89-91 Royal Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1FE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A four storey commercial building, originally Sinclair's Department Store, and designed by James Scott in1926. The building sits on the east side of Royal Avenue and extends to form the south side of North Street, an extension (HB 26/50/186B) was added to the north in 1935 to form the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street. The 1926 building is in the Art Deco style, however, it maintains Classical details.

Flat roof obscured behind parapet, roof edge has plain metal rails. Rainwater goods are hidden behind the structure. Walls are yellow faience.

The the central section of parapet with cross decorated panels rises over the side bays to stepped gables with pilasters, foliate wreaths and torch decoration. The projecting cornice has moulded lions heads, the frieze being fluted over the side bays. The second and third floor have rusticated faience to side bays; giant order pilasters with geometric volutes and foliate tassle capitals; panels with geometric swags and foliate wreaths; a fluted string course runs below second floor cills. The tall side bay windows are accentuated by moulded architraves with floral bosses and moulded head keystones; the central windows to second and third floors are flat faience arches; to the first floor window openings have moulded architraves with block keystones. The windows are replacement metal casements. The entrance with original metal canopy houses double 5 coffered doors.

The ground floor is replacement polished red granite with replacement shop windows.

The west elevation has 3 central windows flanked by narrower windows to the sides, which rise full height between second and third floor. The entrance door sits in the south bay.

The north elevation is completely abutted by HB26/50/186B, the 1936 extension.

North elevation mirrors the west elevation.

The south elevation is completely abutted by HB26/50/185.

Setting

89-101 Royal Avenue sits directly on the east side pavement of the major commercial street of Royal Avenue extending to form 92-102 North St.. The building is abutted by Nos 81-87 (HB26/50/185) to the south and Sinclair House (HB26/50/186B) to the north.

Roof: Unseen
Walling: Faience
Windows: Metal
RWG: Hidden

Historical information

Nos 89-101 Royal Avenue (including nos 92-102 North Street), a four-storey former department store was constructed in 1926; the store was extended to the north in 1935-36 when the distinctive five-storey Art-Deco façade at the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street was added (HB 26/50/186B). The original 1920s block of the department store was constructed for Sinclair & Co., a drapers firm who had occupied an earlier late-Victorian premises at the corner of Royal Avenue from c. 1900. The Irish Builder records that Sinclair & Co. Demolished the earlier building on the site and replaced it with the current four-storey faience building in 1926; the architect employed to design the building was a Mr. James Scott. A Belfast-based architect, Scott (c. 1878-1949/50) practised in the city from 1903; however it is believed that he may have fought in the First World War as he carried out no work between the years 1916 and 1923. Upon returning to his practice in 1923 ‘he was chiefly involved in commercial and suburban domestic work in Belfast;’ the Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that Sinclair’s department store was his most conspicuous landmark. The builder contracted to carry out Scott’s design was J. & R. Thompson (Irish Builder, p. 1050; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Upon its completion the four-storey building, which possessed a similar design at both its Royal Avenue and North Street facades, was valued at £1,056 (the former late-Victorian department store which was demolished in c. 1925 had been valued at £235). The valuer notes that Sinclair & Co. Leased the site from a consortium of prominent Belfast landlords which included Matilda McClean, the Earl of Shaftsbury, and the representatives of Joseph J. Biggar’s estate who owned the plot outright. By the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935 the value of the building had been greatly increased to £2,000.

Within less than a decade, Sinclair & Co. Extended their new department store to the north with the addition of the five-storey Art-Deco block at the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street (see HB26/50/186B). Sinclair’s Department Store was reopened in 1936; however the building was not revalued until twenty years later; having survived the 1941 Belfast Blitz unscathed Sinclair’s building was included in the second general revaluation of property in 1956. In that year the four-storey department store and its five-storey extension was jointly revalued at £6,200; this rating was deemed too high by the owners and by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value had been reduced to £4,640.

Patton described the original 1926 block as a ‘custard coloured faience building with mostly horizontal fenestration. Giant order pilasters at second and third floor with Greek key ‘ionic’ capitals with central laurel drops; outer bays set slightly forward with tall windows at upper floors with female head keystones and corner rosettes, and raised features on parapet decorated with wreath flanked by torches; St. Andrew’s crosses on parapet, above cornice ornamented with small lions’ (Patton, p. 284).

During the Northern Ireland Troubles Royal Avenue was pedestrianised; increased security presence on the street resulted in many high street stores becoming targets for bomb and vandalism attacks. On 12th July 1971 Sinclair & Co.’s Department Store was damaged in a bomb attack and, although the damage was relatively minor, the store was closed on 1st September 1972 as a result of general commercial decline; the building was subsequently sold to a Japanese firm for £60,000. Sinclair House was listed in 1989 and since that time it has continued to be utilised as commercial premises; the ground floor units of both the 1926 and 1935 36 blocks are currently lying vacant whilst the upper floors have been converted into modern office space and are the offices for McConnell Surveyors (Modern Britain website).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/40-44 - Annual Revisions 1924-1930
4. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/41 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
6. Irish Builder, Vol. 74 (19 Nov 1932); Vol. 78 (25 Jan 1936).
7. Belfast Street Directories (1901-1918)
8. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13NE (1959-60)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
2. 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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This four storey corner building, built in two stages 1926 by James Scott. This is a rare example in the City of both the use of faience and the early Art Deco style. Much historic fabric and detailing survive. It is significant grouped with its later extension (HB26/50/186B), which is a good example of how the architect developed the Art Deco style. Together they form a notable development in the expansion of the commercial centre of Belfast in the early 20th century and the growth of department stores locally.