Ulster Reform Club

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey High Victorian clubhouse on Royal Avenue by Maxwell & Tuke, faced in red ashlar sandstone with corner bow window at first floor and prominent corner tower, still in its original use and with largely intact interior features.

The roof is a mansard type slate roof, with some flat lead roofing behind.

Occupying a corner site, the building is set slightly forward from its neighbour to the S, and its corner is accentuated by a bulging oriel window at first floor and topped with a turret.

Front east elevation. The club is entered at the SE corner through an open porch with three round-headed arches carried on large pillars of pink granite with carved red sandstone knuckles and base. The main part of the rusticated red sandstone ground floor has five round-headed bays as frontage for a ground floor shop (G2), the central bay (distinguished by having delicately carved sandstone pilasters) being the entrance. A further bay to the N contains a service entry. At first floor the mullioned bow window of the Reading Room (F7) can be clearly seen over the entrance and an iron balcony traces the entire elevation below cill level, supported on sandstone kneelers. The main section of the elevation is framed between pilasters and contains three recessed bay windows with dentilled and balustraded cornices, and there is a further bay with a single window over the entry. At second floor the bow is set back slightly and the bay windows rise as triple windows separated by pilasters. The pilasters rise to form broken pediments over the central window of each triplet, while the end bay has a mullioned window. The corner turret section rises a further storey with the circular tower and its lead roof, topped by a lantern.

The S elevation is largely hidden behind the former Provincial Bank, but the portion that is visible is dominated by the breast of a chimney that equals the height of the tower. Further back it is constructed in brick rather than sandstone.

The rear elevation towards Bank Street consists of two sections, one five storey five bay and the other single bay four-storey, both with pitched slate roofs and two storey oriel windows clad in lead. There is a balcony at first floor level.

Setting

This is one of the most complete buildings arising from the redevelopment of Royal Avenue in the 1880s, and its turret is a prominent landmark in the street.

Walls: sandstone
Windows: Timber
Roof: Slate/lead
RWG: internal

Historical information

The Builder and Irish Builder record that the Ulster Reform Club, a three-storey red sandstone building located at No. 4 Royal Avenue, was constructed between 1883 and 1885 to a design produced by the English firm, Maxwell & Tuke. The architectural firm, based in Manchester, was formed by James Maxwell and Charles Tuke; the pair were placed first in the competition to design the Ulster Reform Club and, in a second foray into Ulster Architectural contests, came runner up in the 1883 competition to design the Belfast Central Library (HB26/50/065), also located further up Royal Avenue. They later achieved fame with the construction of The Blackpool Tower, an imitation of Gustav Eiffel’s tower in Paris (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Construction of the buildings winning design was supervised by local Ulster architect William H. Lynn (1829-1915), a principal architect of the Victorian period in Belfast, whilst the contractor was a Mr. James Henry. The Ulster Reform Club was informally opened on New Year’s Day 1885 after approximately £12,000 had been expended on its construction (Builder; Irish Builder).

When completed, the Ulster Reform Club, consisting of the club rooms on the upper floors, was valued at £420 and let by the Ulster Reform Club Building Committee; a number of business offices located on the ground floor of the site were valued between £30 and £110 and were occupied by, amongst others, the Equitable Life (of the United States Insurance Society). There was no alteration to the value of the site until the Belfast Revaluation in 1900. In that year the valuer noted that the Ulster Reform Club consisted of a number of sitting and reading rooms, possessing a billiards room, dining rooms, a kitchen, committee room and a number of bedrooms for travelling members; under the revaluation the building was increased in value to £535. A detailed plan of the Ulster Reform Club included in the Revaluation report records that the general layout of the building has not been altered in any significant way since its original construction in the 1880s; the building remains a rectangular-shaped structure with a coach arch at its north side.

The 1901 Census described the Ulster Reform Club as a 1st class building that consisted of 30 inhabited rooms and a large number of servants were employed as housekeepers, barmaids, porters and waiters. In 1901 the secretary of the Ulster Reform Club was a Mr. M. Wylie, however by 1907 he had been replaced by Capt. Frederick H. Crawford (Belfast Street Directories). The value of the Ulster Reform Club remained at £530 until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930, however by the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (carried out in 1935) the value of the club building was increased to £900, whilst five business offices located on the ground and first floors were valued between £145 and £245. The Ulster Reform Club did not suffer the damage inflicted upon other buildings in the immediate vicinity during the 1941 Belfast Blitz, and after the end of the Second World War the building was once more increased in value under the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. By the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value of the Ulster Reform Club stood at £1,248, whilst the offices located on the lower floors were valued between £152 and £1,600.

