12-14 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. Rectangular on plan comprising a curving elevation along Lower Garfield Street, this proportion forms the western end of a larger terrace (HB26/50/322A), which extends west and embraces the corner at the junction with North Street. The building contains a public meeting hall to the upper floor, accessed via No.12 and a ground floor shop unit to the chamfered corner at No.14. The entire building group is currently vacant and derelict, with the exception of No.8 (part of HB26/50/322A).

Steeply pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge-tiles; red-brick parapet extends above eaves (excluding rear elevation) and is interrupted at west elevation by large gable containing a pair of small segmental headed windows in plain surrounds. Generally aluminium ogee rainwater goods mounted on moulded projecting eaves course; uPVC mounted on plain timber fascia to overhanging eaves of rear. Walling is red brick laid in Flemish bond with stucco dressings. Principal first floor windows (blocked) are tall and narrow, set in moulded stucco architraves having lugged bases and scrolled keystones, linked by a continuous cill course (except where otherwise stated). Remaining windows have plain surrounds, segmental heads, projecting stone sills and generally contain 1/1 timber sashes. Heavily moulded cornice and entablature above units at ground floor level, supported on panelled timber 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. Ground floor units are completely boarded/blocked up.

Principal elevation is asymmetrical and concave, facing north. Two openings wide with an additional chamfered bay to the far right-side; the cornice over ground floor chamfered bay is curved and surmounted by a projecting stucco balustrade. Right-side of ground floor contains large tripartite, multi-pane window; left-side features a scrolled and broken pediment to the cornice, over the now blocked doorway, which is framed in modern tiles.

East elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace (HB26/50/322A).

South (rear) elevation is convex, devoid of parapet or ornamentation. The roofline at eaves level decsends from west to east and much of the elevation is abutted by various red-brick returns. That to the right is monopitched (roof material underterminated), breaking through eaves; a plain flat-arched window to upper left-cheek and two pairs to the right-cheek; view of remaining elevation obstructed by boundary red-brick wall. Two-storey mono-pitched return to left-side abuts to south-west corner of right-return; elevation is abutted by boundary wall; two narrow timber sashes to right-cheek; left cheek forms part of west elevation and contains a camber-arched doorway (blocked), two flat-arched openings and a pair of similarly detailed windows over; mouldings over shop unit extend across this right-cheek.

West elevation contains single commercial unit to ground floor having a large bricked up opening over continuous polished grantite cill; first floor is blank except for single camber-arched 1/1 sash to far right-side.

Setting
The building addresses the south-eastern end of Lower Garfield Street with a concave curve and forms part of a large terrace in conjunction with the adjoining premises Nos.2-10 Lower Garfield Street & 56-60 North Street (HB26/50/322A). This proportion (Nos.12-14) features a chamfered north-west corner with an alley way running south, parallel to the west elevation, which separates the structure from the neighbouring building to the west. The building group 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. 2 consists of nos 12 and 14 Lower Garfield Street. No. 12 consists of the ground floor entrance and one of the meeting and function halls on the second floor; it was completed in 1896 and was included in the Annual Revisions in the subsequent year. In 1897 the upper hall lay vacant but was valued at £100. The hall remained empty by the 1900 Belfast Revaluation which decreased the value of the site to £90 and noted that it was installed with gas fittings.

By 1907 the upper hall had been occupied by a Mr. John Smith (from Glasgow), who converted the premises into a Billiards room (which was known as the Palace Billiard Hall); upon conversion of the site into a Billiards hall the value of No. 12 Lower Garfield Street was increased to £178 at which it remained by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. John Smith continued to operate the billiards hall at No. 12 Lower Garfield Street until at least 1935 when the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland increased the rateable value of his premises to £330. 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 revalued under the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. By the 1950s John Smith and the Palace Billiard Hall had vacated No. 12 Lower Garfield Street and by 1956 the upper meeting hall had been acquired by Sinclair’s Department Store, a drapers firm whose main store was located at the neighbouring nos 89-101 Royal Avenue (HB26/50/186). Sinclair’s predominantly utilised Avenue Hall No. 2 as storage space for its main store which lay only meters away; the value of No. 12 Lower Garfield Street stood at £540 by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

Unlike the adjoining Avenue Hall No. 1, which was situated over a number of ground floor shop units (nos 56-60 North Street and nos 2-10 Lower Garfield Street), only a single commercial unit lay underneath Avenue Hall No. 2. No. 14 was situated at the end of the row on Lower Garfield Street and was initially valued at £48 in the Annual Revisions. Like its adjoining meeting hall, the ground floor unit lay vacant in 1897; however by 1900 the site had been established as a public house by John Donnelly who continued to run the Deer’s Head pub on North Street. In that year the Belfast Revaluation increased the value of No. 14 Lower Garfield Street to £89 and noted that the lease had been purchased in 1899 by Robert Weir, a local publican, at a cost of £1,500; the valuer also recorded that Weir paid annual rent of £60 to John Donnelly and that the public house was also fitted with gas installations.

The Garfield Bar, as No. 14 Lower Garfield Street became known, remained open until the late-20th century; in 1935 the value of the pub was slightly increased to £90 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. By the 1950s Garfield Bar was administered by a Ms. Sarah McMahon and by 1972 the rateable value of the pub had risen to £384.

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. 2 continued to be occupied as a warehouse by Sinclair’s department store until the store was closed in 1972 (following a bomb attack on its main department store on Royal Avenue in the previous year).

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-1990s; 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 (only the shop at No. 8 continues to be occupied). 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. Belfast Street Directories (1901-1918)
9. First Survey Record – HB26/50/200 (No Date)
10. First Survey Image – HB26/50/200 (1984)
11. 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 three storey red-brick building with curving elevation and chamfered north-west corner 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).