set back from Mountjoy Road to east and Sedan Avenue to south at the northwest corner of the intersection of those two roads (Sedan Avenue becomes Drumragh Avenue to the east of Mountjoy Road).

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Sandstone
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The building is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1905-6. The date stone on the central chimneybreast is inscribed ‘Orange Hall/1869’.

Valuation Revisions records the ‘Orange Hall’ (1867-1901). The occupier is the ‘Trustees of the Protestant Hall’ and the property is entered as a ‘house, offices and land’, valued at £31.10s.

A local newspaper the “Tyrone Constitution’, gives some details. A letter was written to the editor in 1869 in protest against the planned hall; the argument made against the proposal was ‘… [that] we want no exclusively sectarian institution of this sort built here…’. It seemed to have been the cause of a heated debate amongst the residents of Omagh. (1869, Fri 1st Jan).

The architects of the Orange Hall are Loach & Wilmot, as seen in the following extract; ‘…the design has been prepared in accordance with the established reputation of Messers Loach & Wilmot…of Londonderry & Dublin. Mr Samuel McClean of Omagh is the contractor’. (1869, Friday 20th, August,). By February of 1870 it is reported in the newspaper that ‘…the building already has reached a considerable erection’. (1870, 11th February).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/36 –Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1/5 –Town Plan of Omagh (189?)
7. PRONI VAL/12/F/7/7/1- Valuation Revisions (1930-35)

Secondary Sources

1. Tyrone Constitution. Friday 1st, January, 1869.
2. Tyrone Constitution. Friday 20th, August, 1869
3. Tyrone Constitution. Friday, February 11th, 1870

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A detached symmetrical two-storey sandstone Victorian Orange Hall, dated 1869. The original exterior has survived as minor example of Ruskinian Gothic style and ornamentation. Ornamentation includes a sculptural panel of King William on horseback over the date 1690, which occupied the apex of the principal elevation’s breakfront; while the date plaque “Orange Hall / 1869” is positioned on the side elevation facing Sedan Avenue. Although alterations have been made and a modern extension to the rear constructed, the hall remains as a significant example of civic architecture of a robust and municipal style.