93-101 Royal Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1FE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A five storey, with attic to corner, commercial building. Originally Sinclair's Department Store it was designed as the second two stages by James Scott in 1935 to form the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street. It is in the Art Deco style with a more modern interpretation than the original 1926 building.

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

The pediments have blocked keystones, the main one flanked by geometric volutes. The windows are divided by fluted mullions: convex between attic and concave between the tall first to third floor bays. The tall bays have an inset architrave; the windows separated at each floor level by a solid panel with stepped and circular decoration with ‘S’ motif. A black string course runs at first floor cill level.

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

The west elevation of is 2 windows wide with a stepped pediment over.

The northwest corner elevation has a grand stepped pediment, clock digits set in to faience, flanked by vertical inset panels over 5 window bays. To the west is a canted corner with 1 window bay. The windows reflect those on the west elevation. At ground floor level projects a deep canopy with replacement? Moulded metal fascia.

North elevation mirrors the west elevation.

The south elevation is completely abutted by HB26/50/186A).

Setting:
89-101 Royal Avenue sits directly on the east side pavement of the major commercial street of Royal Avenue turning the corner to 92-102 North St. forming a dominant corner of this major intersection. The building is abutted by listed building HB26/50/186A to the south. On the facing corners of the junction are listed buildings HB26/50/184, (HB26/50/187) Bank of Ireland and HB26/50/68..

Schedule:
Roof: Unseen.
Walling: Faience
Windows: Metal Casement
RWG: Hidden within construction.

Historical information

Nos 89-101 Royal Avenue (including nos 92-102 North Street), a four-storey former department store was originally constructed in 1926 (HB 26/50/186A); the distinctive five-storey Art-Deco extension to the north of the original building (at the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street) was constructed in 1935-36.

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 architect employed to design both the 1926 building, and its 1930s extension, was 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 practise 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 (Irish Builder, p. 1050; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

The Annual Revisions note 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. The First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland, carried out in 1935 immediately prior to the erection of the five-storey extenion, set the value of the 1926 building at £2,000.

Sinclair & Co. extended their new department store to the north in 1935-36 with the addition of the five-storey Art-Deco block at the corner of Royal Avenue and North Street. The design, again carried out by James Scott, was executed in the architecturally modern style which was popular in the interwar period and was characterised by ornamentation, eclecticism and stark geometric shapes; unlike its predecessor Art Nouveau, which was concerned with the natural aesthetic, Art Deco was an expression of the modern mechanical world (Irish Builder, p. 73). 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 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.

One of the few examples of the Art Deco movement in Northern Ireland, Sinclair’s former department store (also known as Sinclair House) was constructed opposite an earlier experiment in the style, the Bank of Ireland Building which had been erected in 1928-30. In stark contrast to the classical 1926 block, Patton described the adjoining 1935-36 extension as a ‘distinctive five-storey Art Deco faience building with modernistic clock on zig-zag pediment at chamfered corner with North street; upper floor windows with panels marked “S” (Sinclair) set in narrow recesses between fluted columns’ (Patton, p. 284; Larmour, p. 90). The contrast between the classical faience façade of the 1926 building and its Art Deco extension is illustrative of the eclectic styles and modern methods that were employed in the construction of Northern Ireland’s architecture during the interwar period.

During the Northern Ireland Troubles Royal Avenue was pedestrianised; increased security presence on the street resulted in many of the 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 Belfast city centre’s 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 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 five storey corner building, built in 1935 by James Scott. It is a rare example in the City of both the use of faience and Art Deco style. Much historic fabric and detailing survive. It has added significance as an extension, in a later development of the common style, to the adjoining original building (HB26/50/186A) of 1926 to the south. 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.