Tropical Ravine

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Multi-bay two storey red brick steel and glass Victorian Tropical Ravine (fernery), built in 1887 to designs by Charles McKimm and located in Belfast Botanic Gardens to the east of the Ulster Museum (HB26/27/075) and south of the Turner Palm House (HB26/27/003). Rectangular on plan facing south-west and built into a slope to accommodate a sunken ravine.

Constructed on the site of an earlier orchid, fern and lily house (incorporating many of the original features which now form the temperate section), it was extended to north-east in 1900 to form a stove section and later renovated in 1979 resulting in the loss of the glazed timber roof structure.

Red brickwork walls in English garden wall bond with moulded brick and red sandstone string courses, plinth and detailing. Two storey north-east gable has decorative raised parapet with off-centred boiler flue. Windows are fixed pane timber segmental-headed with chamfered reveals with stop ends and sandstone keyblocks; red sandstone cills on moulded and corbelled brickwork detailing unless otherwise noted. Rainwater goods are galvanised steel. Steel truss and purlin roof and gable with agricultural glass secured to steel rafters by clips and aluminium caps; opening lights along ridge.

Symmetrical single storey entrance (south-west) gable comprises low brick plinth wall with brick piers to corners; glazed timber doors to far left and right; remainder of gable is fully glazed.

Multi-bay north-west elevation (two storey at left reducing to single storey at right) comprises single window to each first floor bay; moulded brick and sandstone string courses at various levels; timber sheeted door in segmental-headed opening at ground floor left end bay. Chamfered plinth with long/short brick quoins left corner. Bays separated with paired vertical brick detail that extends below lowest string course to terminate in a moulded brick stop. Elevation abutted along its entire length (except the left end bay) by a deep stepped red brick raised planting bed. The top left corner of elevation has an Ulster History Circle plaque inscribed, 'Charles McKimm 1848-1907 First General Superintendent of Belfast Parks 1903-1907'.

Two storey three bay north-east gable comprises central door at ground level with single window in end bays; first floor has single square-headed window to each bay surmounted by broken triangular sandstone pediments ; that to central bay has a broken segmental pediment and is set forward; single arched window above within square gable; brick flue rises from ground level to left of windows in central bay; chamfered plinth to ground floor with long/short brick quoins; string courses as before with cill course at window in pediment. Bays separated by detailing as before. Raised stepped and segmental parapet with sandstone copings and kneelers.

Multi-bay south-east elevation (two storey to right reducing to single storey to left) as north-west elevation but without door.

Setting

Belfast Botanic Gardens to the east of the B1 listed Ulster Museum (HB26/27/075) and south of the grade A listed Turner Palm House (HB26/27/003). Built into slope. Large open space to east in lawn separated by mature planting. Trees to north and south.

Roof: Glass
Walling Brick
Window: Timber
RWG: Galvanised Steel

Historical information

The Victorian tropical ravine (fernery) was built 1887-89 to designs by Charles McKimm. A building is shown on the position of the current fernery on the Second Edition OS Map but this appears to be the earlier Orchid and Fern House and Water Lily House. The current building first appears on the Third Edition OS Map.

The new fernery or ‘Intermediate House’ was built on the site previously occupied by the Orchid and Fern House and Water Lily House - called the ‘Tropical Glen’, built by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society (formed in 1827). The Tropical Glen consisted of only one section (the present temperate section) measuring 97 feet long by 35 1/2 feet wide (29.5 x 10.7 metres), with walls of stone and a single-span glazed wooden roof. Features of the south-east gable wall are still visible on what is now the partition wall of the building.

The Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Company was not able to continue to finance the gardens despite having such display houses as the Palm House and Tropical Ravine and in 1895 sold the gardens to Belfast Corporation for £10,500.

After the sale, McKimm was retained to look after the gardens and became a Superintendent of Parks with responsibility for other Corporation-owned parks. He was able to convince Belfast Corporation of the importance of the fernery and embarked on an enlargement programme. This work, completed in 1900, increased the dimensions of the building to 184 1/2 feet long by 47 feet wide and 40 feet deep (56.1 x 14.3 x 12.2 metres). The internal features of the original house formed the basis of a temperate section, while the new extension was to be used as a tropical or stove section. In contrast to the south-west gable, which was almost entirely glass, the new north-east gable was constructed of brick with sandstone ornamental pediments and high windows. Regularly spaced windows were installed in the side walls, and a new roof, consisting of steel structural supports, wooden glazing bars and a lantern-style ridge to house the ventilation system, was fitted.

In the new stove section, banks to retain the planting beds were built using Scrabo sandstone quarried from Newtownards, County Down. Pools to house aquatic species were constructed next to the north-east gable wall.

McKimm developed an original form of heating system in the original house (the current temperate zone) - that of under-soil heating by means of hot air flues. A stoke hole for the fire led into large tunnels that decreased in size as they travelled round the house, ending as small tiled flues before venting through a chimney. This system was replaced during renovation works in 1979 by hot water pipes threaded through the original tunnels. Also at this time, the badly decayed roof was replaced with an aluminium glazed roof resulting in the loss of the lantern-style ridge. This admitted much more light and improved the growing conditions. During the works the smaller plants were removed while the larger specimens were covered with a plastic cocoon.

