Belmont Tower

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A gabled two-storey sandstone building in neo-Gothic style dating from 1892 to designs by architect Vincent Craig and constructed by local building firm Dixon & Campbell. Regular plan form facing north with three-stage open belfry tower to northeast end and two-storey rendered extension to rear, located at the corner of Belmont and Belmont Church roads.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled red-clay ridge tiles and raised stone verges. Projecting cornice supports ogee shaped cast-iron guttering discharging to circular downpipes. Scrabo sandstone chimneystack with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. Two circular metal ventilators to roof. Walling laid to un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with red Locharbriggs sandstone dressings, string course and projecting plinth. Lancet window openings with splayed sills and clear glazed square-paned leaded windows (unless otherwise stated).

The two-storey three-bay gabled principal elevation faces north with the tower to northwest corner. Paired windows to central bay and single windows to the first and third bay to ground floor. Large three-part plate-tracery window to centre bay of first floor having red sandstone apron with carved inscription; single trefoil windows to first and third bay having apron carved with the date ‘1890’. Small quatrefoil opening at high level to gable. The three-stage tower has a large segmental-arch headed door opening facing north, with Locharbriggs sandstone deep moulded hood and tympanum with the inscription: “Belmont Public Elementary School”. Square-headed diagonal-sheeted painted timber door opens to the paved front yard. Two-stage buttresses to corners. Lancet window to first stage to east. The second stage has a clock face to north and two square-headed windows to east. Open timber arcaded belfry with hipped slate roof and metal weathervane.

The east elevation consists of seven-bays with a single-bay two-storey rendered extension to south end and a projecting two-storey hipped natural slate roof stair-tower with metal finial to north. Modern single-storey flat-roof entrance outshot to first bay (south) with fully glazed side walls and a lancet door opening facing east with modern glazed door. Square-headed window to first floor with square-leaded stained glazing. The second, third and fourth bays form a gable with a square –headed window opening to third bay and two lancet winows to the second and fourth bays to ground floor. Three lancet openings to first floor with taller window to centre. The fifth bay has a lancet window to ground floor and square-headed window to first floor. Paired gables to sixth and seventh bays with lancet windows to each floor. Chimneystack with corbelled coping and clay chimney pots incorporated to sixth bay. The extension to south has single square-headed windows to first and second floor. The stair-tower has a paired square-headed window to ground floor and a two-part plate-tracery window to first floor with leaded stained glazing.

The west elevation has nine bays and a single-bay two-storey rendered extension to south. The first bay (north) has a lancet window to ground floor and a square-headed window to first floor. A gable to each of second, third and fourth bay with lancet windows to each floor. Chimneystack incorporated to second and fourth bay, with corbelled coping and clay chimney pots. The fifth bay has a lancet window to ground floor and square-headed window to first floor. The sixth, seventh and eighth bays form a gable with a square –headed opening to centre and two lancet openings to sixth and eighth bay to ground floor. Square-headed door opening to the last bay to south (ninth bay) with modern diagonal-sheeted door and fanlight opening onto a small platform and three steps; square-headed window to first floor. The modern extension to south has a small round opening to first floor and a small square-headed window opening to first floor.

The gabled two-storey rear elevation is rendered and faces south. Four modern circular windows to ground floor, two square-headed metal windows to first floor and a single circular window to attic.

The building is located within its own grounds with a landscaped and paved yard to north and a tarmac car park to east. Main pedestrian entrance to north onto Belmont road and a car entrance to east onto Belmont Church road. The site is enclosed by coursed, rock-faced sandstone walling topped by painted metal railings including some original cast iron railings to north and east; modern brick wall to south and fencing to west. Square stone piers support cast iron gates to main entrance and refurbished metal gate to car park.

Materials:
Roof natural slate roof
RWG cast iron
Walling un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone
Windows leaded clear glass/ metal framed

Historical information

Belmont Tower, a two-storey five-bay former schoolhouse located at the corner of the Belmont and Belmont Church Roads, was constructed in 1889-92. Prior to 1889 Belmont Primary School had been located in the grounds of Belmont Presbyterian Church (HB26/12/027A) in a schoolhouse that was first opened in 1863. The school continued to meet at the church site for over 25 years until the erection of the current building. The new school was necessary due to the growth in population of the area by the late-19th century. In the 1860s the original school had accommodated 81 pupils but in 1892-93 the new school was able to accommodate over 300 (Haines, p. 68).

