56-60 North Street and 2-10 Lower Garfield Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1FP

Avenue Hall: 56–60 North Street and 2–10 Lower Garfield Street, Belfast

Avenue Hall is a derelict two-storey-with-attic red brick building constructed in 1896 to designs by the Belfast architectural practice of Graeme, Watt and Tulloch. It occupies a prominent corner site where North Street meets Lower Garfield Street, with a concave curved elevation following the line of Lower Garfield Street and a gabled return fronting North Street. The building is roughly L-shaped in plan and forms part of a group with Nos. 12–14 Lower Garfield Street, together constituting a complete block designed in the Queen Anne Revivalist style with free Renaissance-style motifs. The group was commissioned by John Donnelly, a local publican who had established the Deer's Head public house at Nos. 68–76 North Street around 1885. It represents an important example of late 19th century commercial development in the centre of Belfast and the work of a practice of considerable local note.

Architectural Description

The building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with stone and stucco dressings. The roofline is steeply pitched and slated with terracotta ridge-tiles, and is one of the building's most distinctive features: it is punctuated by five largely corbelled red brick chimneys, a pair of octagonal louvred belfries with lead domes set on the ridge line, prominent wallhead dormers, pedimented gables, and multiple chimneys. A parapet extends above the eaves on all elevations except the rear, incorporating these wallhead dormers on the principal faces. Rainwater goods are generally aluminium ogee profile, with some uPVC, mounted on a moulded projecting stone eaves course; the overhanging eaves of the rear elevation are served by plain timber fascia.

The walling is unified by a heavy cornice that runs beneath an irregular series of gables and chimneys at wallhead level. The shop units at ground floor are framed below this cornice by a heavy moulded stone entablature supported on panelled pilasters separating each unit. Plain brick pilasters rise from corbels at first floor window-head level, continuing through the cornice to the parapet and dividing the multiple gables and chimneys above.

Windows are generally boarded up. Those that remain are 1/1 segmental-headed timber sashes with projecting stone sills. First floor windows are tall and narrow, set in moulded stucco architraves lugged at the base with scrolled keystones, linked by a continuous cill course at first floor level except where otherwise noted. Remaining windows have plain surrounds and projecting stone sills, generally containing 1/1 timber sashes. Large iron ventilation grilles are set in the wall below each first floor window on the North Street and Lower Garfield Street elevations. All ground floor shop units are completely boarded up with the exception of No. 8.

Elevations

The principal elevation faces east along North Street. It is asymmetrical, with five first floor windows and a brick gable above to the left side containing two windows. To the far right, a chamfered corner transitions into the Lower Garfield Street elevation; this corner has a single first floor window with a curved balustrade in front, and a blocked entrance door at ground floor.

The Lower Garfield Street elevation is the longest and follows a concave curve. The far-left section has three tall, narrow round-headed first floor windows extending through to second floor level, with corresponding attic dormers above. The central portion contains irregular flat-arched windows at first and second floor levels, with the first floor windows blocked. The far-right gabled bay advances slightly and has a blank gable, its left cheek being one opening wide and abutting the main building. The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining section of the terrace.

The north elevation faces Lower Garfield Street and is asymmetrical. The far-left bay contains a tripartite blind arcade and arch at first floor with a shop unit below and a similar gable to that on the North Street elevation rising above to attic level. The remaining elevation is five openings wide at first floor, each with a corresponding shop unit below, all blocked. The fourth window from the right marks the former entrance to the upper floor halls, identified by a scrolled and broken pediment to the cornice above the now blocked and modified doorway.

The rear elevation is generally convex and the ground floor is obscured by a single-storey brick boundary wall. Rainwater goods here are mounted on plain timber fascia to overhanging eaves.

No. 8 Lower Garfield Street

The only unit currently in use is No. 8, occupied by Tivoli, a men's barbers, which has been in occupation since at least 1984. Its ground floor frontage has been modernised with timber sheeting and a large window to the left, a vinyl sign above, and an externally mounted roller shutter. The entrance is a chamfered bay to the right, retaining original decorative floor tiles, with a panelled timber and glazed door into a shop porch. Above No. 8 there remains the partial remnant of a cast iron decorative lamp, possibly originally designed for gas.

