International Research Centre for Experimental Physics

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A large rustic brick building in a modern style with neo-Georgian elements consisting of flat-roofed interlocking three-dimensional blocks of varying heights with a tall, canted entrance tower, constructed to the designs of John MacGeagh. Construction started in early 1958 but did not complete until April 1962 when it was officially opened by The Queen Mother. Located within the grounds of the main campus of Queen’s University, to the immediate south of the South Wing Extension of the main Lanyon Building, (the Old Physics Building - HB26/27/060), where the entrances of both old and new buildings align. The Sir William Whitla Hall (opened in 1949, to designs by John MacGeagh - HB26/27/067) is located to the immediate West with the single-storey flat-roofed South Dining Hall in between. The glass houses at the rear of The Palm House (HB26/27/003) in Botanic Gardens back onto the SE side of the site.

There are three main elements – (A) the long E-W block, (B) the N-S block located at the Whitla Hall end, and (C) the two storey lecture theatre at the SE end of the N-S block. A large modern extension now infills the former three-sided void between the blocks at the rear (refer to block diagram 003a).

The building is constructed of a steel frame encased in concrete and with reinforced concrete floors & roofs. Infilled panels of brick cavity wall construction with hand-made sand-faced rustic facing bricks. Clipsham stone surrounds to windows and doorways with reconstituted stone copings. Now part of The School of Mathematics and Physics, the building operates as IRCEP – International Research Centre for Experimental Physics – Physics & Astronomy at Queen’s University.

Materials:
Roof: Flat roofing membrane with parapet walls
Walls: Rustic brick in English garden wall bond, Clipsham stone surrounds, reconstituted stone copings
Windows: Replacement aluminium multi-pane double-glazed / Planar glazing to tower / PVC multipane to rear / top-hung metal to rear
RWGs: Cast iron downpipes & hoppers / painted metal downpipes & hoppers

Front Elevation (N):
Long façade facing North and aligned approximately E-W, composed of several elements, all with parapet walls onto flat roofs; from left to right - a two storey block with curved walls and first floor level set back from main façade, a four storey canted entrance tower, and a long three storey block on right side with a fourth storey set back from the main façade. The latter continues past the end of the three storey section at the W end. Further storey set back from tower roof, and similar on right side, giving access to roof. Lower ground floor level is semi-exposed from pedestrian walkway with walls and railings and steps leading down to walkway at lower level.
Flat roof to all blocks. Flat reconstituted coping stones to all parapet walls at roof level.
All windows are replacement aluminium multi-pane double glazed windows with Clipsham stone surrounds with integrated cills, with the exception of the lower ground floor windows which have plain reveals and an exposed reconstituted stone lintel. Planar glazing panels to window openings in tower.
Blue engineering brick plinth to lower ground floor level. Plain brick string course above windows on lower ground level. Slightly advanced brick piers between lower ground floor windows.
Right side of tower has square cast iron downpipes and decorative cast iron hoppers draining from opes in parapet roof; left side has circular section painted metal downpipes with rectangular painted metal hoppers.
Reproduction pendant lights attached to wall of N façade. Various rooflights, vents and services on surface of flat roofs (not seen from ground level at time of survey).

From left to right – narrow two storey bay with central double doors on lower ground floor level and large window opening above within surround and with ‘panelled’ stone infill between storeys, walls narrow slightly on upper level with chamfered stone at edges; two storey curved walling with no openings; two storey section with six large window openings on both lower ground and ground floor levels, further storey set back from main façade with three large window openings and an advanced section of blank walling.
To the right, a four storey canted entrance bay with entrance on north face with tall planar glazed window above. Similar tall windows on E and W canted faces, rising from ground floor level. Advanced plain square brick panels to each face above windows. Chamfered edges to all corners rising from lower ground level to roof. Main entrance flanked by tall plain modern painted rendered engaged columns. Level access to main entrance. Continuous plain stone string course at lower ground level head height and at floor level between lower ground and ground floor levels. Fifth storey, on top of tower and set back, has a single window opening on N side front face, and a door opening on north face at rear of tower.
On right side of tower is a long three storey block with a further storey set back from the main façade, with thirteen window openings to each level. Continuous string course at cill level of lower ground level with separate reconstituted stone cills. Window opening on first floor level at extreme right has a projecting half-balcony of stone with square-framed opes (two rows of five) along the front (former door opening now a window opening). This whole panel on first floor is recessed by half a brick. Plain stone lintels to window openings on set-back second floor level.

