Administration and drawing office block (Harland & Wolff), Queens Road, Belfast, BT3 9DV, Co Down

This is a long, somewhat Mannerist three-storey office block in sandstone and brick, built in stages between approximately 1885 and 1912 as the administration and drawing office for the Harland & Wolff shipyard. It sits within the shipyard complex on the north-west side of the south-west end of Queen's Road, with the main works buildings to the south-east and the site of a former slipway — from which the Titanic was launched in May 1911 — to the north-west. To the south-west lie the Abercorn Basin and the Hamilton dry dock.

The building is generally U-shaped in plan, with a long three-storey front wing and three-storey end returns, but set between those returns are two tall single-storey drawing offices that give the whole building a roughly E-shaped plan overall. These drawing offices appear to be the oldest parts of the structure, probably originally fronted by an entrance block that was cleared away when the present entrance block was erected.

FRONT (SOUTH-EAST) ELEVATION

At first glance the main three-storey block appears to have a relatively uniform front elevation, but closer inspection reveals it is made up of four main sections built at different dates. These have been given a semblance of unity by sharing the same height, a balustraded parapet along the top, and — from a distance — an apparently consistent facing material. The largest section, which also contains the main entrance, occupies the centre and left. It is faced in red sandstone of a Dumfriesshire character. Immediately to its left and immediately to its right are two much smaller sections, both largely identical to each other and faced in brick. To the far right is a further sandstone section in the same style as the entrance section but considerably smaller.

The main entrance sits to the right of centre on the ground floor of the entrance section. It consists of a broad panelled timber double door framed by polished granite panelled pilasters and a sandstone pediment with a broken entablature supported on curved and fluted brackets. Directly above the door is an elliptical fanlight with plain glazing. Beneath the entablature is a moulded keystone with flanking spandrel panels. To the left of the doorway are four pairs of sash windows with segmental arch heads and a moulded keystone each. These windows rest on a polished granite sill course; below this the sandstone is rock-faced, in contrast to the dressed stonework elsewhere. Further to the left is a broad flat-arched vehicle gateway retaining the remains of a decorative iron gate screen — the side pedestrian gates and their piers survive, with decorative panels and concave pyramidal caps. The pier to the right is topped with the remains of an iron light fitting; the fitting on the left pier is now missing. To the right of the main entrance are two further pairs of windows matching those to the left.

At first and second floor level across the entrance section there are nine pairs of flat-arched sash windows, with those on the second floor considerably shorter. These rest on a moulded sill course and are separated by plain pilasters. A string course runs between the ground and first floors. The façade is finished with a dentilled cornice and a balustraded parapet.

The two smaller brick-built sections to either side of the entrance section each have four sash windows per floor, again with shorter windows at second floor level. A moulded sandstone course separates each floor, and at ground floor level the brickwork is laid in a rusticated pattern, with rock-faced sandstone below the ground-floor window sills. Both sections are finished with a plain cornice and a balustraded parapet to match the rest.

The section to the far right repeats the style of the entrance section but with five pairs of windows to each floor. A single-storey section extends from the north-east end of this far-right portion, linking to a more modern building of approximately 1950 to the north-east. The façade of this single-storey link continues the detailing of the ground floor of its three-storey neighbour to the left.

SOUTH-WEST ELEVATION

The short south-west elevation repeats the styling of the brick-built portions described above but with a much greater proportion of openings to each floor. Almost all of these are windows with mid-20th-century-looking three-pane frames, though two former windows — the second from the left on both the first and second floors — have been converted into doors serving a large modern fire escape. At ground floor level, to the far right, a small single-storey flat-roofed wing extends from the elevation. This in turn connects to a long, low one-and-a-half to two-storey brick-built building of approximately 1910, which has a row of large segmental-headed windows along its front.

NORTH-EAST ELEVATION

The short north-east elevation repeats the styling of the sandstone-faced blocks described above, but with flat-arched windows to the ground floor. To the left at ground floor level the single-storey wing extends to link to the approximately 1950 building. To the left at first floor level a modern-style glazed link has been inserted, which also connects to that same later building.

REAR ELEVATION

The rear elevation is made up of the two three-storey end returns with the two lower gabled drawing-office projections between them.

The north-west façade of the north-east return largely repeats the arrangement of the north-east elevation, but is in brick rather than sandstone. To the south-west, this return projects to the left, where it is abutted at ground and first floor level by one of the drawing offices (referred to in the interior record as Drawing Office B). To the right of this projection, in an area now completely enclosed by the drawing office, there was formerly a single-storey design office; this has been demolished and the site is now open. At second floor level on the south-west façade of the return there is a row of windows largely as described elsewhere.

The north-west-facing gable of the left-hand (north-east) drawing office has been rendered in relatively recent times in a way that appears to have obscured the original fineness of detail in the coursing. At ground floor level there is a sheeted door with fanlight to the left, with six windows to its right, the windows having mid-20th-century-looking frames. They are separated by simple pilaster piers and rest on a sill course. At upper level there are five semicircular-headed windows set within three large shallow recesses. The three centre windows, which share one recess, are considerably taller than the outer two. There is a roundel recess near the apex of the gable.

The south-west façade of this drawing office is now exposed, but originally a lower gabled section — the secretaries' office — was attached to this side, spanning between this drawing office and the south-west drawing office (Drawing Office A). Following the demolition of that intervening section, the roof of the north-east drawing office has been extended further on the south-west side in mansard fashion. The exposed south-west façade of this drawing office is blank.

The south-west drawing office largely repeats the styling of its north-east neighbour, but is exposed on both its north-east and south-west sides, both of which are blank, and does not have a doorway to the ground floor of its gable.

The exposed upper portions of the rear façade of the main front block, visible above and between the two drawing offices, are in painted brick and carry an informal arrangement of small, mainly sash, windows. Just above the junction of the north-east drawing office and this rear façade there is a small section of smooth rendered wall with the incongruous remains of a cornice. This may be a surviving fragment of the original entrance building that once fronted the drawing offices.

To the right of the south-west drawing office, the rear façade of the main block and the north-east and north-west façades of the south-west return are of brick construction and largely plain in appearance, with rows of largely identical windows to each floor, much the same as the short south-west elevation.

ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS

The roof of the main section of the building is hipped and slated. Rainwater goods are of cast iron.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

A map of the Harland & Wolff site dating from 1885 shows what appears to be the two gabled drawing offices with a long narrow block fronting Queen's Road and extending further to the north-east, and a separate stable block just to the south-west. By 1912 the building appears to have taken on much of its present form, as supported by photographic evidence. The precise sequence in which the building evolved is difficult to establish with certainty, but it seems clear that the original frontage to the main drawing offices was probably demolished at some point. The brick facing of the end return blocks suggests they were not constructed at the same time as the main sandstone-fronted entrance section.