Interior and Original Layout

Avenue Hall was designed from the outset as two distinct but connected sections, each comprising a large upper meeting or function hall above a series of ground floor shop units. Avenue Hall No. 1 — encompassing Nos. 56–60 North Street and Nos. 2–10 Lower Garfield Street — is the larger of the two sections. The upper hall, addressed as No. 4 Lower Garfield Street, was completed in 1896 and when first valued by the rating authority comprised a ballroom, a supper room, and dressing rooms, all leased by John Donnelly at an initial rateable value of £122 10s. A subsequent revaluation in 1900 recorded that the hall extended from the second floor of the North Street façade, above Nos. 56–60 North Street, through to the upper floor of No. 10 Lower Garfield Street.

History of Occupancy

Upper Hall (No. 4 Lower Garfield Street) When first recorded in 1897, the upper hall was leased in its entirety by John Donnelly. By 1900 its rateable value was slightly reduced to £119 5s. The hall was not permanently occupied in 1901. By 1907 it had been acquired by the Amalgamated Union of Labour, an umbrella union whose member organisations occupied the second floor offices; these included the Blacksmiths' Society, the Bricklayers' Society, the Brassfounders' Society, the Tailors' Society, and the Vintners' and Grocers' Assistants' Society. The union's occupation raised the rateable value to £131. The Amalgamated Union of Labour continued to use the upper rooms until at least 1930, when the Annual Revisions were cancelled, by which time the value had fallen significantly to £77 15s. for reasons not recorded. Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935 the value was increased to £159 5s., with the union still present. By the 1950s the hall had been taken over by a Mr. Thomas Forsythe, who converted the first floor halls and offices into a bookmaker's premises; the rateable value rose to £220 by the end of the second general revaluation in 1972. Survey records confirm the bookmaker use continued until at least 1984.

Ground Floor Shop Units The seven ground floor units had varied occupancy histories from 1896 onwards.

No. 56 North Street was initially valued at £55 and first occupied by a Mr. J. Clintock, a bird dealer, who vacated in 1900. Allington and Co., an American shoe store, then took possession, with the value rising to £58 under the 1900 revaluation. Allington and Co. continued in occupation until at least the 1970s. Under the 1935 revaluation the value was set at £105, rising to £176 by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

No. 58 North Street was initially valued at £52 and occupied from 1896 by Thomas Rainey, a watchmaker and jeweller. The 1900 revaluation raised the value to £58. Rainey continued until his death in 1912, when his business was taken over by William Graham, also a watchmaker and jeweller, who was still in occupation in 1935 when the value was set at £105. By the end of the second revaluation in 1972 the value had risen to £176, and the unit was no longer used as a jeweller's; the manager at that time was a Mr. Samuel Brown, who continued to lease the premises from the Donnelly estate.

No. 60 North Street and No. 2 Lower Garfield Street formed a single corner unit, originally valued at £95 and occupied by Griffin Wards, a boot and shoe manufacturer. The 1900 revaluation raised the value to £115. The corner shop continued as a boot and shoe outlet; by 1910 it was managed by a Mr. John Faulkner, who remained in 1935 when the value was set at £205. By the 1950s Faulkner's had been succeeded by W. J. McManus and Son, also a shoe manufacturer, who continued until the end of the second revaluation; by 1972 the combined rateable value of the corner unit stood at £760.

No. 6 Lower Garfield Street was valued at £32 in 1896. By 1900 it had been occupied by Marie Shaw and Co., a wallpaper retailer, whose tenancy raised the value to £37. The valuer noted the shop was fitted with gas installations and that Shaw paid annual rent of £45 to John Donnelly. The value remained at £37 until 1930, rising to £62 under the 1935 revaluation. Marie Shaw and Co. continued until 1970, when the unit fell vacant; by 1972 the value of the empty unit stood at £120.