Concrete path to lower ground floor level walkway, between front façade of building and retaining wall, concrete steps down with metal railings. Walls and railings onto pedestrian walkway are rustic brick built in Flemish bond with large reconstituted stone coping stone and metal railings above. Pedestrianized area along north façade running from E to W.

Side elevation (E):
The East face of the entrance tower is abutted by a three storey block. The E elevation of the block has a bricked-up opening on left side of second floor level and one below on first floor level with a stone surround and infilled opening. In turn, this is abutted by a two storey block which curves in plan towards the north; the curved wall has three window openings on each level. There is a tall square block which rises above the entrance tower on the SE side. Fifth floor level (on roof of tower and set back) has three high-level window openings with double timber doors between the first and second windows from left side. Modern extension is full five storeys high on left side.

Rear Elevation (S):
The South face of the long E-W block (A) is abutted by a large modern three storey extension (built C.2006) which infills the inner corner formed by the E-W block (A) and the N-S block (B).
Rear elevation of E-W block exposed only to extreme right side; from left to right – three storey block with three window openings on ground and first floor levels - windows to ground floor are multi-pane PVC, first floor level are aluminium, lower ground floor level not seen at time of survey. Lower two storey block has three window openings on ground floor level with top hung metal windows. Lower ground floor level appears to be abutted by a flat roofed single storey extension (not seen at time of survey). Then the curving section has four window openings to both lower ground and ground floor levels, all four-pane aluminium with top-hung bottom panes.
The south face of the entrance tower rises above the roof of the infill extension and has one small window opening at high level (type not seen).
The south elevation of the N-S Block (B) and the south elevation of the lecture theatre © face onto the boundary with Botanic Gardens, with the large infill extension on right.
The N-S block (B) has a two storey block (lower ground and ground floor levels) on left side which wraps around the corner, linking the W elevation with the S. This block has the same four-pane aluminium windows as on the left side of the infill extension. Set back from this lower block is a narrow four storey block (with one window opening on each level with multi-pane aluminium windows, some with top-hung openings) and then on right side is the two-storey high lecture theatre ©. The S face of the lecture theatre has three large window openings with multi-pane aluminium windows which are separated by V-shaped brick projections supporting a continuous reconstituted stone flat coping canopy. Small ventilation opes above each opening with chamfered brick cills and terracotta ventilation bricks. Detail below windows not seen at time of survey. Right side of block is chamfered/built on an angle.

Side elevation (W):
From left to right – blank end façade of E-W block (A), then advanced end façade of E-W three storey block with one opening on each level (window on first floor level has same half-balcony detail as on extreme right side of E-W block). Then three storey block (B) has a lower ground floor level which is semi-exposed from pedestrian walkway with a brick retaining wall with reconstituted stone coping and metal railings and metal steps leading down to a walkway. Façade has multiple window openings, similar to the E-W block (A). Second floor level is set back and extends past the end of the two storey section towards the south, again with multiple window openings. On right side there is a low two storey block (lower ground and ground floor levels) which wraps around the corner, linking the W elevation with the S with four window openings on ground floor, lower ground floor not seen at time of survey.
E façade of the three storey block (B) onto flat roof of lecture theatre © has a single opening to right side on third floor level.

Service road and car parking located along south boundary with access onto University Road on W side. Brick wall in Flemish bond with flat reconstituted coping stones and wide piers with metal railings between, running along S boundary with Botanic Gardens.

Historical information

The new physics building at Queen’s University Belfast was designed, in his characteristic neo-Georgian idiom, by noted local architect John MacGeagh. The building was designed in 1955 and constructed between 1958 and 1962, during a period of rapid growth for the university and of increasing commitment to research and study in the discipline of physics.

Queen’s College, Belfast was founded in 1845 together with two other Queen’s Colleges at Cork and Galway, as part of a government plan to extend university education in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin, was then controlled by the established church and, as such, was not acceptable to Catholics or Presbyterians (Trinity excluded non-Anglicans from Scholarship, Fellowship or appointment as professors until 1873).

