Offices beside Building Dock at, Harland And Wolff, Queen's Island, Belfast, BT3 9DU

Offices beside Building Dock at Harland and Wolff, Queen's Island, Belfast

A two storey administration building constructed in red brick around 1900, designed in a style similar to the main administration building on Queens Road but considerably smaller. The building is orientated west north west to east south east.

The west façade features the main entrance door to the right; the original door opening has been partly bricked up and replaced with a modern timber door with a glazed panel. To the right are four segmental arch-headed window openings with prominent red sandstone keystones, each fitted with a one over one sash timber frame. The second window from the right has had its lower sash removed and a hatch added. The first floor has five evenly spaced windows.

The south façade is arranged with a door, five windows, a door and seven windows on the ground floor, with fifteen evenly spaced windows on the first floor. The north façade is similar in arrangement, although the ground floor on the east side of this face has been substantially rebuilt. The east façade was not accessible for inspection.

The building is constructed in dark red brick with a slightly projecting base course. Ground and first floor windows rest on a sill course, with a similar projecting course between the two floors. The heads of the first floor windows are in red sandstone and extend around the building as a smooth band. The roof is finished with natural slate and cast iron rainwater goods.

The building was constructed around 1900 as an administration building in the centre of the construction area within Harland and Wolff's shipyard. Its original function is unclear. Harland and Wolff was established on 11 April 1861 through a formal partnership between Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff, evolving from a small shipbuilding company previously owned by Robert Hickson. The company expanded significantly throughout the 20th century, becoming known as 'Shipbuilders to the World' and employing some 65,000 men in plants throughout the UK by the mid 20th century. In the late 1960s the company undertook a bold redevelopment programme including the construction of two large bridge cranes (designed and constructed by the German heavy engineering manufacturer Krupp), a huge dry dock and two large industrial workshops.