Portview Trading Estate

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A brick four-storey, multi-bay former spinning mill with attached single-storey engine house, all erected by Jaffe Brothers in 1911 for the production of flax tow and now used by a wide variety of small business enterprises.
These two buildings form part of a larger complex comprising five units: (1) Block A, (2) Block B, (3) Engine House, (4) Block C, and (5) Block D.

Block A
A three-storey, multi-bay building aligned N-S along the E side of the premises. Three-bay sawtooth roof clad with profiled sheeting (asbestos or fibre cement) and is a later addition to the original flat roof of the floor below. Skylights along west-facing pitches. This upwards extension runs the entire length of the building except for the two bays at its S end. Cast-metal down pipes. Walls of brick with a sandstone-coped brick cornice and shallow blocking course over, also coped with sandstone. This detailing extends around all but the N elevation.
The W elevation faces toward Block B and is upwards of 18 bays long. Miscellaneous doors and windows to GF and windows to FF. Many of the windows retain their original 5x4-pane metal-frames and are set in segmental heads with sandstone cills. A few windows have been replaced or infilled. There is a FF loading door with jib half-way along. The SF windows are 1x2-paned and have flat concrete heads. Two footbridges run across from Block B, entering between FF and SF levels.
The yard between blocks A and B is cobbled and there is also a large metal weighbridge set into the ground at the Newtownards Rd end of this elevation.

The S gable is 7 openings wide. The GF has three landscape windows, all sheeted over (with photographs of the mill when operational) and roller-shutter door at right. All the FF windows have a single-pane bottom half and 3x2-pane upper half.
The E elevation could not be inspected in detail but appears to have windows detailed as the W elevation.
The N gable is blank. There was originally a single-storey extension at this end, only the ghost of which is now evident.

Roof: Flat concrete and profiled asbestos/fibre-cement.
Rainwater goods: Cast metal downpipes.
Doors: Roller shutters.
Windows: 5x4-pane metal frames.

Block B
A four-storey, multi-bay building aligned N-S down the middle of the premises. Flat concrete roof with sandstone-coped blocking course all around. Walls of brick with sandstone-coped brick cornice around base of blocking course. A sandstone-coped brick cornice between SF and TF doubles as a common sandstone cill course to the top floor. These two cornices extend around all elevations but the N one. Cast-metal down pipes from parapet gutters.
The principal elevation faces E towards Block A and is upwards of 30 bays long. The left-hand bay contains a stairwell and has two small windows at GF and a large 4x5 metal-framed window to each of the upper floors. Above the top window is a circular dressed sandstone date stone reading "1911". Miscellaneous doorways and windows to GF and windows to upper floors. A covered metal-and-concrete footbridge runs across to the S end of this elevation at SF level from block A. A metal-clad stairwell and second covered footbridge have been added further along. At the N end of this elevation is an open steel fire escape ladder, accessed through doors in the end opes.
The N gable is three opes wide. All are windows save for a roller-shutter door at GF middle (possibly a later insertion).
The E elevation has regularly-spaced windows to all floors, but could not be inspected in detail.
The S gable has three windows and a door to GF, four windows to FF and three windows to SF and TF. Most of the windows have 4x5-pane metal frames with shallow segmental heads and sandstone cills. The blocking course at this end has a scalloped parapet. Attached metal letters at right-hand end of FF read 'Portview Trade Centre'.

Roof: Flat concrete.
Rainwater goods: Cast metal downpipes.
Doors: Roller shutters.
Windows: 4x5-pane metal frames.

Engine House
A single-storey over basement former engine room which wraps around the SW corner of block B. Flat concrete roof with blocking course around; top of wall is coped with sandstone blocks. Walls also of brick with sandstone-coped brick cornice around base of blocking course. Cast-metal down pipes from parapet gutters. There is a raised section to the roof, the function of which is uncertain; it may have been a rope drive from the engine to machinery inside the mill.
E elevation contains entrance accessed by flight of granite steps with brick sides coped with chamfered granite blocks. Metal tubular steel handrails added. Double-leaf semi-glazed doors with semi-glazed side lights and rectangular overlight above which is a dressed sandstone infill to a semicircular brick head with dressed sandstone drip mould. The blocking course is curved over door head and is embellished with scrolled sandstone stop ends.
The S elevation has a large semi-circular spoked timber window to centre, with sandstone drip mould and sandstone cill. At ground level is a small segmental-headed spoked-timber window (which presumably illuminates the basement). The wall at this level is painted. Cast-iron cartwheel protectors at both ends of this elevation read: "Union/ Foundry/ Belfast".
The W elevation has three regularly-spaced and similarly detailed high and low level windows.
N elevation not inspected.

Roof: Flat concrete.
Rainwater goods: Cast metal downpipes.
Doors: Semi-glazed timber.
Windows: Arched painted timber.

Block C
A single-storey nine-bay brick building with sawtooth corrugated-asbestos roofs. All openings have flat concrete heads and the windows have concrete cills.

