89 Durham Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey brick former Tuberculosis Clinic, built c.1917 to designs of Young and Mackenzie, located on the west side of Durham Street, Belfast. Plan consists of a narrow east-facing rectangular block in red brick with sandstone ornamentation, having return to south, extended at west end in two phases; a variety of mid 20th C extensions form a courtyard and screen the rear of the original building.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and stone verges; stone-coped parapet gutters to front with replacement metal downpipes; original ogee cast-iron gutters to return on profiled brick eaves. Walling is English Garden Wall bonded red brick with sandstone ashlar banding to pilasters between bays. Stretcher-bonded upper floor extension to west portion of return. Windows are generally timber 1/1 sashes to principal elevation, those to south are obscured by exterior secondary glazing; remaining windows are a variety of uPVC, timber and metal-framed casements. Ashlar blocked surrounds to principal windows only; sandstone cills throughout. Steel security grilles throughout ground floor and return.

Symmetrical principal elevation is dominated by a gabled breakfront having 1/1 sashes to either side of entrance bay, which contains a semi-circular headed entrance surmounted by a shallow canted bay window; carved Belfast Coat of Arms to gable. Banded classical doorcase having a female head to keystone inscribed ‘Hygea’. Tripartite windows to outer bays. Each bay divided by banded pilasters.

South gable has two windows to each floor, each with banded surround, projecting lintel and keystone, and embraced by banded pilasters.

Rear elevation not visible, screened by a two-storey mid-20th C annexe of redbrick with metal-framed casement windows. Return is plainly detailed, windows generally having simple keyblocked lintels to opening.

North gable is detailed as south.

Setting

The building terminates College Square, although the immediate
setting is largely characterized by modern housing and office developments, with the Westlink located a short distance to west. Narrow perimeter frontage bounded by simple wrought iron railings and gates, with cast iron piers. Bitmac carparks to rear and sides, bounded by steel security fencing.

Roof: Slate
Walling: Brick
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

No. 89 Durham Street, a two-storey redbrick building with sandstone dressings and until recently utilised by Belfast’s Blood Transfusion Service, was originally constructed as the Central Tuberculosis Institute in 1916-18. Elizabeth Malcolm, contributing to the Oxford Companion to Irish History, notes that tuberculosis became a ‘major scourge’ in urban Ireland during the late-19th and early-20th centuries; in 1906 the disease accounted for almost 16% of all deaths on the island. Belfast Corporation subsequently undertook the construction of the tuberculosis centre in an attempt to eradicate the disease from the city (Connolly, p. 583).

The Irish Builder records that the building was designed by Young & Mackenzie. The partnership, formed between Robert Young and John Mackenzie in 1868, had become the most successful architectural practice in Belfast by the beginning of the 20th century. Young & Mackenzie were the leading designers for the Presbyterian Church in North-East Ulster and also obtained many of the most important commercial contracts in the centre of Belfast, however they were also known to undertake medical contracts; the firm had designed the Thompson Memorial Fountain (HB26/30/014) in 1885 and the Dufferin Children’s Hospital on the Lisburn Road in 1907 09 (Irish Builder; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Tenders to construct the Central Tuberculosis Institute were invited in August 1916; the contract was awarded to the McIntyre Brothers of Carrington Street who agreed to undertake the work for the sum of £3,710. The McIntyre Brothers (David and Robert McIntyre) signed the contract with Belfast Corporation in October 1916, but did not gain access to the site on Durham Street (located opposite Christ Church (HB26/50/025) and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023)) until the 2nd February 1917. The delay resulted in friction between the building firm and Belfast Corporation as, due to the uncertain economic conditions during the First World War, the prices of materials rose greatly during the intervening months before acquisition of the site. In 1917 the McIntyre Brothers were forced to suspend work on No. 89 Durham Street due to financial difficulties; the firm subsequently requested an additional payment in April 1918 in order to recoup losses caused by the soaring costs of materials; the case was swiftly resolved in that year and the Central Tuberculosis Institute was duly completed by June of 1918.

The original contract signed between Belfast Corporation and the McIntyre Brothers included specifications for the building work which recorded that the structure was to be completed utilising Scottish sandstone from ‘the best Ballochmyle quarries.’ The original plans drawn up by Young & Mackenzie show that the Central Tuberculosis Institute consisted of an x-ray room, an operating room and a dental surgery on the ground floor, whilst the rooms on the first floor were utilised as general offices, a lecture room and a laboratory.

Opened to patients in 1918, the Central Tuberculosis Institute was initially valued at £200, the Belfast Street Directory for that year noted that the Institute was operated by Dr. Andrew Trimble, the Chief Tuberculosis Officer for the city. The building continued to be valued at £200 until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930 and under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) No. 89 Durham Street was increased in value to £380. There was no further revaluation undertaken for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the Second World War; during the war the Institute was operated by a Dr. James Shaw who was the Chief Tuberculosis Officer at that time.

In 1957 the Central Tuberculosis Institute was increased in value to £1,200 under the second revaluation (1956-72), however the Northern Ireland Tuberculosis Authority vacated the building in 1960 after occupying the site for over 40 years. In 1960 No. 89 Durham Street was taken over by the Ministry of Health and Social Services who operated an outpatient’s clinic, the Central Chest Clinic, from the site; the value of No. 89 Durham Street remained unchanged until the end of the second revaluation in 1972. The two-storey extension and single-storey flat-roof additions were added in the mid-20th century (most likely added in c. 1960 when the building was converted into an outpatient’s clinic and required significant interior restructuring). The most recent edition of the Ordnance Survey map shows that the additions had been made by c. 1970 as the building was depicted along its current layout at that time.

The Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service occupied the building in 1971 and was the last service to operate from the site before it was vacated. No. 89 Durham Street was visited as part of the First Survey in 1976, however the building was not listed at that time; Patton, writing in 1993, described No. 89 Durham Street as a ‘two-storey building in red brick with red sandstone dressings and broad central gable. Divided into five unequal bays by banded pilasters; tripartite windows in outer bays; central doorcase with Gibbsian pilasters and female head on keystone’ (Patton, p. 141). The keystone does not appear on Young & Mackenzie’s original plans for the building; however the female head depicted above the doorcase is a representation of Hygeia, the goddess of sanitation and health. In constructing the Tuberculosis Institute, Belfast Corporation had a Latin inscription included under the central pediment which reads ‘Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus;’ this is Belfast’s official Latin motto and literally means ‘For so much what we shall repay.’

References
Primary Sources

1. PRONI LA/7/29/CB/50 – Contract with the McIntyre Brothers (1916-18)
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/24 – Annual Revisions 1918-1930
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/18 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/37 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
8. Irish Builder (1916-18)
9. Belfast Street Directories (1918-1995)
10. First Survey Record – HB26/50/116 (1976)
11. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (c. 1970)

Secondary Sources
1. Connolly, S. J., ‘Oxford companion to Irish history’ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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

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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three bay former Tuberculosis Clinic, built 1917 to designs by Young and Mackenzie. Detailing is concentrated in the principal elevation of brick enlivened by banding and a figurative keystone and Belfast coat of arms executed in sandstone. Although the design is not of the best quality and the building is compromised by modern extensions and internal refurbishment, much historic fabric survives. It is primarily of interest with respect to its history in the field of public health and changing approaches to dealing with tuberculosis, a major problem in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.