Toilet Entrances

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

External Description 29 July 2014
Hoardings erected around entire perimeter of both toilet entrances. From looking through gaps in the hoarding, it was noted that the railings had been cut off and removed in their entirety from the base plinth upwards.

External Description at date of survey 26 Aug 2011
Pair of free-standing railed underground public toilet entrances, erected c.1935. Located in Shaftesbury Square at the apex of Dublin Road and Great Victoria Street. Now disused.

Rectangular on plan the two railed entrances are laid on an east west axis with the ladies to the west and the gents to the east. Each entrance comprises a moulded Portland limestone plinth wall and iron railing with an arched entrance gate to one end and a semi-circular opposing end. Simple wrought-iron railings with intermittent square panels rise from the plinth wall with a matching gate mounted on a wrought-iron arch having a pendant iron sign. Each sign has Greek key embellished iron brackets and has cut-out lettering (possibly formerly lit from within); 'LADIES' to west entrance, that to the gents is missing. Beyond the gate a series of concrete steps lead underground with a bronze handrail supported on tiled walls.

Setting:
Located in Shaftesbury Square at the apex of Dublin Road and Great Victoria Street and set on an east west axis.

Roof N/A
RWG N/A
Walling Portland limestone ashlar
Windows N/A

Historical information

The lavatories at Shaftesbury Square were built between 1931 and 1938 and are first shown, captioned, on the seventh edition OS map of 1938.

In May 1930 an inquiry was held into Belfast Corporation’s application to the Minister of Home Affairs for funds in order to build an underground lavatory at Shaftesbury Square. In 1927 the question of additional lavatory accommodation for the city had been raised by Councillor Henderson who was instrumental in having a number of new facilities built including one at Albert Square. Councillor Henderson felt that it was “deplorable to see women and children having to perform acts of nature which, if the police saw them, would lead to a prosecution.” Lieutenant-Commander Harcourt of the RUC was of the same mind and stated that Belfast compared unfavourably with cities of similar size in Britain. “We feel that so far as the traffic of the city is concerned, the safety of the public and in the control of theatres and picture houses we are not behind there, but we think that where public conveniences are concerned we are far behind.” (PRONI LA/7/3/JB/14)

A number of houses in the area of Shaftesbury Square were inspected with a view to taking them over for the purpose but these were eventually deemed unsuitable, due to the objections of neighbours. It was also proposed to buy the triangle of land beneath which the toilet was eventually situated for the erection of an above-ground facility but the cost of this was found to be prohibitive. A side street location was also proposed, but it was felt that the lavatory should be “in the public eye...If you have it in a side street it is not utilised as it should be”. Shaftesbury Square was a ‘very important traffic junction’ and it was eventually decided that an underground toilet was needed so that the traffic in the area would not be impeded. (PRONI LA/7/3/JB/14)

In 1930 Belfast County Borough Council applied to the Ministry of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland for a loan of £6,000 for a ‘sanitary convenience’ at Shaftesbury Square. The public urinal already present in the vicinity was ‘quite inadequate for the needs of the large number of people who use that particular area’ and in a ‘filthy condition’ giving rise to complaints. There were only four public toilets within half a mile of Shaftesbury Square, urinals at the Gas Works, at Botanic Gardens and Roseland Place and an underground toilet at Donegall Square North, in front of the City Hall. The city surveyor felt that an above ground facility would have been preferable from the point of view of health but due to the lack of a suitable site, an underground toilet, with sewage lifted by an electric pump, was the only option. The city surveyor’s designs were for an underground facility with walls of brickwork on reinforced concrete foundations, roofed over with reinforced concrete on steel beams and covered at footpath level with limmer rock asphalt. The roof was to be provided with pavement lights and ventilators and the whole structure to be encased in a limmer rock asphalt envelope. The floors were to be finished with terrazzo tiles and the stairs formed of concrete with non-slip treads. The walls were to be faced inside with white enamelled brickwork. It was also the intention to plant shrubs or trees round the entrances at surface level. ‘to relieve the bareness of the position and enhance the site generally and also to improve the amenities of the locality.’ (PRONI LA/7/3/JB/14)

The Corporation of the time were, according to Alderman Byrne, “trying to do everything in their power to relieve unemployment in the city and are most anxious that this work should be gone through...We have tried repeatedly to get places for conveniences. They are things that everybody wants but when it comes to the actual thing nobody wants them and the moment we propose to put them in certain places there is an outcry from the ratepayers and we are told that they would not have them at all...I think it is a great thing to get this convenience in Shaftesbury Square as the place suggested will be suitable for everybody and no one will raise any objections.” (PRONI LA/7/3/JB/14)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/7 – Seventh Edition OS Map 1938
3. PRONI LA/7/3/JB/14 - Bound typescript of the proceedings of a sworn inquiry held by Inspectors appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs into an application by Belfast Corporation for sanction to obtain a loan for street reconstruction works, purchase of machinery and an underground lavatory at Shaftesbury Square 1930

Secondary Sources

1. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Underground lavatories built between 1931 and 1938. Located in Shaftesbury Square at the apex of Dublin Road and Great Victoria Street. Now disused. Although the interior was not inspected these public lavatories are a rare survivor. However, the removal of the decorative ironwork above ground has substantially diminished their architectural interest.