56-60 North Street and 2-10 Lower Garfield Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey-with-attic red brick building in the Queen Anne Revivalist style, constructed to the designs of Graeme Watt & Tulloch, c.1896. Roughly L-shaped on plan comprising a curving long axis along Lower Garfield Street and a gabled return fronting North Street. Built in conjunction with Nos.12-14 Lower Garfield Street (HB26/50/322B), the group comprises a series of shops across the ground floor with public halls above, all now vacant and derelict except for No.8. Punctuated by prominent roof-line including gabled attics, wall head dormers, belfries and multiple chimneys.

Steeply pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge-tiles; five red-brick largely corbelled chimneys; a pair of octagonal louvred and lead-domed belfries to ridge-line; parapet extends above eaves (excluding rear elevation), having prominent wall head dormers to principal elevations. Generally aluminium ogee rainwater goods (with some uPVC) mounted on moulded projecting stone eaves course; mounted on plain timber fascia to overhanging eaves of rear. Walling is red brick laid in Flemish bond with an irregular series of gables and chimneys on the wallhead over a unifying heavy cornice. Windows are generally boarded up but those remaining are 1/1 segmental-headed timber sashes with projecting stone sills. First floor windows (blocked) are tall and narrow, set in moulded stucco architraves lugged at base and scrolled keystones, with a continuous linking cill course (except where otherwise stated). Remaining windows have plain surrounds and projecting stone sills, generally containing 1/1 timber sashes. Shops are set below a heavy moulded stone cornice and entablature, supported on panelled pilasters which separate each unit; a similar motif of plain brick pilasters rise from corbels at first floor window head level, extending through the cornice to the parapet and dividing the multiple gables and chimneys. Ground floor units are completely boarded up (excluding No.8)

Principal elevation faces east along North Street, comprising a chamfered corner to far-right along Lower Garfield Street, which has a single window to first floor with curved balustrade in front; ground floor entance door is blocked. Remaining elevation is asymmetrical with five windows to first floor and a brick gable above to the left-side, having two windows.

Rear elevation is generally convex; ground floor obscured by single-storey brick boundary wall. Gabled-bay of far-right return advances with a blank gable, left cheek is one opening wide and abuts to main building. Central proportion contains irregular flat-arched windows on first and second floor levels (first floor blocked); far-left proportion has three tall and narrow round-headed windows at first floor, extending through to second floor, with corresponding attic dormers above.

West elevation is abutted by adjoining section of terrace (HB26/50/322B).

North elevation is asymmetrical; far left bay contains a tripartite blind arcade/arch to first floor with shop unit below and similar gable to North Street elevation, above to attic level. Remaining elevation is asymmetrical, five openings wide on first floor each generally having corresponding shop units below (all blocked); fourth window from right-side contains former entrance to upper floor halls, denoted by scrolled and broken pediment to cornice, above the now blocked and modified doorway. As with North Street elevation, large iron ventilation grilles are set in the wall below each window. The ground floor shop of No.8 is modern timber sheeted with large window to left; vinyl sign over and externally mounted roller shutter; chamfered entrance bay to right having original decorative floor tiles; panelled timber and glazed door into shop porch. Above No.8 is the remains of a cast iron decorative lamp, possibly for gas.

Setting
The building addresses the eastern end of Lower Garfield Street with a concave curve, extending for a short distance along North Street. The building constitutes an important element of townscape in an area that has lost many historic buildings in recent decades, its roofscape being visible for some distance. It relates to the Deer's Head on the opposite side of Lower Garfield Street, and also to the North Street Arcade (HB26/50/199), located a short distance to the north-east. Lower Garfield Street is pedestrianised, a single-storey brick wall bounds the perimeter to the rear of the building which addresses a large open area used for car parking.

Roof: Slated
Walls: Red brick with stone/stucco dressings
Windows: Timber sash
Rwg: Cast iron, aluminium and uPVC

Historical information

Avenue Hall, a derelict two-storey redbrick building situated at the corner of North Street and Lower Garfield Street, was constructed in 1896 and incorporates ground level shopfronts at nos 56-60 North Street and nos 4-14 Lower Garfield Street. Whilst the ground floor was utilised as shop units, the upper floors of the building were divided into two large meeting halls which also included a number of individual office spaces, occupied by commercial and business tenants. Avenue Hall was constructed by a Mr. John Donnelly, a local publican who established the Deer’s Head public house at nos 68-76 North Street in c. 1885 (Belfast Street Directories).

