Officers Mess

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-storey redbrick military building, dated 1899. Irregular on plan facing west with a symmetrical central block having pedimented entrance bay and portico flanked by pair of multi-bay wings. Extensively renovated and extended c.1990 with the replacement of all windows and most internal fabric. Set on an elevated site to the east of the A2 at the southern end of Palace Barracks.

Hipped natural slate roofs with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and several profiled redbrick chimneystacks. Moulded cast-iron guttering to overhanging sheeted eaves supported on carved brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Redbrick walling laid in stretcher bond with moulded brick string course to eaves and projecting brick plinth course. Segmental-headed windows openings with moulded brick architrave surrounds, red sandstone sills and replacement multi-pane timber sash windows.

Symmetrical central block is nine windows wide with a central entrance bay abutted by a balustraded entrance porch flanked by matching balustraded three-sided canted bays. Segmental dentilated pediment to raised central parapet wall formed in red sandstone containing carved red sandstone Royal coat of arms and date plaque below dentilated base stating: 'MDCCCXCIX'. Below the pediment is a Palladian window with red sandstone Doric entrablature and archivolt. The Doric portico has a front three-centred arch with round-headed arches to the cheeks, all formed in redbrick and red sandstone mouldings with a red sandstone heavy cornice and balustraded parapet above. Granite steps on all three sides to a tiled platform with a further Palladian arrangement to the principal entrance comprising; central round-headed door opening and square-headed sidelights with moulded redbrick architrave surrounds having replacement double-leaf timber panelled doors and overlight. The remainder of the central block has alternating single and paired window openings with the symmetrically placed three-sided canted bays having cornice and balustraded parapet matching the portico. The remaining wings also have alternating single and paired window openings with the south wing extending further than that to the north.

North side elevation is three windows wide with two segmental-headed door openings and replacement timber panelled doors.

Rear elevation is abutted by a central two-storey return, several single-storey projections and a modern two-storey L-plan wing to the south replicating the details of the front elevation.

The south side elevation is two windows wide with a single-bay side entrance porch and flight of stone steps.

Setting:
Set on an elevated site to the south of the A2 at the southern end of Palace Barracks in a landscaped
setting with front bitmac drive running along the front elevation.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick
Windows Replacement timber sash

Historical information

The barracks was constructed between 1894 and 1898 by various contractors, (Belfast Newsletter; First Survey Information) and is likely to have been designed by the War Office Architects department, based in London.

The officers’ mess bears the date 1899 and, according to First Survey Information, the building was completed in two phases, the contractors for phase 1 being Lowry of Belfast and for phase 2, Campbell, also of Belfast.

From the mid-1880s the British Army established the Kinnegar camp at Holywood as a training ground for regiments stationed in Belfast. The camp could accommodate more than 400 personnel under canvas. (Auld, p.129-30)

The Bishop’s Palace in Holywood, formerly the official residence of the Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore, fell vacant on the succession of Bishop William Reeves in 1886, who had a residence in Dunmurry. (Clergy of Down and Dromore, Part II, p.23; Brett, p.143) Attempts were made to sell the Palace and grounds but these proved fruitless until in 1890 an offer of £1,000 from the War Office was accepted. (Belfast Newsletter)

By 1891 the palace and grounds were being used for training by the Royal Irish Rifles and the site is recorded as a military barracks in valuation records of that year. (Annual Revisions) In 1893 work began on officers’ quarters and in 1894 the construction of barracks. By September 1896 the barracks were nearing completion and the old palace had been demolished. Four blocks which comprised accommodation for the men were already finished. The Belfast Newsletter described the scheme, which was pioneering in its day, “In all there will be nine blocks, constructed to quarter one regiment of infantry. Each block will afford accommodation for 84 men and two unmarried sergeants. A recreation establishment of the newest type is in course of construction which will contain lecture-room, coffee-room, billiard-room, and a canteen, with separate accommodation for corporals. The usual cookhouses, baths, and workshops, which appear to be very numerous, are in the course of erection. A sergeants’ mess establishment and guardhouses are being erected near the site of the central lodge of the old palace. The commanding officer’s quarters is a separate building and is situated at the south-west angle of the grounds. The officers’ quarters will accommodate twenty-seven officers, with mess establishment...An hospital is almost completed, with a medical officer’s residence adjoining, which is the first time in this part of the country that accommodation for a medical staff has been constructed in conjunction with a military hospital. There is also in course of construction quartermaster’s and warrant officers’ quarters and there will also be erected several blocks of buildings for the accommodation of married men. These houses will be erected at the north end of the park, along the side of the road known locally as Jackson’s Road. The buildings are lighted throughout with gas, supplied by the Holywood Gas Company Limited. The water is supplied by the Belfast Water Commissioners. The sanitary arrangements are perfect. Nothing has been left undone for the comfort and health of the men, who seem well pleased with their new quarters.” (Belfast Newsletter)

The records of a parliamentary debate of 1907, in which improving the accommodation at Holywood barracks was discussed, noted that, “There was much more difficulty in recruiting in Ireland than in any other part of the UK and therefore it was important to make the barracks in Ireland as attractive as possible.” (The Parliamentary Debates)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
4. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
5. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2E – Annual Revisions
7. Belfast Newsletter, 5th March 1887
8. Belfast Newsletter, 4th April, 1888
9. Belfast Newsletter, 31st October 1890
10. Belfast Newsletter, 15th June 1891
11. Belfast Newsletter, 25th September 1891
12. Belfast Newsletter, 3rd January 1893
13. Belfast Newsletter, 2nd January 1894
14. Belfast Newsletter, 30th September 1896
15. The Parliamentary Debates, 1907
16. First Survey Information, 1989

Secondary Sources

1. Auld, C. “Holywood Co Down, Then and Now” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002
2. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
3. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached two-storey redbrick military building, dated 1899. Irregular on plan facing west with a symmetrical central block having pedimented entrance bay and portico flanked by pair of multi-bay wings. The entrance bay is an notable piece of neo-classical late nineteenth-century design and generally the detailing reflects the robust character of the barracks as a whole. The floor plan and most of the original fabric survive. The barracks site is of interest as a purpose-built military complex of a relatively late date and as an example of developments in housing military personnel.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered it was previously recorded as HB23/17/012