The Ulster Reform Club was one of the first major structures to be erected on the newly created boulevard of Royal Avenue which was laid out in 1880-81 by the surveyor J. C. Bretland (who in the process relocated approximately 4,000 people). Prior to the redevelopment of the area, Donegall Place and Hercules Street (the precursor to Royal Avenue) were divided by an additional line of buildings located on the eastern side of the current street. The demolition and clearing of Hercules Place resulted in the destruction of almost all the buildings on the street pre-dating the 1880s. The only building to survive the clearing of the area is the former Provisional Bank of Ireland (HB26/50/106) which continues to occupy the original line of Hercules Place (a narrow square that linked Donegall Place to Hercules Street) and as a result is set further back than the adjoining buildings. The Ulster Reform Club, constructed next to the former Provincial Bank of Ireland, was erected in 1883-85 on the first available plot created from the clearing of Hercules Place and Hercules Street (Brett, p. 40; Patton, p. 282; p. 286).

The origins of the present club buildings lay in a meeting of a group of Ulster Liberals who met on the 7th May 1880 at the Lombard Hall (4 Waring Street) to debate ‘whether the cause of the Liberal Party should be advanced by [the] formation of a club in Belfast similar to the Reform Club in Manchester.’ Those deliberating agreed that the construction of a club house should go ahead and on 19th September 1881 the Ulster Reform Club Building Company was registered; the company chose the newly available plot of land at No. 4 Royal Avenue produced by the redevelopment of the area in that year. The club was opened on 1st January 1885 and possessed around 300 members at this time. There were few alterations carried out to the Ulster Reform Club over the next century of its history; in 1895 electrical lighting was first installed throughout the building and in 1955 an elevator was added.

The Ulster Reform Club was originally formed as a Liberal Gentlemen’s Club in the 1880s, however, upon William Gladstone’s declaration of support for Irish Home Rule, the members of the club took an avowedly Liberal-Unionist stance, and from that period the club formed a political committee which was an influential force on the Ulster Unionist Party; by 1964 all Club Rules referencing Liberal-Unionism were removed and replaced with Unionism signifying the simplification of the clubs political ethos. During the 1970s the relevancy and membership of the Ulster Reform Club waned, and a merger between the organisation and the Ulster Club (formed in 1857 by landed gentry as a place to meet and dine in Belfast) seemed inevitable; by the 1960s the Ulster Club was in a similar state of relegation and had been forced to move from a grand Regency-style clubhouse at Castle Junction to an unremarkable office block in High Street. The merger between the two clubs was delayed due to the Ulster Reform Club’s requirement for members to sign a declaration signifying their support for the Union; the Ulster Club on the other hand was an apolitical organisation. The two Victorian clubs eventually merged in 1982 after a number of meetings that swept away the political obstacles that barred a union. Since the merger the Ulster Reform Club has revoked any political affiliation and in 1994, for the first time, admitted female members; these measures have ensured that the club is now a strictly social organisation. Notable former members of the club include Lord Pirrie and Thomas Andrews (Chairman and Managing Director (respectively) at Harland and Wolff shipyards), Edward Carson (barrister and the chief opponent of Home Rule) and Brian Faulkner (the final Prime Minister of Northern Ireland) (Brett, p. 61; Ulster Reform Club website).

The Ulster Reform Club was listed in 1979; since that time it has continued to function as a gentlemen’s social club; recently celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2010, the general focus of the club has shifted to social occasions and the club’s calendar includes such events as prominent guest speaker lunches, musical evenings, gourmet dinners, wine tastings, live theatre, golf outings and clay pigeon shooting (Ulster Reform Club website).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
6. PRONI VAL/7/B/12/1 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/18 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/37 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
9. Irish Builder (15 Jan 1883)
10. Builder (10 Jan 1885)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1943)
13. First Survey Record – HB26/50/107 (No Date)
14. First Survey Image – HB26/50/107 (1977)
15. Ordnance Survey map 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985.
2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Ulster Reform Club website - http://www.ulsterreformclub.com

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

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Three-storey High Victorian clubhouse faced in red ashlar sandstone to designs by the English firm, Maxwell & Tuke. With corner bow window at first floor and prominent corner tower, still in its original use and with largely intact features. A fine example of a late Victorian gentleman’s club, with elaborate timberwork, high ceilings, stained glass, reading room and (former) billiards room. Much historic fabric and detailing survive and the building represents the development of civic life in the City in Victorian times.