Belmont Tower, (Old Belmont Primary School), 82 Belmont Church Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 3FG

Belmont Tower (formerly the Ferguson Memorial School and later Belmont Public Elementary School) is a gabled two-storey sandstone building in the Gothic Revival style, dating from 1892, located at the corner of Belmont Road and Belmont Church Road in the Strandtown townland of Belfast. It was designed by the prominent local architect Vincent Craig (1869–1925) and constructed by the local building firm Dixon & Campbell. The listing extends to the main building, its gates, boundary walling and railings.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The school has its origins in a schoolhouse first opened in 1863 in the grounds of Belmont Presbyterian Church, which accommodated 81 pupils. By the late 19th century the growth in population of the area made a new building necessary, and construction of the present building took place between 1889 and 1892. The new school could accommodate over 300 pupils. It was built in memory of Mary Ferguson of Sydenham House; following her death in 1888, her widower Robert Ferguson donated £1,000 to the Belmont Presbyterian Church Committee to build, furnish and enclose a school as a memorial to his wife. The school was accordingly known as the Ferguson Memorial School and was administered under the state-managed National School System.

The architect, Vincent Craig, had been articled to W. H. Lynn between 1885 and 1889 and was the younger brother of Sir James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Belmont Primary School was one of Craig's earliest independent commissions. Though he was later recognised as one of the key proponents of the Art Nouveau movement in Ireland, this building represents an uncharacteristically conservative Gothic Revival design. Craig used locally quarried Scrabo sandstone for the main masonry and Scottish Locharbriggs sandstone as a secondary material. The south extension was added in 1910 by local architect Thomas Houston (1873–1938).

In 1890 the Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of the school at £49, rising to £69 on completion in 1892 and to £76 following the 1910 extension. The school's internal arrangement placed the boys' school on the ground floor and the girls' school on the upper floor. Following the partition of Ireland, the school came under the charge of Belfast Corporation's Education Committee in 1926, established under the 1923 Northern Ireland Education Act, and was renamed Belmont Public Elementary School. The rateable value rose to £190 under the First Revaluation of 1935 and to £360 under the Second Revaluation of 1956–72. The building was sold to the Belfast Education and Library Board in 1975 and listed in 1976. By 1994 it had fallen into a poor state of repair, and in 1999 the school was deemed surplus to requirements and closed in May of that year. The Old Belmont School Preservation Trust was established in November 1999 and purchased the building in 2001 for £300,000. With funding from the Environment and Heritage Service and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the building was restored and reopened in September 2004 by the Prince of Wales, at which point it was renamed Belmont Tower. It is now used as a community centre providing a venue for meetings, events, exhibitions and activities for business, arts and community organisations.

EXTERIOR

The building has a regular plan form facing north, with a three-stage open belfry tower at the northeast end and a two-storey rendered extension to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled red clay ridge tiles and raised stone verges. A projecting cornice supports ogee-shaped cast-iron guttering discharging to circular downpipes. There are Scrabo sandstone chimneystacks with corbelled copings and red clay chimney pots, and two circular metal ventilators to the roof. The main walling is laid in un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with red Locharbriggs sandstone dressings, string course and projecting plinth. Window openings are of the lancet type with splayed sills and clear glazed square-paned leaded windows, unless otherwise noted below.

Principal (north) elevation: The two-storey three-bay gabled principal elevation faces north, with the tower at the northwest corner. To the ground floor there are paired windows to the central bay and single windows to the first and third bays. To the first floor, the central bay has a large three-part plate-tracery window with a red sandstone apron bearing a carved inscription; the first and third bays have single trefoil windows each with an apron carved with the date 1890. A small quatrefoil opening sits at high level in the gable.

Tower: The three-stage tower has a large segmental-arch headed door opening facing north, with a deep moulded Locharbriggs sandstone hood and a tympanum inscribed "Belmont Public Elementary School". A square-headed diagonal-sheeted painted timber door opens to the paved front yard. The corners have two-stage buttresses. The first stage has a lancet window to the east. The second stage has a clock face to the north and two square-headed windows to the east. The uppermost stage is an open timber arcaded belfry with a hipped slate roof and metal weathervane.

East elevation: The east elevation has seven bays, with a single-bay two-storey rendered extension to the south end and a projecting two-storey hipped natural slate roof stair-tower with metal finial to the north. A modern single-storey flat-roof entrance outshot to the first bay (south) has fully glazed side walls and a lancet door opening facing east with a modern glazed door. The first floor of this bay has a square-headed window with square-leaded stained glazing. The second, third and fourth bays form a gable, with a square-headed window opening to the third bay and two lancet windows to the second and fourth bays at ground floor level; the first floor has three lancet openings with a taller window to the centre. The fifth bay has a lancet window to the ground floor and a square-headed window to the first floor. The sixth and seventh bays form paired gables with lancet windows to each floor; a chimneystack with corbelled coping and clay chimney pots is incorporated into the sixth bay. The rendered extension to the south has single square-headed windows to both floors. The stair-tower has a paired square-headed window to the ground floor and a two-part plate-tracery window with leaded stained glazing to the first floor.

West elevation: The west elevation has nine bays and a single-bay two-storey rendered extension to the south. The first bay (north) has a lancet window to the ground floor and a square-headed window to the first floor. The second, third and fourth bays each form a gable with lancet windows to each floor; chimneystacks with corbelled copings and clay chimney pots are incorporated into the second and fourth bays. The fifth bay has a lancet window to the ground floor and a square-headed window to the first floor. The sixth, seventh and eighth bays form a gable with a square-headed opening to the centre and lancet openings to the sixth and eighth bays at ground floor level. The ninth bay (south) has a square-headed door opening with a modern diagonal-sheeted door and fanlight, opening onto a small platform with three steps, and a square-headed window to the first floor. The modern extension to the south has a small round opening and a small square-headed window opening, both at first floor level.

South (rear) elevation: The gabled two-storey rear elevation is rendered and faces south. It has four modern circular windows to the ground floor, two square-headed metal windows to the first floor, and a single circular window to the attic.

SETTING

The building sits within its own grounds, with a landscaped and paved yard to the north and a tarmac car park to the east. The main pedestrian entrance faces north onto Belmont Road and the car entrance faces east onto Belmont Church Road. The site is enclosed by coursed rock-faced sandstone walling topped by painted metal railings, including some original cast-iron railings to the north and east, with a modern brick wall to the south and fencing to the west. Square stone piers support cast-iron gates at the main entrance and a refurbished metal gate to the car park.