Patton states that the Avenue Hall was designed by Graeme, Watt & Tulloch, a local architectural firm formed in 1895 by Robert Graeme Watt (c. 1849-c. 1915) and Frederick Henry Tulloch (1863-1953). The firm was predominantly known for its design of commercial buildings in the centre of Belfast and was also responsible for the design of the State Buildings on Arthur Street (HB26/50/100) and William Ross & Son’s Mineral Water factory on William Street South (HB26/50/177) (Patton, p. 248; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Avenue Hall was divided into two main sections each possessing a large upper meeting hall with a number of commercial shops below; each element of which continues to possess an individual street address. Avenue Hall No. 1 is the larger of the two halls and consists of nos 56-60 North Street and nos 2-10 Lower Garfield Street.

The Upper Hall

No. 4 Lower Garfield Street, which was the street address of the upper meeting and function hall on the first floor, was completed in 1896 and was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in the following year. The valuer noted that No. 4 consisted of a ballroom, a supper room and dressing rooms, all of which were leased by John Donnelly; the total value of the hall was set at £122 10s. No. 4 Lower Garfield Street was slightly decreased in value to £119 5s. under the Belfast Revaluation (1900) which also noted that the hall extended from the second floor of the North Street façade (above nos 56-60 North Street) to the upper floor of No. 10 Lower Garfield Street.

The 1901 Belfast Street Directory notes that No. 4 Lower Garfield Street was not permanently occupied at that time. By 1907 the hall had been acquired by a Union Organisation, the ‘Amalgamated Union of Labour,’ which utilised Avenue Hall No. 1 as its meeting place. The umbrella union consisted of a number of organisations which occupied the second floor offices and included the Blacksmith’ Society, the Bricklayers’ Society, Brassfounders’ Society, Tailors’ Society, and the Vintners’ and Grocers’ Assistants’ Society (Belfast Street Directory – 1901). The value of No. 4 Lower Garfield Street was increased to £131 as a result of the occupation of the site by the union.

The Amalgamated Union of Labour continued to occupy the upper rooms of Avenue Hall No. 1 until at least the end of the Annual Revisions, which were cancelled in 1930; by the end of the valuation the value of No. 4 Lower Garfield Street had been significantly reduced and stood at £77 15s. (the reason for this decrease was not detailed by the valuer). By 1935 the Amalgamated Union of Labour continued to occupy a number of the offices on the upper floor of the building and in that year the value of No. 4 Lower Garfield Street was increased to £159 5s. under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. Avenue Hall survived the heavy bombardment of Belfast’s city centre during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War the building was, again, revalued under the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. By the 1950s No. 4 Lower Garfield Street was no longer occupied by the Amalgamated Union of Labour and had been taken over by a Mr. Thomas Forsythe who converted the first floor halls and offices into a Bookmakers resulting in the value of the site being increased to £220 by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

The Ground Floor Units

The upper hall of Avenue Hall No. 1 was built over seven shop units situated on the ground floor; these included nos 56-60 North Street and nos 2-10 Lower Garfield Street (No. 60 North Street and No. 2 Garfield Street lay at the corner of the building and formed a single retail unit).

No. 56 North Street, the first shop on the row, was originally valued at £55 upon its completion in 1896; the first occupant of the unit was a Mr. J. Clintock who was employed as a bird dealer, however he vacated the site in 1900 when Allington & Co., an American shoe store, came into possession. In that year No. 56 North Street was increased in value to £58 under the Belfast Revaluation. Allington & Co. continued to occupy the unit until at least the 1970s. During this period there was no alteration to the shop aside from changes in its rateable value; in 1935 the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland increased the value of the unit to £105 and in the aftermath of the Second World War the value was set at £176 under the second revaluation which ended in 1972.

No. 58 North Street was initially valued at £52 in 1896 and was occupied by Thomas Rainey, a watchmaker and jeweller; under the Belfast Revaluation of 1900 the rateable value of No. 58 was increased to £58. Rainey continued to operate his business from No. 58 North Street until his death in 1912 at which time his business was taken over by a Mr. William Graham (also a watchmaker and jeweller) (PRONI Wills). William Graham continued to operate from the premises in 1935 when the first general revaluation increased the value of the unit to £105. By the end of the second revaluation in 1972 the rateable value of the shop had been further increased to £176. At that time the shop was no longer used as a jewellers; it is not known what kind of business operated from the unit at that time, however it is known that the manager was a Mr. Samuel Brown who continued to lease the site from the estate of John Donnelly.

