18 Donegall Pass

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An attached five-bay three-storey ferro-concrete-framed brick-fronted building with a concealed basement and dormer-attic, built c.1906, for the Girls’ Friendly Society and located on the northern side of Donegall Pass. Irregular U-shaped on plan, abutted to the sides by later two-storey flat-roofed extensions; that to east was once interconnected but is now separate. Building was in use as a police station c.1970-2014.

Flat-roof concealed behind parapet with bull-nosed brick coping, steel rail to perimeter and red brick chimneys to east and west having yellow clays pots. Dormers to central and end bays of south elevation break through eaves level, flanked by projecting brick piers which extend to ground level; dormers surmounted by scalloped parapets with moulded sandstone coping. Mono-pitched natural slate roofs to south elevation, spanning between central and end bays having square-headed dormers, ogee cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers and uPVC downpipes mounted over modillioned eaves cornices. Walling is machine-made red brick laid to English garden wall bond with offset basecourse and moulded stringcourses articulating each storey; painted roughcast rendered walling to east, west and north elevations. Square-headed window openings with flush concrete lintels, cavetto brick reveals and red sandstone sills. Windows are bipartite 1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns and timber mullions; wired glass to ground floor openings. Windows to east, north and west have thin painted rendered architraves and concrete sills with uPVC casements throughout.

The principal elevation is symmetrical with a round-arched door opening to the central ground floor bay, having brick voussoirs and a moulded architrave (door concealed behind recent timber boards). Flat-roofed dormers flanking central bay with ogee rainwater goods; all windows to attic level are bipartite uPVC casements with wired glass.

West elevation is blank, the lower two storeys abutted by a neighbouring flat-roofed building, c.1960 (formerly linked internally with No.18), which has painted rendered walls and metal-framed side-hung casement windows.

Rear elevation faces north and comprises projecting blocks to end bays; ground floor abutted by late 20th century additions and a full-height modern fire escape stair to the west (all of which are of little historic interest); early to mid 20th century red brick coal shed abuts to north-west with concrete roof over. Plainly detailed square-headed door opening to left-cheek of western projection, having a modern flush timber door; possible former segmental-headed door opening to right of present door.

East elevation is largely blank except for two window openings; lower two storeys abutted by flat-roofed extension, c.1960, with uPVC windows concealed behind timber boards and a plainly detailed square-headed door opening. Ground floor walls of extension are painted brick, first floor walls are painted roughcast render, indicating the first floor and projecting eastern bay were added at a later date.

Setting
Street-fronted on the northern side of Donegall Pass in south-central Belfast. Bitmac yard to rear and east, largely enclosed by an early to mid 20th century red brick wall with concrete coping and modern wired fence over (parts of brick wall rebuilt in recent decades); a modern steel fence lines the southern perimeter of the yard. Yard is accessed via a modern steel gate to south-east on Donegall Pass; former vehicular entrance on Pakenham Street marked by brick piers with a flush concrete band (opening now in-filled). Yard largely vacant except for single-storey recent red brick flat-roofed outbuilding to north-east corner.

Materials
Roof: Concrete; natural slate
RWG: uPVC and cast-iron
Walling: Machine-made red brick
Windows: Bipartite timber sashes; uPVC casements

Historical information

Purpose-built as a diocesan lodge for the Girls’ Friendly Society (GFS), No.18 Donegall Pass was constructed c.1906, to the designs of architect William Roome. Faced in red brick the structure employed the patented Hennebique system of reinforced-concrete-framing.

First shown on the sixth edition OS map (c.1931), the site previously contained a terraced row of houses known as ‘Albert Place’, as shown on the fourth edition OS map (1901-02). Occupying Nos.18-22 the lodge (although not yet completed) was added to the valuation records in 1908 with an initial rateable value of £82, however on appeal by the society this figure was reduced to £50. The valuer’s notebook (1908) recorded that the new lodge contained bedroom accommodation for 39no. girls (20no. bedrooms, some of which were single rooms), 4no. sitting rooms, a lecture hall, a kitchen and an enclosed yard to the rear.

Other lodge buildings in the north of Ireland included No.15 College Street in Armagh and Nos. 26-28 Bishop Street in Londonderry (HB01/19/085), c.1910, however it is believed that none of these were purposely constructed as lodges for the GFS. Victoria Home in Rostrevor, c.1899 was ‘a house of rest’ built for the GFS as a place of retreat ‘for sick and weary members’. Renamed the Queen Victoria Home after Royal permission was obtained in 1901, the house closed after the end of the Second World War, later reopening as the Glencairn Guest House and now restored and extended into a large private house.

Although the GFS headquarters was located in Dublin, Belfast was a key industrial city, and with the employment opportunities attracting large numbers of girls from the surrounding countryside, the Belfast lodge was subsequently of great importance. The previous GFS lodge in Belfast was housed in an existing building at Nos.9-11 Clarence Place and provided 50no. beds, however by the latter years of the 19th century the premises had fallen into poor condition and was no longer deemed suited to their requirements. The need for a new lodge, which was commensurate with the society and the good work it was doing, became a pressing matter. In the Annual General Meeting of 1902 Lady Dufferin commented that she was ‘…not satisfied with the actual house that holds us… it is old and inconvenient and we greatly want a new building.’ A building fund was soon established and subscriptions from the parishes were greatly encouraged, collected chiefly by Lady Dufferin herself.