No. 8 Lower Garfield Street was valued at £32 in 1896. By 1900 it was occupied by the National Electric Wiring Co. Ltd., with a value of £37; the shop was also noted as having gas installations with an annual rent of £45. The Electric Wiring Co. moved out and by 1907 had been replaced by the National Cash Register Co. Ltd., manufacturers of mechanical cash registers since 1884, though they too soon vacated. By 1910 the unit was operating as an ice cream saloon. By 1918 it had been taken over by a Mrs. T. Savage, who ran a hairdressing salon. The value remained at £37 until 1930, rising to £62 in 1935, when the occupant was described simply as a Mr. Hugh McAlevey running a shop, identified elsewhere as a publican on the Falls Road. By the 1950s a Mr. T. McGlinchy was in occupation, with no further description of use recorded; by 1972 the value stood at £120. Since at least 1984 the unit has been occupied by Tivoli, a men's barbers, and it remains the only currently open part of the building.

No. 10 Lower Garfield Street was valued at £32 in 1896. By 1900 it was occupied by The Magpie, presumably a local publication using the unit as its offices, with the value raised to £37. By 1901 the occupant was The Belfast Critic, a local paper managed by P. J. Glasgow as editor; Glasgow was also an agent for The Irish Builder, an architectural trade journal established as the Dublin Builder in 1859 before being renamed in 1867. The Belfast Critic soon vacated and by 1907 the unit lay empty. Subsequent occupants changed frequently: the Belfast Tailors' Co-Partnership Ltd. was in residence in 1908, replaced by George A. Fowler, a ladies' and gentlemen's tailor, by 1910. By 1918 John Bell had established an optician's shop and photography studio at the site. Bell's remained in occupation through the 1935 revaluation, when the value was set at £62, and continued until the end of the second revaluation in 1972, when the value stood at £120. By 1984, Bell's had been replaced by a greetings card shop called The Box.

The Architects

The building was designed by Graeme, Watt and Tulloch, a local architectural firm formed in 1895 by Robert Graeme Watt (circa 1849 to circa 1915) and Frederick Henry Tulloch (1863–1953). The practice was predominantly known for commercial buildings in central Belfast and was also responsible for the State Buildings on Arthur Street and William Ross and Son's Mineral Water factory on William Street South.

Setting and Townscape

The building addresses the eastern end of Lower Garfield Street with its concave curved elevation, extending for a short distance along North Street. Lower Garfield Street is pedestrianised. To the rear of the building, a single-storey brick boundary wall bounds the perimeter, beyond which lies a large open area used for car parking. The building's prominent and varied roofscape — with its belfries, gabled dormers, chimneys, and parapet — is visible for some distance. It relates directly to the Deer's Head public house on the opposite side of Lower Garfield Street, which was also connected to John Donnelly, and to the North Street Arcade located a short distance to the north-east. The building constitutes an important element of townscape in an area that has lost many historic buildings in recent decades.

Lower Garfield Street itself was laid out in the 1890s, replacing Round Entry, a Y-shaped lane which had connected Hercules Lane with North Street and which contemporary accounts described as a dangerous alleyway where unwary youths were inebriated, robbed, and ruined. Round Entry was cleared along with Hercules Lane during the 1880s redevelopment that formed Royal Avenue; Garfield Street was laid out first in the 1880s, with the curving Lower Garfield Street formed a decade later to provide a less notorious passage between North Street and Royal Avenue. The street was named in memory of American President James A. Garfield (1831–1881), who was assassinated in 1881 but did not die until eighty days after being shot; the street was renamed as a memorial to the fallen president at a time when many countries had expressed public support for him during the months of his decline.

Condition and Recent History

Avenue Hall was abandoned in the late 20th century following a fire that severely damaged the building. With the exception of No. 8 Lower Garfield Street, all windows and entrances are boarded up and the building is in an advanced state of disrepair. The building was listed in 1991. In September 2012 plans for a £360 million redevelopment of the area between Royal Avenue and the Cathedral Quarter were approved by the Department of the Environment; an artist's impression associated with the scheme indicated that the redevelopment would involve the restoration of Avenue Hall, though at the time of the listing record the project had not progressed beyond the initial planning stage.