No. 60 North Street and No. 2 Lower Garfield Street, the corner shop, was valued at £95 in 1896 and was originally occupied by Griffin Wards, a boot and shoe manufacturer. Under the 1900 Belfast Revaluation the rateable value of No. 60 was increased to £115 at which it remained until the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930. The corner shop continued to be occupied as a boot and shoe shop until at least the 1970s, however by 1910 Griffin Wards was replaced as the manager by a Mr. John Faulkner. In 1935 Faulkner was still working at the site by the first general revaluation which increased the value of the unit to £205. By the 1950s Faulkner’s shoe shop had been taken over by W. J. McManus & Son., which was also a shoe manufacturer and continued to occupy the ground floor unit until the end of the second revaluation; by 1972 the total rateable value of No. 60 North Street and No. 2 Lower Garfield Street stood at £760.

No. 6 Lower Garfield Street was valued at £32 in 1896. By the Belfast Revaluation (1900) the unit had been occupied by a Ms. Marie Shaw, resulting in an increase in the value of the site to £37; the valuer noted that the shop was fitted with gas installations and that Shaw paid annual rent of £45 to John Donnelly for the lease. Marie Shaw & Co., a wallpaper retailer continued to occupy No. 6 Lower Garfield Street until 1970. The value of the shop remained at £32 until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930; the value was subsequently increased to £62 under the first general revaluation in 1935. Marie Shaw & Co. did not vacate No. 6 Lower Garfield Street until 1970 when the shop unit fell vacant; by the end of the second revaluation in 1972 the value of the empty unit stood at £120.

No. 8 Lower Garfield Street was valued at £32 upon its completion in 1896. By 1900 the Belfast Revaluation noted that the unit had been occupied by the National Electric Wiring Co. Ltd. resulting in an increase in the value of the shop to £37; the valuer noted that, like the adjoining units, the shop was fitted with gas installations and that the occupant paid annual rent of £45 to John Donnelly for the lease. The Electric Wiring Co. Ltd. only briefly occupied No. 8 Lower Garfield Street and by 1907 had been replaced with the National Cash Register Co. Ltd., (manufacturers of mechanical cash registers since 1884); however, in the following year the unit once again lay vacant. By 1910 No. 8 had been re-occupied and was being used as an Ice Cream Saloon, however, once more, the occupants only briefly remained at the site and by 1918 No. 8 Lower Garfield Street passed to a Mrs. T. Savage who operated a hairdressing salon from the premises (Belfast Street Directories). By the end of the Annual Revisions the value of No. 8 Lower Garfield Street remained at £37, however, under the first revaluation, the value of the retail unit was increased to £62 in 1935; at that time the property was occupied by a Mr. Hugh McAlevey and was simply described as a ‘shop’ without citing further details (the Belfast Street Directory notes that McAlevey was a publican who operated a public house on the Falls Road). By the 1950s the unit was occupied by a Mr. T. McGlinchy, however it is not known what the shop was utilised as at that time; by the end of the second revaluation the value of the unit stood at £120.

No. 10 Lower Garfield Street, the final ground floor unit situated below Avenue Hall No. 1, was valued at £32 in 1896. The Belfast Revaluation records that by 1900 No. 10 Lower Garfield Street had been occupied by The Magpie, presumably a local editorial that utilised the unit as its offices; in 1900 the valuer increased the rateable value of No. 10 to £37. By 1901 the ground floor shop had been occupied by The Belfast Critic, another local paper that was managed by P. J. Glasgow as editor; the Belfast Street Directory notes that Glasgow was an agent to The Irish Builder, an architectural trade journal that began life as the Dublin Builder in 1859 before changing its name in 1867 to reflect its coverage of architectural developments throughout the rest of the island. The Belfast Critic only briefly occupied No. 10 Lower Garfield Street and by 1907 the unit once again lay vacant. The tenants of the shop continued to change with some frequency; in 1908 No. 10 was occupied by the Belfast Tailors’ Co-Partnership Ltd., and by 1910 George A. Fowler, a ladies and gentlemen’s tailor, had taken over the premises (Belfast Street Directories). By 1918 No. 10 Lower Garfield Street had been occupied by John Bell who established an opticians shop and photography studio at the site. By the end of the Annual Revisions the value of No. 10 remained at £37, however under the first revaluation the value of the retail unit was increased to £62 in 1935. John Bell’s continued to occupy No. 10 Lower Garfield Street until the end of the second revaluation in 1972 and in the final year of the project the value of the shop unit stood at £120.