The new colleges, linked together as the Queen’s University in Ireland in 1850, were to provide education on a non-sectarian basis and Queen’s College, Belfast attracted students from all denominations. Almost from the start, Queen’s had recurring issues in finding sufficient accommodation, both for social facilities and teaching work, as numbers of students steadily grew from the 90 matriculated students in 1849. The college could not expand freely, being restricted by the limitations of the site and low levels of government financial support, and after the construction of a medical block, library, gymnasium and engineering classroom in the 1860s and 70s, no further building took place until the end of the century, when laboratories and a students’ union were added to the site.

However, Queen’s was raised to the status of an independent university in 1908 and, as a consequence, its annual income was increased. This led to an increase in teaching staff, across the university including the physics department. Physical sciences had formerly been categorised under the professorship of Natural Philosophy, but 1909 saw the introduction of the title, ‘Professor of Physics’, William Blair Morton being the first to hold this position.

The government also made a grant of £60,000 for capital spending which facilitated a building programme including the construction of a physics block (now known as the ‘old physics building’). The new block was designed by William Henry Lynn, who was successful in a competition at the age of 82 and was constructed behind what is now known as the Lanyon building, forming the south-eastern side of the quadrangle. The contractors were Laverty & Sons of Belfast and the block cost £31,361. Physics, which had formerly been housed in the north end of the Lanyon building, moved into the new block in 1913.

The site currently occupied by the new physics building was vacant until WW1, when the land was appropriated to build a military hospital. In November 1914, the UVF offered to provide a hospital in Belfast, raising funds by subscription. The military hospital was initially established in the Exhibition Hall in Botanic Gardens (now gone), but permission was granted by Queen’s University to build new structures on land that they owned adjacent to the hall and gardens. The hospital was extended into the university grounds in 1915 and was again extended in 1917, on both occasions to the designs of R J Calwell. The hospital provided treatment for soldiers fighting on the fronts in France and Belgium and later in the war, from Gallipoli, Salonica and the Middle East, also containing a workshop which made artificial limbs. After the war ended, the wooden buildings continued in use as a military hospital until 1926 and were then put to use by the university. They were finally completely demolished in 1955 as the ground was prepared for the construction of the new physics building.

By the 1920s numbers of students had increased to 1,000 placing further pressure on accommodation, and the university, within its financial parameters, increased its estate both by acquiring existing buildings in the vicinity of Queen’s and building new ones such as the Institute of Pathology on the site of the Royal Victoria Hospital. With partition in 1921, came the hope of increased resources for ‘the university of Northern Ireland’, but in the short term the university continued to be underfunded relative to comparable universities in Great Britain. The university senate and academic council nonetheless began, in the late 1930s, to draw up a programme of expansion. This had to be laid aside with the outbreak of the war, work on the Whitla Hall pausing in the early 1940s. In 1942, with the expectation that student numbers would rise after the war, the buildings committee worked out a detailed plan for the development of the UVF site, which entailed the acquisition of some additional land from the botanic gardens for a new department of chemistry (one quarter of an acre was acquired after protracted negotiations in 1948). The plan to build a chemistry building on the site was later dropped in favour of physics, perhaps as a result of the increased prominence of physics as a study and research discipline after the war.

By the late 1930s, the physics department had attracted a number of highly talented staff, who were to make important contributions to the physical sciences (Harry Massie, Samuel Francis Boys, James Hamilton, Paul Peter Ewald and Richard Buckingham being among the most notable names). Unfortunately, most of this cohort dispersed in the 1940s to carry out war work and did not return. However, two strong personalities did remain at Queen’s and took an active part in supervising the construction of the new physics building: Professor Karl George Emeléus (1901-1989) and Dr Robert Harbinson Sloane (Reader) (b.1911) an under-recognised researcher in the field of experimental conduction of electricity in gasses at low pressures (the readership in physics was created following the bequest of Queen’s benefactor Henry Musgrave d.1922).

