Central Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three storey building, designed in 1959 by Gibson and Taylor architects in Scandinavian influenced Modern Style. It sits on the north side of Rosemary Street.

The flat roof to the main section of building has large overhanging eaves with Greek key motif mouldings to the soffit, the northwest corner tower has a pitched tiled roof. The walls are Flemish bonded brown brick with a concrete string at cill level of the second floor windows and at the top of the ground floor tiled walling. The windows are flat lintelled with raised concrete reveals with, on the first floor only, scalloped heads. The windows are metal framed with centrally pivoted openings. Door unseen.

The side south elevation has 8 regularly spaced 6-paned diminished windows to the second floor; the first floor has 5 tall 18 paned windows; the ground floor is a mixture of modern shop fronts.

The entrance west elevation has a tower set back to the north corner which has an arched window with corbelled brick balcony at second floor level, a central tall 30 paned window on the first floor, a shuttered entrance door with projecting cornice to ground floor. The main section of the building is symmetrical with three windows to the second floor matching those to the south elevation; the first floor window has irregular multi panes; a curved, scalloped screen sits centrally on ground floor topped with a balconette with metal rod balustrade.

The north elevation has the gable to the tower on the west corner, the flat roof steps down twice to the east from 5 storeys to three. Two windows are located on the fifth floor of the tall section; irregular windows are located across the four and three storey sections. A metal fire escape stair gives access to a first floor double doors to the east.

The east elevation is abutted by a four storey modern building.

Setting:
The side wall of Central Hall sits on the north side of the pedestrian Rosemary Street. To the east is Rosemary Street Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church (HB26/50/054), opposite is HB26/50/035.

Schedule:
Roof: Unseen
Walls: Brick
Windows: Metal
RWGs: Unseen.

Historical information

Central Hall, a three-storey rustic-brick building consisting of retail units at ground level with a meeting hall occupying the floors above, was constructed in 1958-59 to designs by Robert Hanna Gibson (1890-1979); the Irish Builder notes that Gibson designed Central Hall whilst in partnership with E. D. Taylor whilst the builder contracted to undertake the design was J. Buckley & Sons of Belfast (Irish Builder, p. 885; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Central Hall was first recorded in the valuation sources in 1960, when the Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland valued the newly-completed structure at £740, noting that the ground floor retail units were occupied by Duffs (Food) Ltd; there was no change to either the value or the occupants of the ground level by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

Central Hall is the third known building to stand on the current site. Rosemary Street was laid out by 1715 when it was known as ‘Rosemary Lean;’ the street is notable for having once possessed three Presbyterian Churches (of which only the First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church (HB26/50/054) at No. 41 survives). Rosemary Street First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church was erected in 1781-1783 to designs by Roger Mulholland; the church’s original manse was constructed alongside the building and occupied a site on the western corner of the current Central Hall building. The manse was the birthplace of Dr. William Drennan (1754-1820) whose father was minister of the adjoining church. A radical nationalist in his youth, Drennan was a founding member of the United Irishmen, however he left the Society in 1794 and was not involved in the 1798 Rebellion; later in his life Drennan worked as a physician and helped to establish the Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023); he also published poetry and articles, coining the phrase ‘the Emerald Isle’ in a poem titled When Erin first rose (Dictionary of Ulster Biography).

The Presbyterian Manse was demolished by at least 1886 when a Presbyterian Church Hall was erected on the site. The Irish Builder states that the new building consisted of a lecture hall, and included a schoolroom and shops at ground level. The foundation stone was laid in 1885 and the building was opened in January of 1886; the hall, which was designed to seat 350 and was known as ‘Central Hall,’ was designed by William J. Fennell (Irish Builder, p. 32; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Central Hall continued to stand for over fifty years; the Belfast Street Directories record that in 1918 the building was occupied by a number of organisations including a dancing school, an elocution classroom and the Ulster Unitarian Christian Association Head Offices (Belfast Street Directories – 1918).

In 1941 Central Hall was destroyed during the Belfast Blitz when many of the buildings along neighbouring High Street and Bridge Street were demolished creating large areas of waste ground in the centre of the city. The vacant plot was not built over until 1958-59 when the second incarnation of Central Hall was erected by Gibson & Taylor. Writing in 1993, Patton described Central Hall as a ‘three-storey building in brown brick. Tall metal windows in narrow frilly-topped ‘picture frame’ surrounds t first-floor; small square attic windows under deep eaves ornamented with Greek key pattern. Higher portion behind with pitched pantile roof and corbelled balcony’ (Patton, p. 277). Like its predecessor, Central Hall consists of a number of ground floor retail units whilst the upper floors of the building were intended for church use and social gatherings.

On 24th June 2002 an Ulster History Circle plaque was unveiled on the western gable of Central Hall to commemorate the birth of Dr. William Drennan. The plaque reads: ‘Dr. William / DRENNAN / 1754-1820 / Patriot & Radical / Born in the Manse / on this site.’

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/41 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
5. Irish Builder, Vol. 18 (15 Jan 1886); Vol. 101 (28 Nov 1959)
6. Belfast Street Directories (1918-1943)
7. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources

1. 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 History Circle website - http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/240602.htm
3. Dictionary of Ulster Biography - http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A three storey building built 1959 to designs by Gibson & Taylor architects in Scandinavian influenced Modern Style. Adjacent to the Non-Subscribing Church(HB26/50/054) to which it belongs. The building has a simplicity of design and detail which, although a different idiom, is in the same spirit as the adjacent Church. The proportions express the building's function as a hall and it is of interest as a surviving example of a style that was used in other public buildings and factories throughout the Province. The history of the site and its association with the church are also of interest. It is one of the works of a practice of note who were involved in several significant public works.

General comments

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