Block D
A single-storey brick building of trapezoidal plan. Brick walls with advanced purple-brick base course and brick blocking course around flat concrete roof. E and N elevations have brick cornice topped with sandstone coping blocks across base of blocking course.
Large square-headed shop fronts to E and S elevations (all with roller shutters). N elevation formerly had segmental-headed openings, most of which are now infilled with brick or otherwise modified. W elevation is blank.
Cast-iron cartwheel guard at SE corner reads "Gregg, Sons & Phenix [sic]/ Union Foundry/ Belfast".

Setting:
The S end of the premises is bounded by Newtownards Road (given over to shops hereabouts). Its E side is bounded by the back yards of a two-storey terrace of houses along Witham Street. Its N side is bounded by a steel security fence along Carew Street, with a small two-storey terrace at its NW end. Its W side is bounded by a former industrial premises (formerly occupied by Messrs Shorts).

Historical information

Construction of this mill complex began in 1911 and was completed later that year or early in the following year. The Valuation revision book entry for 1911 notes "Site of mill (in progress)". The 1912 entry notes a "Spinning Mill" belonging to the Jaffe Spinning Company, with a rateable valuation of £1150. The first entry in the company accounts is dated 3 Feb 1912, confirming that production had begun by then. A date stone on Block B reads "1911".
The plot chosen for the new factory is shown as undeveloped ground on the 1902 OS map and was surrounded by terraces of houses on all sides. However, the terrace along its Newtownards Road frontage had been demolished by 1911, possibly to make way for the new factory.
The mill was erected for the spinning of flax tow and yarn by the Jaffe Brothers, linen exporters of Bedford St, Belfast. During the First World War, munitions were also produced.
The 1919 OS map captions the premises as "Jaffe Spinning Mills (linen)" and shows two mill buildings aligned parallel with one another (blocks A and B), an engine house and chimney, and another building on the main road (block D).
Around 1920, Messrs Mackies appear to have taken over the enterprise; James Mackie signs off the accounts from that year onwards and it remained in Mackie hands until its closure. The name of its operator changes to the Strand Spinning Co and the name of the mill to the Strand Spinning Mill.
Mackies specialised in the production of textile machinery and were based at the Albert Foundry on Springfield Rd, Belfast. They may have been responsible for the munitions' production during the war and decided to diversify into textile production after it ended.
In 1926, the company purchased a plot of ground for £650 along the west side of their premises; this included several buildings, one of which was the Princess Cinema. It was on that plot that a block of sawtooth-roofed single-storey brick sheds was erected. It is shown along with the aforementioned buildings on the 1931 OS map; the premises are now captioned "Strand Spinning Mills (linen)". There is no change to the buildings' footprint on the 1938 edition of this map.
During or shortly after the Second World War, the Strand Mill also began producing rayon and nylon filament as well as yarn spun from flax tow.
At some point, a floor was added to the roof of Block A (it is not on an earlier 20th C drawing of the mill which is reproduced on that building's road gable). It is uncertain, without further research, whether this storey was added when Mackies took over c.1920 or sometime later.
The mill complex ceased production in the early 1980s and was subsequently converted into small units for various business enterprises under the umbrella of the Portview Trading Estate.

References - Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/8/30/5/59. OS 1:1056 map, Belfast sheet 32 (1902).
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/3. Valuation revision book, p.48 (1906-15).
3. Belfast & Provincial Street Directories: 1911 (p.452), 1912 (p.559), 1919 (p.535), 1921-22 (p.555), 1952 (p.477), 1953 (p.485), 1981 (p.339), and 1986 (p.333).
4. PRONI D3964/K/3-6. Yearly accounts of Jaffe Spinning Co and Strand Spinning Co Ltd, 1912-30.
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/6. Valuation revision book, p.54 (1915-30).
6. PRONI OS/10/3/4/11/2. Second edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 4-11 (1919).
7. PRONI OS/10/3/4/11/3. Third edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 4-11 (1931).
8. PRONI OS/10/3/4/11/4. Fourth edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 4-11 (1938).

References - Secondary sources:
1. Wikipedia entry on Otto Jaffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Jaffe).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Architecturally, this three and four-storey mill and attached engine house is typical of late 19th and early 20th century spinning mills, being constructed of brick, having regular fenestration to all floors, and a modicum of embellishment in the brickwork''s detailing. A significant amount of the mill''s fabric appears to be original and largely intact. The various floors were used for sequential parts of the spinning process. The engine house indicates how the machinery was driven and the fact that it abuts the mill indicates the direct drive between engine and machinery. Its structural system is also of interest as it appears to comprise flat concrete ceilings supported on exposed I-beams, as opposed to the more common brick jack arches.
Historically, the mill is of interest in being of relatively late date; most of Belfast's spinning mills date from the mid/later 1800s and it''s links with the Jaffe Brothers and Mackies are also of note. The mill is of economic importance in giving employment to local people for many decades. Now converted into small units for various business enterprises and being one of the few spinning mills on the Co Down side of the Lagan, it is of significant local interest.