Masonic Hall, Hamilton Road, Bangor, Co Down

Bangor Masonic Hall, Hamilton Road

This is a symmetrical two-storey, five-bay neo-Baroque Masonic Hall built around 1880, designed by John Boyd CE, with construction carried out by the contractors McLaughlin and Harvey. The foundation stone was laid on 5th August 1882, and the finished building was described by the Belfast Newsletter the following year as "an ornament to the town." It was erected for Lodge No. 746, Bangor, which was at the time the largest Masonic lodge by membership in the north of Ireland, with upwards of a hundred members. The site was donated by Robert E. Ward, landlord of the town, and Lord Clanmorris of Bangor Castle — Ward's son-in-law and the lodge's Worshipful Master — raised approximately half of the total construction cost of £1,200 before the foundation stone was even laid. The laying of the stone was reported as the grandest spectacle ever witnessed in the town, with an estimated crowd of 6,000 and a thousand Masons present. A sealed casket containing coins, newspapers, and a parchment scroll bearing the names of lodge members was placed into a cavity in the foundation stone.

The building has a rectangular plan with Dutch gables and a large two-storey, two-bay gabled return to the rear, its roof pitch running parallel to the main block and forming an internal gutter. The roof is covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, ventilation lanterns on the ridge, and cast-iron rainwater goods — the gutters break through the parapet to drain into hopper heads.

The walls are finished in ruled-and-lined render with stucco moulded string courses and decorative detailing throughout, and pilaster quoins. The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged. At ground floor level, windows have segmental arches, moulded surrounds with squared heels, and curved hood mouldings on side brackets; the glazing is timber sliding sash, two-over-four panes. At first floor level, the windows are leaded and round-headed with moulded surrounds comprising scrolled heels and stepped imposts. Continuous moulded sill courses run throughout both floors.

The entrance doorcase is a centrepiece of the façade. It features four raised-panel double-leaf doors set within a stilted round arch with a fanlight, moulded surround, and central keyblock. The doorcase is flanked by Corinthian pilasters that extend above the cornice, with Masonic symbols — an open bible and square and compass — to the frieze, and a segmental pediment with moulded drop dentils, set back at the centre and aligned with the first floor cornice. Above the entrance, on a slightly projecting central bay, pilasters rise to meet a moulding enclosing five- and six-pointed stars, with a segmental hood moulding on moulded brackets at window arch level. The balustraded parapet has corner urns and a central curved gable with scroll base bearing the monogram "BMH" (Bangor Masonic Hall). The chimney on this elevation was removed around 1980.

The left (east) gable has plain pilasters rising to moulded eaves, surmounted by a decorative Dutch gable and chimneystack. It has a single door to the left with a first floor window above, and a single ground floor window to the right of centre. The right (west) gable mirrors the left, with ground and first floor windows flanking a chimney breast, a string course at first floor level, and a blank moulded panel surmounted by a pediment at the first floor central bay. An extended section to the right of this gable presents a diminutive Dutch-gabled façade two windows wide. Urns are positioned over pilasters throughout.

The rear (south) elevation is partly obscured by the two-storey return, which adjoins the left and centre bays of the main block. The right-hand portion of the rear elevation is a blank exposed wall. The right gable of the rear return is plain, with various single and bipartite square-headed one-over-one sliding sash windows and casement windows. The left gable of the return is decorated to match the style of the main building.

The interior, as described at the time of completion, comprised a reading room and library on the ground floor, separated from a large billiard room by folding doors that could be opened to combine the two spaces for public meetings. Caretaker's apartments were located to the right. A wide staircase leads to the upper floor, where the lodge room and ante-rooms are situated. The lodge room was described by the Belfast Newsletter as "very spacious" and "certainly one of the finest rooms of the kind in Ireland," with great care taken in even the smallest details.

The building sits on a compact site on Hamilton Road, one of Bangor's principal thoroughfares. The front boundary is defined by a concrete balustraded parapet wall with a mild steel gate and stucco moulded piers. Sweeping stone steps with matching balusters and a moulded handrail lead up to the entrance. To the east, a ramped rubble masonry wall is shared with the adjacent building. The hall sits alongside other notable civic and ecclesiastical buildings: the Dufferin Memorial Hall and St Comgall's Parish Church are immediately adjacent, and Wesley Centenary Methodist Church is nearby. Two-storey Victorian residential terraces surround the building to the west and south, with two-storey mixed-use development to the north.

In 1934, improvements were carried out to the building under the supervision of architects Ferguson and McIlveen. The building is located within the Bangor Central Area of Townscape Character.