Karl George Emeléus (1901-1989), London-born experimental physicist, was appointed a lecturer at Queen’s in 1927 and remained there, (from 1933 as the second physics professor to be appointed at Queen’s, and ultimately as dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology) until his retirement in 1966. He was a world authority on the conduction of electricity through fields of ionised gases or plasmas and was widely admired as an outstanding lecturer, who had counted among his students John Stewart Bell (see above) and David Robert Bates, both of whom came close to being awarded the Nobel prize in their different fields. Among Emeléus’ many honours were CBE, fellow of the Institute of Physics, MRIA, fellow of the American Physical Society and numerous honorary degrees, as well as appointment to the government’s Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee. A lecture theatre in the old physics building bears his name as a memorial.

Following WW2, the government provided some long-awaited recognition of Queen’s position and needs by greatly increasing the annual grant and providing large sums for capital expenditure. This, coupled with a considerable increase in private donations, allowed the university to enter a period of almost continuous growth with a significant expansion in student numbers, lectureships and in the construction of university buildings. This expansion took place or was planned largely during the Vice-Chancellorship of two men, Sir David Keir (1939-49) and Sir Eric Ashby (1950-59) who have been commemorated in the names of built structures elsewhere at Queen’s, both completed in the 1950s-60s. Sir David Keir outlined in 1948 the university’s duty to contribute to the post-war reconstruction of the country by substantially increasing student numbers, in particular undertaking an increase of ‘100% in the output of graduates in the scientific schools’. New courses in physics were introduced in 1947 and the academic staff of Queen’s was enlarged by 90% in the 1950s.

The first major building to be completed in the post-war period was the Whitla Hall, the designs by John MacGeagh and Edward Maufe having been approved in 1936, following a legacy left by Sir William Whitla, former Professor of Materia Medica. The opening of the Whitla Hall in 1949 marked the beginning of a programme of large-scale building which was to last two decades. A science and technology centre on the Stranmillis/Malone roads originally intended to accommodate engineering, chemistry and physics, the David Keir building, opened in 1959. Between 1950 and 1962, the university added 425,000 sq ft to the university, considerably more than doubling its size.

John MacGeagh, the architect of the Whitla Hall and the new physics building, has been praised in Paul Larmour’s various retrospectives, as a ‘perfectionist in brickwork’ who, as one of the most respected figures in Ulster architecture, has left Northern Ireland a ‘fine legacy’. MacGeagh is remembered for ‘thoroughness of design and attention to detail’ and the neo-Georgian idiom in which he often designed. The Whitla Hall (designed with Edward Maufe) is perhaps his most celebrated work, but he was also responsible for several other buildings at Queen’s University including the School of Geology, and the main library tower (now remodelled), as well as more minor structures such as the tower and archway on the N side of the quadrangle. MacGeagh is also well-known as the designer of the north and south transepts of St Anne’s cathedral and several noted churches and church halls.
It was during the post-war period that the physics department hosted its most illustrious student, John Stewart Bell (1928-1990). Bell graduated in Experimental Physics in 1948, having worked as a lab technician in the physics department from the age of 16. During his time at Queen’s, Bell identified defects in quantum theory, the addressing of which were to define his career. Bell left Belfast in 1949 and ultimately moved to CERN in Geneva where he worked for 30 years until his death in 1990. In 1988 Queen’s awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science for distinction as a theoretical physicist, Bell having originated ‘Bell’s theorem’, an exceptional contribution to quantum mechanics. It is believed that Bell had been nominated for a Nobel prize at the time of his death and the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a group of physicists who worked on Bell inequalities and the experimental validation of Bell’s theorem. Bell has been dubbed one of the top ten physicists of the 20th century by the Institute of Physics. Among many accolades and memorials in Belfast and internationally, a lecture theatre in the new physics building is named after him.

The involvement of physicists had been extremely significant in the Second World War (sometimes known as ‘the physicists war’, as opposed to WW1 (‘the chemists’ war’). Physics was seen to play a huge part in winning the war, British academic physicists making a significant contribution to the development of the atom bomb. Radar and radio, vital to wartime communications, also required physics trained personnel. With the development of peacetime uses for nuclear and atomic science after the war, such as nuclear power (including plans to build a nuclear power station in NI) and radiation therapy, and the anxieties generated by the Cold War arms race, the training of a new generation of physicists was seen as a priority. The UK government had recognised towards the end of the war ‘the importance of the role of the physicist both in war and in peace’ and the need to increase the provision for the teaching of physics (Hansard) and in 1945, a new position of Chair of mathematical physics was created at Queen’s.

