BBC Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT2 8HQ

BBC Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast

BBC Broadcasting House is a six-storey, multi-bay modernist broadcasting centre and office block designed by the Glaswegian architect James Millar (1860–1947) and constructed between 1938 and 1941, opening on 5 May 1941 — the day after the second Belfast Blitz. Millar, who was in his mid-seventies at the time of the commission, had previously been a shortlisted entrant in the Belfast City Hall design competition of 1896. The building stands prominently at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Bedford Street, close to the city centre, adjacent to the Thompson Memorial Fountain. The site is triangular in shape, with Broadcasting House occupying the southwestern portion.

Architectural Character and Exterior

The building is an exercise in Art Deco style architecture, with all its essential components retained. Its steel-framed structure is clad in sand-faced brick laid to Flemish bond with soldier courses, a reconstituted masonry block plinth, string course and coping, and redbrick Flemish bond to the rear elevation. The roof is asphalt flat. Rainwater goods are cast iron, comprising hopper heads and circular downpipes. Windows throughout are 16-paned Crittall metal casements with plain surrounds and soldier course heads. The main entrance is fitted with a replacement rotating door and roller shutter, recessed into a stepped moulded artificial block surround.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is symmetrically arranged. It consists of a six-storey curved parapet façade thirteen windows wide, with the parapet partially removed and replaced with galvanised railings. A central five-storey projection eleven windows wide contains the entrance at its centre, flanked by slightly diminished windows. Above the entrance is an artificial stone balcony extending two windows wide to each side, inscribed with the words "BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION". Continuous full-width plain string courses run across the façade. The upper floors of the central projection feature a uniformly arranged series of vertical recesses incorporating four storeys of fenestration, surmounted by copings and galvanised railings.

The left (northwest) elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The plinth and string courses continue at lower level. Three bays of windows rise six storeys on the right side. Three balconies are centrally positioned on the fifth floor, each comprising a concrete base with steel railings and a full-height Crittall window with solid lower panels. Directly above on the sixth floor are three blank openings with centrally projecting brick detailing. To the left rises the seven-storey radio tower, which continues around to the rear elevation. The northwest and northeast faces of the tower are detailed with strong vertical Art Deco style brickwork incorporating various window openings at the upper levels and surmounted by a large artificial stone coping. This tower, with its bold vertical styling, is one of the building's primary external features alongside the principal curved façade.

The rear elevation faces northeast and is asymmetrically arranged. The right side is abutted by the radio tower. The central portion is abutted by a full-height stairwell and service core, partially enclosing a light well to the right with a full-height Crittall window to the stairwell. The upper floors of this elevation have retained their original window openings, though some replacement Crittall windows have been inserted. The left side is abutted by a six-storey stairwell that has been extended by two additional storeys.

Later Additions

Two later blocks have been added to the main building. An eight-storey office block in red brick was constructed to the southeast in 1975, and a three-storey television block in red brick was added to the northwest in 1984. Both are described as post-modern in character, clearly contrasting with the original Art Deco building, and are considered to be of no significant architectural interest. The northwest and northeast faces of the radio tower are abutted by the 1984 television block. The lower floors of the rear elevation are also abutted by various red brick and synthetic additions of no interest.

Setting and Site

The site is triangular, with the later blocks flanking the northwest and southeast boundaries. The remaining portions of the site are enclosed by a red brick wall. Within the compound are various one- and two-storey service blocks and a tall modern chimney structure. There is also a two-storey flat-roofed clubhouse, now used for storage and post, which is considered of no significant interest. Beyond the site boundary are various multi-storey historic and contemporary structures. The building lies within a conservation area.

Interior

Due to the many renovations carried out over the years, few internal features of interest survive. The exterior of the main broadcasting building retains its original modernist character.

Historical Background

Northern Ireland's first radio station, named 2BE, made its first broadcast in September 1924. It was acquired by and merged with the BBC in 1927 and operated from warehouse premises on Linenhall Street. These studios were considered too cramped to accommodate the growing station, and in May 1936 the Belfast Newsletter reported that the BBC was to construct a new broadcasting facility. A site at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Bedford Street — then occupied by a large linen factory and warehouse owned by W. J. Jenkins & Co. — was purchased, though records differ slightly on the precise date of acquisition, with the Belfast Newsletter indicating spring 1936 and the BBC's own 70th anniversary history suggesting 1937. The warehouse was demolished to make way for the new building.

Originally, the BBC intended the new Belfast building to mirror the design of the London BBC Headquarters, with Portland stone masonry and a similar entrance arrangement, with a projected total cost of £250,000. These plans were abandoned: the building as constructed uses sand-faced brick and artificial stone, and the entrance bears no resemblance to that of London's Broadcasting House. Construction commenced in 1938, and the total construction cost was estimated at £70,000.

A significant enabler of the new building was the erection of a radio transmitter at Lisnagarvey in 1936, which for the first time allowed BBC broadcasts to reach across the whole of Northern Ireland, prompting expansion of the station's services. Programmes were irregular during the Second World War, and it was only from 1945 that the full regional service resumed at the new premises.

Television transmissions were first broadcast from Broadcasting House in 1953 to coincide with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and a television transmitter erected on Divis Mountain in 1955 further extended the scope of TV broadcasts. On 14 June 1974, during a period of civil unrest, a bomb exploded outside the building causing substantial damage to the façade. Despite the difficulties of that period, the BBC in Northern Ireland continued to expand, introducing BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle in the 1970s. The 1975 office block and the 1984 television extension were both built to accommodate increasing output. Broadcasting House was listed in 1994 and has continued to expand its range of services since then, now including digital technologies.

At the time of the second general revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1956, Broadcasting House was first valued at £8,600. This was reduced to £6,880 under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act and had only risen slightly to £7,000 by the end of the revaluation period in 1972.