On the 5 May 1983, after the renovation works and overall redevelopment of the Botanic Gardens had been completed, the Chairman of the Parks Committee, Councillor Andy Cairns JP, officially re-opened the Tropical Ravine, in the presence of the Right Honourable Lord Mayor, Councillor Tommy Patton. The British Airways Tourist Award was also presented in that year for the renovation work on the Palm House and Tropical Ravine.

The Secondary Sources describe the origins and history of the plant collections here:

The giant water lily Victoria Regina had been brought from London by Daniel Ferguson, the then curator, in 1851 and produced flowers two years later - the first in Ireland. In 1851 the Society extended the existing fern and orchid houses to a total length of 63 feet (19.2 metres). The orchids and ferns were grown in pots, set on open cast-iron grills. Some of this benching was found during excavations in the present Tropical Ravine.

The Tropical Ravine was started in the summer of 1887 by the curator Charles McKimm and his ground staff. Charles McKimm made many improvements to the gardens during his term as curator. He had been trained at Lord Farnham’s estate in Co. Cavan where he had experience of the vegetable garden, flower garden and glasshouse plant collections. This wide experience stood him in good stead when he took over the responsibilities of curator of the gardens three years after starting work as gardener in 1874. His enthusiasm earned him the respect of what was by now the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Company and he was able to convince the society of the need to build a new glasshouse to hold the ever increasing plant collections.

It took two years to build and stock the new glasshouse. It was initially planted with exotics such as palms, banana plants, cycads and ferns. When it opened in 1889, the Tropical Glen was highly praised. The Marchioness of Dufferin and party were amongst the first visitors in the summer of that inaugural year. They, and many others, entered through a doorway in the south-west gable wall and walked around a wooden lattice-railed balcony, looking down on to the plants growing on banks and raised beds. Far below, paths at the bottom of the glen meandered through the planting and led to water-worn stone steps, caves, a grotto, a waterfall and a pool. The waterfall was activated by pulling a plumb bob on a pulley system (rather like pulling a lavatory chain). The largest cave extended to the outside wall of the house and had panels of ‘Luxfer’ patent glass prisms set into its roof, throwing light and colour into the cave. These prisms combined with candle illumination and mirrors set into the beds and walls to produce many intriguing theatrical effects.

Photographs from the Welch collection in the Ulster Museum show the various features and plants. Some of the original tree ferns and bananas are still growing in the same locations.

The quality of the principal plant collections, particularly those in the two main glasshouses, was maintained throughout the twentieth century, despite incidents such as the heating boilers bursting during the winter of 1928/29. During the Second World War Bananas from the Ravine were forwarded to the British Red Cross Society as a
contribution to the war effort.

The plant that has been longest in the collection is a Dicksonia, or tree fern, about 150 years old; it was in the original fern house. One tree that dominates the stove section, growing to forty feet each year, is the African tulip tree or fountain tree, Spathodea cainpanulata.

It is unclear how Charles McKimm came up with the innovative idea for the Tropical Ravine, for he left no notes on the subject. He may have been inspired by two other houses, one in England, the other in Scotland.

The fernery in England, similar to the Belfast house (but with no ravine), had been built eleven years earlier in the Botanic Garden at Southport. Constructed from brick, with a glass roof, it was planted with ferns and palms. Its interior walls were decorated with shells, tufa stone features, water effects and mirrors. The 1878 Directory for Southport describes it as ‘being unequalled in the North of Britain’. It was listed in 1972 at grade II.

The fernery in Scotland at Ascog Hall on the Isle of Bute was recorded in the Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1879 as a fine glasshouse with a superb collection of ferns. Constructed with a glass and iron frame roof resting on stone walls with access down a flight of rustic stone steps with rockwork on either side. It was listed in 1987 at grade B.

History of Belfast Botanic Gardens

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries there was a substantial upsurge of interest in botany, horticulture and gardening, and consequently the formation of Botanic Gardens became very fashionable. Such gardens had already been established in Dublin and in Cork when the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society was formed in 1827. In 1828 a 14 acre site was purchased outside the town at the junction of the Malone and Stranmillis Roads and laid out by the first curator, Thomas Drummond. This area was rendered suitable for the cultivation of botanical science and a botanical museum opened in the grounds.

The Society issued 500 shares at a price of seven guineas each to help finance the project. Members of the public were required to pay for admission; one shilling for adults, sixpence for children. Shareholders and subscribers who paid an annual subscription were either admitted free or at a reduced charge. Although the original intention was to provide a pleasant and well laid out garden primarily for instruction and study of plants, it soon became evident that more popular support was required to raise the finances necessary for the running of the property. From June 1838, when two successful garden fetes were organised for fund raising, right through the nineteenth century, the Botanic Gardens became the venue for all manner of outdoor activities and entertainment.

The Society was very keen to develop its garden to the standards of Dublin and Cork. The first glasshouses were built in the 1830s and in 1839 a start was made on the grade A listed Turner Palm House (HB26/27/003).

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A multi-bay two storey red brick steel and glass Victorian Tropical Ravine (fernery), built in 1887 to designs by Charles McKimm, the First General Superintendent of Belfast Parks, and located in Belfast Botanic Gardens near the Ulster Museum (HB26/27/075) and across from the Turner Palm House (HB26/27/003). Built in to a slope to accommodate a sunken ravine. Although the original roof structure has been replaced (with the loss of the ridge ventilation lantern) it is a rare example of its type enclosing the sunken ravine and viewing gallery and unique in the Province.

General comments

Within Queen's Conservation Area
Within Botanic Gardens Historic Park, Garden and Demesne