In 1954 the University decided that the projected David Keir building, should house engineering and chemistry, and that a separate building was required for physics. John MacGeagh was requested to provide designs, which he did in 1955, a perspective painting of the design being exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1956 (this painting was donated to HERoNI in 2023). However, building work did not proceed for some years. Clarkson’s history of Queen’s blames the ‘agonisingly slow progress’ of the building on physics lecturers ‘continually changing their minds’, however it is clear that there were also considerable technical difficulties which held up the works at the start and that some of the amendments that were carried out were done so in order to keep the scheme within budget.

A shortage of scientists, particularly physicists, was a concern in the mid-1950s, when it was proposed that Ulster could start training scientists and technicians to accelerate the nuclear power programme for the UK. The British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden had talks with Lord Brookeborough in 1955 on this topic out of which was expected to come a request that Queen’s University expand its physics department and start a ‘nuclear energy research and training department’. The vice-Chancellor Dr Eric Ashby had supplied a report on the output of physicists and scientists to Sir Anthony Eden which made it clear that NI was doing its part and that Queen’s intended to expand their facilities. The expansion of the physics department was welcomed by Brookeborough, who spoke of the ‘great shortage’ of physicists everywhere, particularly for careers in nuclear science.

In April 1956, the Duke of Edinburgh was to have laid the foundation stone for the new physics building during a visit to the province but he merely visited the physics department instead, as there were problems with getting works started. The building is constructed upon compact sand and when the site was being prepared it was found that the water table was above the intended level of the basement floors. This necessitated extracting the water from the sand in a process of ‘de-watering’ before the foundations could be laid.

Construction work proper commenced in 1958 and local newspapers showed the steel framework of the building under construction in June and September of that year. The building was part of a wider post-war regeneration of Belfast and the construction of the physics building, Transport House, the Electricity Board offices in Danesfort and several other substantial steel and concrete structures led the Belfast Telegraph to note that Belfast’s ‘war scars’ were healing.

The original design of the building had to be changed to keep the cost within budget and during the construction work modifications were made, allowing a further £100,000 to be saved on the original tender figure. Cost restrictions meant that there were no ‘ornamental embellishments’ as were seen on the Whitla Hall but it was hoped to one day add ‘a suitably placed contemporary sculpture’.

The 75,000 square foot (original size) building was steel-framed and floors, roofs, foundations and retaining walls were of reinforced concrete. Wall infilling was of brick with a cavity construction, giving walls that are almost two feet in thickness. The facing bricks are hand-made and sand-faced and Clipsham stone (Lincolnshire) was used for door and window surrounds (similar to materials used for the Whitla Hall) and reconstructed stone for copings. Interiors were originally decorated in grey with sapphire, red and white details.

The consulting engineers for the works were Oscar Faber & Partners of St Albans and many local suppliers were also used including: F B McKee of Shore Road, Belfast – main contractors; Harland & Wolff – structural steelwork; G W Haden & Sons of Linenhall St – heating and ventilation systems; S McGladery & Sons of Limestone Road – clay common bricks and J P Corry - timber. Windows (now replaced) were ‘purpose made’ metal windows by Crittall-McKinney who had premises in Monarch Parade, Belfast. The cost of the building, once equipped, was £814,000 and it was opened on 6th April 1962 by the Queen Mother.

The work was conducted under the supervision of the head of the physics department, Professor K G Emeléus and the Reader, Dr R H Sloane. However, it is Sloane’s amendments that are noted on the drawings for the building and Sloane in particular is said to have exerted ‘an enormous amount of effort persuading the architects of the needs of physicists and checking every detail of the work as it was performed’. The guidance of Emeléus and Sloane was acknowledged by John MacGeagh when the building was completed.

The building was well received in the local and architectural press, most comments relating to the harmonious relationship of the new building to the existing structures on the site. The Whitla Hall and the physics building were said to ‘blend very well with the Victorian Tudor of the original Queen’s College building which they adjoin. They belong to their own time but they do not put the older building right out of countenance and that is good practice in architecture’. A favourable description in the Irish Builder commented on the building’s ‘sculptural form’ and noted that, ‘the contrast offered to the perpendicular Gothic of the main building is complete, but in proportions and material finish there is kinship. The new building sits comfortably and has been made to recede quietly, leaving the parent building still the dominant and central feature.’

