Abercorn Works sheds (Harland & Wolff), Queens Road, Belfast, BT3 9DV, Co Down

The Abercorn Works sheds formed a large, high-ceilinged assembly works complex attached to the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding yard on Queen's Road, Belfast. The complex originated in 1879–80, when the Harland & Wolff partners erected a large engine works and offices on this site at a cost of £60,000. This original complex was considerably smaller, consisting mainly of timber-clad sheds with Belfast truss roofs. The complex was much added to, renovated and rebuilt in subsequent years, and by 1939 had assumed much of its final form. It was vacated by Harland & Wolff in the 1990s and was demolished between 2000 and 2007 to make way for regeneration.

The complex was wedged into the south-west corner of the shipyard, with Sydenham Road directly to the south, Old Channel Road to the south-west, and Queen's Road to the north-west. The whole grouping was roughly triangular in plan, with the south-west corner of the triangle cut off. The long southern base of the triangle faced onto Sydenham Road, the cut-off corner onto Old Channel Road, the north-west elevation onto Queen's Road, and the long north-east elevation onto further works buildings. Entrances were located to the north-west and north-east.

As with large industrial buildings of this kind that have expanded and evolved over many decades, a number of contrasting building styles and materials were in evidence. Generally the older parts of the structure were in red brick with some simple styling, while galvanised steel and asbestos were used for the later and more utilitarian portions. In places the older sections appeared to have been rebuilt in steel, or had received steel- and asbestos-clad extensions. The roof was a series of northlights, generally running from south-east to north-west, but with a long narrow central section running south-west to north-east behind the large brick façade to the north-west.

The main entrance was to the north-west and consisted of a large metal-clad sliding door, possibly not original, located to the left of centre of a tall, flat-topped brick façade. This façade, probably one of the older sections of the whole structure and dating from approximately 1910–20, had three tall semicircular arch-headed windows with brick arch courses above incorporating keystones, and brick pilasters between. The large doorway cut across the lower half of the central and larger window. The windows were boarded up. Above window level the name "Harland & Wolff" was emblazoned in large raised letters, likely in metal. Immediately to the left of this façade, it was interrupted by a much lower two-storey gabled office or small workshop appendage, also in brick, which had been added by around 1912. This section kinked halfway along its length so that its north-west and south-east façades were not straight. It projected out from the main north-west elevation in a snake-like fashion and was virtually a standalone building in its own right. It had a series of large segmental arch-headed mullioned and transomed windows and a doorway at ground-floor level, with smaller similar windows to the upper floor and its exposed north-east gable. The right-hand edge of its north-west façade was bevelled.

Behind this appendage the main north-west elevation consisted of two tall, utilitarian metal-clad gables. To the right of the large brick façade was a smaller, though still relatively large, brick gable with windows and brick courses matching its larger neighbour. Further to the right the elevation was set back and consisted of a large metal-clad gable with a row of tall glazed panels.

To the right of this metal gable, the elevation was interrupted by a lower two-storey Italianate office building, which appeared to be the oldest surviving section of the whole complex, dating from 1879–80. This was flat-roofed to the south-west end, gabled to the north-east, and had a bevelled south-west corner. The south-west portion was originally three storeys. Its façade was rendered with light-coloured sandstone dressings and courses. The ground floor was rusticated. The main door had originally been in the north-west face but was blocked up by the time of recording, though its bracketed cornice hood had survived. A modern door with an aluminium frame and glazing had been inserted in the south-west face. At the south-west end, on both the north-west and south-west faces, the upper floor had a series of large semicircular arch-headed windows with moulded surrounds and a bracketed cill course, with pilasters set between the windows. The ground-floor windows were much plainer flat-arch examples set on an equally plain cill course. Similar windows remained on the upper floor to the left of the north-west face. At the south-west flat-roofed end there was a dentilled eaves course with cornice above, and a further cornice-like course between ground and first-floor level. The building retained square cast-iron downspouts and natural slate to the gabled portion of the roof.

To the right of this office building, a large portion of the north-west elevation was more utilitarian in appearance with a row of large, generally metal- and brick-clad gables. At the very right-hand edge of the north-west elevation were two small single-storey brick buildings of approximately 1910. The left-hand building was smaller, relatively plain, and had a gabled roof. The right-hand building was hipped-roofed with a symmetrical north-west frontage, end gables, and large arch-headed window openings.

The very long north elevation was less complex in appearance than the north-west, with the façade divided into two large sections. The left, eastern half had a stark angularity lending it a certain heroic quality. It was in brick with a series of tall semicircular arch-headed windows with multi-pane glazing, many upper panes of which were boarded up at the time of recording. The right half was largely metal-clad and more utilitarian, with two unbroken rows of glazing. There were three large sliding doors to this side of the complex.

The long southern elevation was more untidy in appearance, consisting largely of the metal- and asbestos-clad gable ends of the various sections of the complex, set mainly in crow-step formation at 45 degrees to Sydenham Road. To the far right were two large brick gables set on the squint, that is, in line with the road, with tall semicircular arch-headed windows and the same overall heroic quality as the left half of the north elevation. To the immediate right of these gables was a decorative cast-iron gate with equally decorative cast-iron piers with oversailing caps and ball finials. To the far left of the southern elevation was a grouping of relatively small, standalone two- and single-storey flat-roofed office blocks of approximately 1950s date, in brick with large mainly picture windows in timber frames. To the left of these, the complex was fringed by a brick wall with another gate screen — similar to the above but with plainer wrought-iron gates — roughly where Sydenham Road curved into Old Channel Road. Several small office blocks, also probably of 1950s date but with hipped asbestos-covered roofs, were set behind this wall facing Old Channel Road. The southern elevation possessed two further gate screens much like the previously mentioned example with the plainer gates, and one set of these gates had had metal cladding attached to it.

Immediately to the north of the complex there had stood another equally large works complex, roughly L-shaped in plan, which had largely been demolished by the time of the 2000 survey. A mainly brick-built early 20th-century boiler house section survived in truncated form, with a series of semicircular arched windows to its north-east façade similar to those on the north-east elevation of the main complex. The roof of this boiler house was broken by the large stump of a chimney stack, which had presumably once been considerably taller.

In terms of its development history, the 1879–80 engine works occupied only roughly half the length of the former Abercorn Road, which ran south-east to the south-east end of Sydenham Road. By 1912 the complex had been extended along the whole length of the road, and the two-storey brick-built office and workshop appendage had also been added by that stage, together with the larger brick façades. Photographic evidence suggested that despite the brick construction present, the large shed sections were still mainly timber-clad at this period. By 1922 a large separate works had been constructed on the south-west side of Abercorn Road, and by 1939 the complex had assumed much of its final shape. Abercorn Road appears to have still existed at that date, though map evidence indicated it had been blocked off to traffic. At some stage after 1939 the works was extended over it. The entire complex was in poor condition at the time of the 2000 assessment and was not considered to be of sufficient quality to merit listing.

Primary sources consulted included the Harland & Wolff Papers (D.2805). Secondary sources included The Port of Belfast 1785–1985 (Belfast Harbour Commissioners, 1985) and Michael Moss and John R. Hume, Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland & Wolff (Belfast, 1986).