Lower Garfield Street, the sole remaining section of the much longer Garfield Street (demolished in the 1980s to make way for Castlecourt Shopping Centre), was laid out in the 1890s and replaced Round Entry, a Y-shaped lane which had connected Hercules Lane with North Street. Patton states that Round Entry was a precarious and dangerous alleyway where ‘deeds of villainy are perpetrated … and unwary youths were inebriated, robbed, and then turned out guilty, ruined, stricken, with a sting in their conscience and a stain upon their character’ (Patton, p. 281 – quoting an original source). Round Entry was cleared along with Hercules Lane in the 1880s redevelopment which formed Royal Avenue; Garfield Street was laid out first in the 1880s whilst the curving Lower Garfield Street was formed a decade later providing a less nefarious passage between North Street and Royal Avenue. Garfield Street was named in memory of the American President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) who was assassinated in 1881 but did not die until 80 days after being shot; in the months before Garfield’s death there were many expressions of support for the ailing president from countries all around the world and, with his death, the newly laid out thoroughfare in Belfast was renamed Garfield Street as a small memorial to the fallen premier.

Avenue Hall was constructed along Lower Garfield Street in 1896; Patton, writing in 1994, described the entire structure as a ‘two-storey building in redbrick with stucco details to tall narrow windows and truncated gables; chamfered corner … two small octagonal roof lanterns and a variety of corbelled brick chimneys; side elevation (nos 4-14) curves round following street line, with a central broken pediment flanked by gabled dormers, and scrolled pediments over shopfronts’ (Patton p. 249).

Avenue Hall No. 1 and its ground floor shop units continued to be utilised as commercial premises until the late-20th century; the First Survey Image only depicts the Lower Garfield side of Avenue Hall No. 1, however the image records that the upper hall of No. 4 Lower Garfield Street continued to be utilised as a Bookmakers until at least 1984, No. 6 Lower Garfield Street continued to lay vacant in 1984 and that No. 10 Lower Garfield Street, having been occupied by John Bell’s optician and photography studio since c. 1918, had been replaced by 1984 by ‘The Box,’ a greetings card shop (First Survey Image).

The entire block was listed in 1991, however, as a result of a fire that severely damaged the building, Avenue Hall was abandoned in the late-20th century; nos 56-60 North Street and nos 4-14 Lower Garfield Street are currently lying vacant and have fallen into an advanced state of disrepair with all of its windows and entrances boarded up. The only part of the building to remain open is No. 8 Lower Garfield Street which is occupied by Tivoli, a men’s barbers; the First Survey Image records that Tivoli has occupied the No. 8 unit since at least 1984. In September 2012 plans for a £360 million development of the area between Royal Avenue and the Cathedral Quarter were approved by the Department of the Environment; the proposed redevelopment includes the renovation of the former Assembly Buildings on Bridge Street and, according to an artist’s impression, the redevelopment will involve the restoration of Avenue Hall, however at the time of writing the project has not proceeded past the initial planning stage (BBC Website).

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/12/B/43/C/18-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930
5. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/20 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/40 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
8. PRONI Wills Catalogue (10 Nov 1911)
9. Belfast Street Directories (1901-1918)
10. First Survey Record – HB26/50/200 (No Date)
11. First Survey Image – HB26/50/200 (1984)
12. 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. BBC News Website (5 Sept 2012) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19474446

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A moderately grand, three storey red brick building with curving elevation and return built in the Queen Anne Revivalist style c1896 to designs by Graeme-Watt & Tulloch. Forming part of a group with Nos 2-10 Lower Garfield Street & 56-60 North Street (HB26/50/322A) that is characterised by free Renaissance-style motifs and by the prominent roof line that is punctuated by lead capped turrets, pedimented gables and attic dormers. Designed as a complete block the group comprised two large public halls over a series of shop units to the ground floor. Although compromised by some loss of historic fabric and detailing this is a good example of the type, representing the development of the commercial centre of Belfast and the work of a practice of note.

General comments

Record has been renumbered. Previously part of (HB26/50/200A-H).