The building features a distinctive entrance tower, towers being a traditional feature of academic physics laboratories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the height facilitating experiments on pendula and freefalling bodies (Edinburgh University is said to have been the last physics building (dating from 1907) in Britain to have incorporated a tower). Both old and new physics buildings at Queen’s incorporate a tower structure, and these are certainly at least partly a nod towards the architecture of the Lanyon building. However, there were plans for a frictionless pendulum (Foucault’s pendulum) to be suspended from a point above the entrance hall in the new physics building entrance tower. When set in motion, this would have demonstrated the rotation of the earth on a curved scale laid on the floor and observable from the surrounding curved staircase. However, this element of the design does not seem to have ever been implemented.

The new building had several unique features specific to its function: delivery points equipped with cranes and hoists were to enable heavy equipment to be brought into the building. The building was designed to be easily decontaminated from radioactive dust, with three distinct systems of mechanical ventilation. Electricity was supplied through a dual system from different city mains in order to preserve a supply in the event of mains failure or repairs and because of the nature of the research work at the university, the floors were designed for heavy loads. Professor Emeléus commented that the building had been designed to be as versatile as possible and to have ‘good mechanical stability and floor strength and good mechanical services’.

The main entrance of the building is on the north front with a secondary entrance on the west front that was for the use of the public attending lectures in the lecture theatre. The building comprised laboratories in the main section, with a lecture theatre at one end and a single-storey workshop block adjoining a curved link between old and new buildings. The ground floor and basement contained a library, staff offices and research laboratories and the large lecture theatre, while upper floors contained a further small lecture theatre, teaching laboratories, dark rooms, battery rooms and a glass blowing room.

By September 1962, there were 3,784 students at Queen’s. Professor Emeléus reported to the Belfast Association of Engineers, on their visit to the new physics building, that there were 1,000 physics students at the university, making it the largest department at Queen’s at the time (although many of these students would have been studying physics as part of another course). A noted graduate of physics at Queen’s, following the construction of the new building, was Sir David Bates (1916-1994), Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted in 1978 for his contributions to planetary and space science, who worked daily at Queen’s until his death in 1994. Bates set up the School of Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics at QUB in 1951 and is credited with driving the evolution of the department ‘into the world-renowned centre for theoretical atomic, molecular and optical physics that it became’ (Dalgarno). The 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry was given for work deriving directly from Bates’s seminal papers, and it is thought that Bates would have been similarly honoured if he had lived.

In 2004-5, a new International Research Centre for Experimental Physics (IRCEP) was added to the physics building at a cost of £9 million. The extension was designed by Belfast-based architects RPP and their project partners Sheppard Robson, specialists in research laboratory projects and the fifth largest architectural practice in the UK. A new 3,200 square metre four storey structure was inserted into the rear courtyard, linked to the existing building by a ‘slot’ atrium. Luxcrete floor panels were used to create ‘glass lens’ floors in a nod to the building’s 1950s/60s origins. As part of the scheme, the entrance tower was remodelled, entailing the removal of original features including windows, porch and walling. The new centre was officially opened in June 2005.

In 2010-11, the curved link between old and new physics buildings together with the attached workshop were demolished to provide a through pedestrian walkway linking the McClay library with the rest of the university precinct, following the restoration of the Elmwood Hall. The East-West link was designed by Park Hood, landscape architects, to provide a strong visual connection between the new library as ‘the effective heart of the university’, and other buildings within the precinct. The construction of a ramp alongside the old physics building was intended to go some way towards maintaining the connection between old and new physics buildings at first floor level. Consarc Conservation were appointed to carry out the repairs and alterations to the new and old physics buildings that were necessary as a result of the demolition work. A new end elevation was constructed to the truncated curved wing of the physics building using salvaged brick and Portland stone dressings.

Further changes have taken place in recent years. Windows to the main elevations have been replaced. Re-planning and refurbishment was carried out by Hamilton Architects c2016, entailing some minor changes to the internal layout. An open balcony to the W of the N elevation was also filled in at this time and an observatory was added to the roof which is concealed from view behind a parapet wall. However, the building continues in use as the physics department of Queen’s University, a testament to both the versatility that Professor Emeléus identified when it was built in 1962, and the harmonious quality of its architecture within the university setting.