The architect of the new school was Vincent Craig (1869-1925), a local architect who was articled to W. H. Lynn between 1885 and 1889 and who was the younger brother of Sir James Craig (the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland). One of Craig’s earliest independent contracts, Belmont Primary School was built in the Gothic Revival style, an uncharacteristically conservative design by the architect who was later recognised as one of the key proponents of the aesthetic Art Nouveau movement in the country. The Natural Stone Database records that Craig employed locally quarried Scrabo sandstone in the masonry of the building and utilised Scottish Locharbriggs sandstone as a secondary material. According to the Architect, the construction of the school was undertaken by the local building firm of Dixon & Campbell (The Architect, p. 1; DIA; Natural Stone Database).

The construction of the schoolhouse was completed in 1892. Larmour and Belmont Tower record that the school had been built in memory of Mary Ferguson of Sydenham House. Following her death in 1888, Mary’s widower Robert Ferguson donated £1,000 to the Belmont Presbyterian Church Committee in order to ‘build and furnish a school and enclose the ground as a memorial to my dear wife and to be named as such.’ The school was originally known as The Ferguson Memorial School and was administered under the state-managed National School System until after the partition of Ireland in 1922.

The Belmont Tower website records that the school was divided between its two storeys; the boy’s school occupied the ground floor whilst the girls school utilised the upper floor of the building. In 1890 the Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of ‘Belmont National School’ at £49 but this was increased to £69 upon the completion of the schoolhouse in 1892. The south extension of the school was added in 1910 by Thomas Houston (1873-1938), a local architect whose work ‘included hospitals, churches and commercial premises [although] he was primarily a domestic architect.’ The value of the school was increased to £76 in 1910 as a result of the extension (Larmour, p. 54; Belmont Tower; DIA).

The Ferguson Memorial School continued to be administered by the National School System until partition. In 1926 the school became the charge of Belfast Corporation’s Education Committee. The committee had been established under the 1923 Northern Ireland Education Act which transferred the care of schools to local authorities in the aftermath of partition. Following the transfer, the Ferguson Memorial School was renamed ‘Belmont Public Elementary School.’ The value of the school was increased to £190 under the First Revaluation of 1935 and was subsequently raised to £360 under the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

Belmont Public Elementary School was sold to the Belfast Education and Library Board in 1975 and was listed in the following year. The building continued to be utilised as a school in 1987 when Larmour described it as an ‘endearing little Gothic Revivalist school in buff sandstone with red dressings and an open belfried tower.’ By 1994 the building had fallen into a poor state of repair and in 1999 the school was deemed ‘surplus to requirements.’ The former Ferguson Memorial School was subsequently closed in May 1999. The building was saved from dereliction by the Old Belmont School Preservation Trust which was established in November 1999 and purchased the building in 2001 for £300,000. Having received funding from the Environment and Heritage Service and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the former school was restored and reopened in September 2004 by the Prince of Wales. Following the renovation the Ferguson Memorial School was renamed ‘Belmont Tower’ and is now used as a community centre providing a ‘venue for meetings, events, exhibitions for business, arts and community organisations’ (Larmour, p. 54; Belmont Tower).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1902)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1920-21)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1931)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2E-2H – Annual Revisions (1887-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/2-9 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/12/E/192/H/31/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1906-1935)
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/20 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/48 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. The Architect (28 Jun 1889)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1943)
11. First Survey Record – HB26/14/001 (1975)
12. First Survey Image – HB26/14/001 (No Date)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB26/14/001

Secondary Sources
1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987.
2. Haines, K., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects – http://www.dia.ie/
2. Natural Stone Database – http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=2512
3. Belmont Tower - http://www.belmont-tower.co.uk/History.html

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A gabled two-storey sandstone building in Gothic revival style dating from 1892 to designs of the prominent local architect Vincent Craig. Regular plan form facing north with three-stage open belfry tower to northeast end and two-storey rendered extension to rear, located at the corner of Belmont and Belmont Church roads. An good example of a Gothic Revival former school building that has become a landmark to the area. Recently restored in an appropriate manner, it has retained it's character, style and proportions externally and has been adapted internally, using a mixture of traditional and contemporary materials, to provide flexible accommodation for community use. The school was originally known as The Ferguson Memorial School and was administered under the state-managed National School System until after the partition of Ireland in 1922. It was built in memory of Mary Ferguson of Sydenham House