The contract amounted to approximately £4,000 and the building was completed in 1908. The valuer noted that object of this ‘home’ was to provide suitable accommodation for girls (largely those who were members of the GFS), who were coming to the city on business purposes and who would otherwise have to go into lodgings, many of which were places of questionable reputation. Prices were as follows; 2/- bed per week, 5/- full board per week, 18/- sharing a room for an excess of 1 month or £1 for a single room. Charges for non-members were slightly higher and those girls who were not members were accepted on suitable recommendation. In 1933 a total of 183 visitors were recorded, including the Belfast Philharmonic Orchestra.

As shown in the Belfast Street Directories (1939) the lodge at Donegall Pass was vacated by the GFS and became a barracks for the RUC, who previously occupied barracks across the road at No.7. During the latter half of the 20th century, a range of successive extensions were added to the rear and east of No.18, however contemporary maps show that the footprint of the original building has remained largely intact. The PSNI vacated the building c.2014 and it is now vacant.

The Girls’ Friendly Society is the oldest Church of Ireland organisation established for girls and women. Founded by a Mrs Elizabeth Townsend in England in 1874, the movement rapidly spread to Ireland, USA and Australia; in 1881 there were 15 branches in Ireland and by 1900 this had risen to 157 branches, with a total of 14,962 members. Complementing the work of the Young Women’s Christian Association (established in 1855), the GFS aimed to provide support, accommodation and skills training for girls who came from the countryside to the work in the city.

The Birmingham-born architect William Roome was responsible for introducing the innovative Hennebique system of ferro-concrete construction to Ireland, with the Somerset Linen Factory in Marcus Ward Street in Belfast, c.1904-05. Francois Hennebique began to produce reinforced concrete floor slabs in 1879 after seeing Joseph Monier’s horticultural concrete troughs, which had been reinforced with iron mesh, at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Hennebique developed his slabs into a complete building system using reinforced concrete columns, beams and floor slabs, which was patented in 1892. Although reinforced concrete had been introduced to Britain in the late 19th century, Hennebique’s patented concrete-framing was not employed in Britain until 1897-99, when 7no. concrete-framed buildings were commissioned using his system and by 1908 this figure had risen to a total of 130no. Between this period there were approximately 6no. buildings constructed using the Hennebique system in the north of Ireland, including No.18 Donegall Pass.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 Fifth Edition OS map (1901-02)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 Sixth Edition OS map (1931)
3. PRONI VAL/12/E/192/P/43 Town Plan Annual Revisions (1897-1905)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/35 Annual Revisions (1897-1905)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/3 & 6 Annual Revisions (1906-30)
6. PRONI VAL/12/A/7/R/23 Valuer’s Notebook Annual Revisions (1908)
7. PRONI D3271/1/2 GFS Diocesan Lodge Minute Book (1896-1903)
8. PRONI D1898/1/23 GFS Lodge, Donegall Pass (1906) (NOT AVALIABLE)
9. Belfast Street Directories (1905-1950)
10. HB File (HB26/30/114)

Secondary Sources

1. Luddy, Maria ‘Woman and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century Ireland’ Cambridge University Press, 1995
2. Cusack, Patricia ‘Construction History Vol.3; Hennebique, Mouchel and Ferro-Concrete), 1987

Online Sources
1. http://www.girlsfriendlysociety.ie/
2. www.dia.ie/
3. http://archiseek.com/2013/1899-victoria-home-rostrevor-co-down/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
G. Innovatory Qualities
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

An early 20th century brick-faced reinforced concrete-framed building of three storeys with dormer-attic level and basement located on the northern side of Donegall Pass, south of Belfast City centre. Purpose-built for the Girls’ Friendly Society, the oldest Church of Ireland organisation established for girls and women, and now a world-wide organisation, this diocesan lodge provided accommodation for girls from the surrounding countryside who came to work in Belfast. Other GFS lodges in N Ireland existed in Armagh, Londonderry and Rostrevor, however none of these were purpose-built. The building was constructed c.1906 to the designs of Birmingham-born architect William Roome using the patented 'Hennebique' structural system of reinforced concrete columns, beams and floor slabs. Roome was responsible for introducing the 'Hennebique' system to Ireland with the construction of the Somerset Linen Factory at Marcus Ward Street in Belfast (HB26/30/067), built c.1904-05. During the years 1897-1908 only 6 buildings were constructed in N. Ireland using this system, making this a rare type. Remodelled for use as a police station during the latter-half of the 20th century, the interior has seen much alteration, however the main staircases and terrazzo flooring still remain. This building is of social and historical significance with its association with the GFS and of architectural interest in relation to the technically significant innovative structural system concealed behind the brick facade, typical of its time.

General comments

also HB26/LQ273