References:
Primary Sources:

Northern Whig, 12th October 1910
Belfast Newsletter, 15th October 1910
Northern Whig, 22nd November 1912
Northern Whig, 28th October 1913
Belfast Newsletter, 17th November 1914
Belfast Newsletter, 2nd January 1915
Irish Builder, Vol 57, 3rd July 1915, p.306
Irish Builder, Vol 57, 9th October 1915, p.443
Belfast Newsletter, 27th November 1936
Belfast Newsletter, 23rd April 1937
Northern Whig, 18th May 1938
Hansard (Written Answers) 22nd February 1945 (https://hansard.parliament.uk/)
Belfast Telegraph, 1st April 1955 – image of UVF hospital being demolished
Belfast Telegraph, 10th March 1955
Northern Whig, 14th July 1955
Belfast Telegraph, 1st September 1955
HERoNI Signed and dated plans by John MacGeagh (1955)
Belfast Telegraph, 24th January 1956
Belfast Newsletter, 7th May 1956 – image of architect’s model and perspective drawing
Belfast Telegraph, 4th July 1956
Catalogue of the 188th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1956, p.72 (https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/)
Belfast Newsletter, 4th January 1957 – image of architect’s model
Belfast Newsletter, 6th March 1957
Belfast Telegraph, 18th December 1957
Belfast Newsletter, 12th June 1958 – image of steelwork frame
Belfast Telegraph, 26th June 1958
Belfast Telegraph, 22nd September 1958 – image of steelwork frame
Belfast Telegraph, 13th January 1961
Belfast Telegraph, 3rd April 1962 – image of new building and fitting for pendulum
Belfast Newsletter, 3rd April 1962 – image of new building and new lecture theatre
Belfast Newsletter, 5th April 1962
Belfast Telegraph, 6th April 1962 – images of opening by Queen Mother
Belfast Newsletter, 7th April 1962 – images of opening by Queen Mother and internal and external images, details of contractors.
Irish Builder, Vol 104, 14th April 1962, p282
Irish Builder, Vol 104, 28th April 1962, p328
Belfast Telegraph, 13th September 1962
Belfast Newsletter, 31st January 1963 – image of completed physics building
Larmour, P ‘The work of the late John MacGeagh, ARIBA’ Ulster Architect, June 1985, pp.9-12
Larmour P ‘A perfectionist in brickwork’ Perspective, March/April 1995, Vol 3 Iss 4, pp.53-55
‘A new era for physics at Queen’s’ Ulster Architect, Aug/Sept 2005 Vol 21, Iss 7, pp.36-41
Bunbury, A ‘East Meets West’ Perspective, Sept/Oct 2011, Vol 20, Iss 5, pp.44-53
Evans, D ‘Reformed church’ Perspective, Nov/Dec 2011, Vol 20, Iss 6, pp.42-46
Larmour, P ‘John MacGeagh: a retrospective’ Perspective, May/June 2015, Vol 24, Iss 3, pp.30-33

