Belfast Telegraph Offices, 124-144 Royal Avenue, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1DN

Belfast Telegraph Offices, 124–144 Royal Avenue, Belfast

This is an attached, multi-bay, four-storey red brick corner office building, constructed around 1886 as the office and printing works of the Belfast Telegraph, to designs by the architect Henry Seaver. It sits square on plan at the junction of Royal Avenue and Library Street, with a six-storey red brick extension to the rear and a glazed extension abutting the north side. The building continues to serve its original purpose as newspaper offices, more than a century after it was first constructed.

Architecture and External Appearance

The roof is pitched slate, with several red brick chimneystacks set behind a red brick parapet wall. Rainwater goods are cast iron. The brickwork is laid in English garden wall bond, with a battered red sandstone ashlar plinth course and a deep moulded sandstone cornice supported on a series of sandstone console brackets and a string course below. Window openings are largely square-headed, with stop-chamfered red sandstone lintels, shared red sandstone sills, and replacement metal windows throughout.

The southeast elevation, fronting Royal Avenue, is arranged as five vertical bays framed by rusticated soldier quoin pilasters that form a Giant Ionic order rising through the second and third floors, complete with Ionic capitals and voussoired sandstone arch surrounds to gauged brick round-headed window openings. The first and second floors have paired window openings with brick apron panels and continuous sill cornices. A plain fascia runs above the ground floor windows. A decorative wrought-iron two-faced clock projects over the first floor, carrying the lettering "Estd. / 1870 / Belfast Telegraph".

The chamfered corner bay features a shallow two-tier oriel window at first and second floor level, built in red sandstone over a former round-headed door opening. The third floor has a pair of round-headed window openings with hood mouldings, opening onto the roof of the oriel, which is finished with a blind arcaded balustrade and parapet. The oriel has paired window openings with continuous sill courses and blind panels to the canted sides. It is corbelled out in sandstone over the doorcase, which carries applied brass lettering reading "TELEGRAPH" and a series of decorative corbels. The original round-headed door opening below has a deep moulded polished black granite surround with stepped plinths, but has been infilled with a replacement display window and replacement sandstone plinth wall. The door opening is flanked by wall-mounted bronze cartouches: the left reading "Belfast Telegraph / Newspapers Ltd / Registered Offices" and the right reading "Belfast Telegraph / Offices".

The southwest elevation, facing Library Street, is seven bays wide and articulated in the same manner as the southeast elevation. Sandstone detailing is used in the three rightmost bays, replaced by red brick in the remaining bays to the left. This elevation extends at an angle as a six-storey red brick addition onto Little Donegall Street. That extension is six windows wide, with the bracketed cornice, sill courses, and fascia continued from the main elevations. Window openings here are generally gauged brick segmental-headed with replacement steel windows. A further five-storey red brick extension abuts the northwest. The rear and north elevations are abutted by a large glazed and textured concrete system-built extension, constructed around 1975.

Historical Background

The Belfast Telegraph was established by brothers William and George Baird, who had taken over the offices of the former Belfast Mercury in Arthur Street in 1861. The business began as a job printing establishment, but on 1 September 1870 the Baird brothers launched the first issue of the Belfast Evening Telegraph. The paper was immediately successful, and in 1886 the present premises were constructed to Seaver's designs. The contractors were H & J Martin and the total cost of construction was £7,800. The newspaper transferred to its new Royal Avenue home on Monday 28 June 1886.

The building was originally entered through a doorway at the junction with Little Donegall Street, emphasised with polished Castlewellan granite. Sandstone from Dumfries was used in the construction, together with brick from the Ormeau brickworks. At ground floor level, three of the bays along Royal Avenue were let as shops, with a deeply recessed porch giving access to those shops on either side; the upper floors provided offices known as Telegraph Chambers. The printing presses, capable of producing 40,000 copies per hour, were housed on the ground floor, which was lit by a well light at the centre of the building. The machinery was powered by two 12 horsepower gas engines. The publishing department was situated to the rear of the machinery room, with a dedicated entrance for newsboys to collect their papers. A powerful hoist driven by a gas engine moved goods between floors, and electric bells and speaking tubes provided communication throughout the building.

The young architect Henry Seaver was warmly praised in the Irish Builder for his design and supervision of the work, and a brilliant career was predicted for him. The building was entered into valuation records in 1886 as the Telegraph offices, printing office and warehouse, valued at £360. Ground floor shops and offices were individually valued at £42, £32 and £48, while offices in Telegraph Chambers ranged in valuation from £5 to £25. Early ground floor occupiers included Miss Milford, milliner; Thomas Hewitt, confectioner; and the Royal Liver Friendly Society. Henry Seaver himself took offices in Telegraph Chambers.

Alterations and Extensions

The building was extended to the rear on several occasions during the 1910s and 1920s, each addition designed by the original architect Henry Seaver. In 1907, an extension of ferro-concrete on the Hennebique system was constructed by contractors McLaughlin and Harvey — a feature of particular technical and historical note. A further extension followed in 1911, with James Hogg and Sons as contractors, and Seaver's final addition was made in 1926. The ground floor continued to be let as shops for many years. In 1982–83, a £6 million investment produced a substantial further addition to the right of the existing building, commissioned from architects Ferguson and McIlveen, enabling the Telegraph to update its press and publishing facilities.

Although the building has been compromised by the loss of its original windows and by internal alteration, much historic fabric and decorative detailing survive. Its scale and character reflect both the importance of Belfast's premier newspaper and the wider commercial expansion of the city centre along Royal Avenue. The Hennebique ferro-concrete extension is of particular technical significance, and the building represents one of the earliest works of an architect of considerable subsequent note.