Secondary Sources:
Beckett, J C (1959) Queen’s: a short history of Queen’s College Belfast and the Queen’s University of Belfast. Belfast: Queen’s University of Belfast.
Brock, W H. and Meadows A J. (1977) ‘Physics, chemistry and higher education in the UK’ Studies in Higher Education, Vol 2, No 2, pp.109-124
Clarkson, L A (2004) A university in troubled times: Queen’s Belfast, 1945-2000. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
Dalgarno, A (2008) ‘David Robert Bates and the Belfast School of Physics’ in Jackson, A and Livingstone, D N (eds) Queen’s Thinkers: Essays on the intellectual heritage of a university. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Dictionary of Irish Architects - www.dia.ie
Dictionary of Irish Biography – www.dib.ie
Larmour, P (1995) Queen’s: an architectural legacy. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University.
Moody, T W and Beckett, J C (1959) Queen’s Belfast 1845-1949: the history of a university. London: Faber and Faber.
Walker, B M and McCreary, A (1994) Degrees of excellence: the story of Queen’s, Belfast, 1845-1995. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University.
Whitaker, A. ‘John Bell and the most profound discovery of science’ Physics World, 1st December 1998
Whitaker, A (2016) John Stewart Bell and twentieth century physics: vision and integrity. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
V. Authorship
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A large brick building in a modern style with neo-Georgian elements consisting of flat-roofed interlocking three-dimensional blocks of varying heights with a tall, canted entrance tower, constructed to the designs of John MacGeagh. The building was designed in 1955 and constructed between 1958 and 1962, during a period of rapid growth for the university and of increasing commitment to research and study in the discipline of physics. The involvement of physicists had been extremely significant in the Second World War as physics was seen to play a huge part in winning the war with British academic physicists making a significant contribution to the development of the atom bomb. Radar and radio, vital to wartime communications, also required physics trained personnel. A shortage of scientists, particularly physicists, was a concern in the mid-1950s, when it was proposed that Ulster could start training scientists and technicians to accelerate the nuclear power programme for the UK.
The building was officially opened by The Queen Mother in April 1962. The building is of similar style and detailing to The Sir William Whitla Hall (HB26/27/067), also by John MacGeagh which opened in 1949 and is located on its West side. MacGeagh is remembered for ‘thoroughness of design and attention to detail’ and the neo-Georgian idiom in which he often designed. The Whitla Hall, designed with Edward Maufe is perhaps his most significant work, but he was also responsible for several other buildings at Queen’s University including the School of Geology, and the main library tower (now remodelled), as well as more minor structures such as the tower and archway on the N side of the quadrangle. MacGeagh is also well-known as the designer of the north and south transepts of St Anne’s cathedral and several noted churches and church halls.
The building was part of a wider post-war regeneration of Belfast and the construction of the physics building, Transport House, the Electricity Board offices in Danesfort and several other substantial steel and concrete structures led the Belfast Telegraph to note that Belfast’s ‘war scars’ were healing. The 75,000 square foot (original size) building was steel-framed and floors, roofs, foundations and retaining walls were of reinforced concrete. Wall infilling was of brick with a cavity construction, giving walls that are almost two feet in thickness with facing bricks all hand-made and sand-faced with Clipsham stone around door and window surrounds - similar to the palette of materials used for the Whitla Hall adjacent. The work was conducted under the supervision of the head of the physics department, Professor K G Emeléus and the Reader, Dr R H Sloane. Sloane’s amendments are noted on drawings for the building and Sloane in particular is said to have exerted ‘an enormous amount of effort persuading the architects of the needs of physicists and checking every detail of the work as it was performed’. The guidance of Emeléus and Sloane was acknowledged by John MacGeagh when the building was completed. The physics department’s most illustrious student, John Stewart Bell (1928-1990) who graduated in Experimental Physics in 1948 is memorialised by the naming, after him, of a lecture theatre in the new physics building.
The building features a distinctive entrance tower with towers being a traditional feature of academic physics laboratories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the height facilitating experiments on pendula and freefalling bodies. The new building had several unique features specific to its function: delivery points equipped with cranes and hoists were to enable heavy equipment to be brought into the building. The building was designed to be easily decontaminated from radioactive dust, with three distinct systems of mechanical ventilation. Electricity was supplied through a dual system from different city mains in order to preserve a supply in the event of mains failure or repairs and because of the nature of the research work at the university, the floors were designed for heavy loads. Professor Emeléus commented that the building had been designed to be as versatile as possible and to have ‘good mechanical stability and floor strength and good mechanical services’.
The semi-circular cantilevered concrete staircase in the entrance tower is the main feature of interest internally and while there have been changes to the exterior such as the large infill courtyard extension to the rear and the loss of the majority of the original windows, the building retains the noted sculptural quality and original fabric and detailing, and importantly, massing. The Irish Builder refers to the successful marriage of new and old with the reference to the context of ‘The new building sits comfortably and has been made to recede quietly, leaving the parent building still the dominant and central feature’.
The building continues in use as the physics department of Queen’s University with the remodelling in 2004-5 of a new International Research Centre for Experimental Physics (IRCEP) a testament to both the versatility that Professor Emeléus identified when it was built in 1962, and the harmonious quality of its architecture within the university setting. A prominent yet respectful mid-twentieth century building located within the grounds of the main campus of Queen’s University, and a building of social and local interest.