Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education (BIFHE), Ormeau Embankment, Belfast

Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, Ormeau Embankment, Belfast

This building has been demolished (as of October 2003). At the time of its last survey in August 2001, it comprised a large two-storey school of 1925 designed by W.G. Davies in a modern style with vague Queen Anne overtones. The original building featured a rustic brick and reconstituted stone façade with rows of large mullioned and transomed windows. It was extended slightly in 1936 and again with a massive, overtly modern three-storey complex built to the west side around 1960. Originally constructed as a Public Elementary School, it latterly served as a further and higher education college. The property occupied the north side of Ormeau Embankment, adjacent to the junction with Ravenhill Road.

The original school was roughly E-shaped in plan, with a long front wing facing Ormeau Embankment, rear returns to the east and west ends, and a much larger assembly hall return at the centre. Single-storey portions extending from the end returns and sides of the assembly hall enclosed two grass-covered yards, creating an overall figure-of-eight shaped plan.

The front elevation faced south. At its centre was a full-height bay with an Empire style appearance in reconstituted sandstone-like stone. The ground floor contained a relatively small entrance door with panelled and glazed double doors and a large fanlight with margin panes, flanked by low projecting piers. Above this was a small balcony with scalloped corners and simple decorative railings, supported on simple panelled brackets. The first floor of the bay featured a tall window with mullioned and transomed frame with margin panes. On either side of this window were broad panelled pilasters rising to parapet level, intersected at verge level by a projecting course in reconstituted stone. At parapet level, between the pilasters, was a recessed portion with a decorative moulded panel displaying the coat of arms of the City of Belfast, rising above the pilasters and topped with a reeded string course and stepped blocking course.

Either side of the central bay, the elevation broke into three identical bays, each separated by a brick pilaster or pier, with a further projecting bay at each end. The identical bays were largely in rustic brick with large full-width windows to both ground and first floors. Between the floors was a large panel of reconstituted stone, with ground-floor aprons, plinths, and lintels also in stone. The rustic brick pilasters between bays each carried a cast iron downspout with decorative hopper. The projecting end bays were largely in brick but with a full-height central section in reconstituted stone containing relatively small windows to each floor. A projecting string course ran across the whole elevation above first-floor window level, with the parapet above. The parapet was in brick with stone coping, with piers continuing through parapet level.

The short west elevation of the original school (the western face of the western rear return) was abutted on its left by the east end of the large 1960s addition. To the right of this, the original section had two bays with large windows and panels as on the front elevation, with a recessed bay to the far right, all in brick, with two relatively small windows to each floor. This elevation was topped with a parapet similar to the front.

The east elevation (the eastern side of the eastern rear return) consisted of a two-storey portion to the left repeating the styling of the front and west elevations, with a projecting bay to the right and a recessed bay to the left. The right half of the east elevation presented a stark contrast, comprising a functional single-storey section cut across by a makeshift corrugated iron-clad stairwell extending from the north-facing gable of the two-storey section. Evidence suggests this untidy arrangement resulted from the demolition of the northern half of what had originally been a wholly two-storey elevation.

The rear (north) elevation faced directly into Park Parade and was wholly in red brick with a plain functional appearance. To the left it was single-storey, rising to two-and-a-half storeys at the centre (the rear elevation of the large assembly hall return), reducing to single-storey again to the right, before culminating in another two-storey portion to the far right (the north elevation of the west rear return). The whole elevation was interspersed with windows of various sizes (mostly relatively small) and some doors, breaking into a recessed bay to the far right.

Within the school were two enclosed grass-covered yards. The southern (west) yard was bounded by the rear of the main two-storey front section, on the west by the west return, on the east by the assembly hall, and on the north by a single-storey toilet flat-roofed block. The two-storey section to the south was actually a flat-roofed projection extending from the rear of the main hipped-roof front section. It appeared originally to have consisted of an open corridor at ground-floor level, but this was later enclosed with circa 1970s-style steel-framed glazed panels. The first-floor level, which always appeared to have been enclosed, was in red brick with a series of relatively small mullioned and transomed windows with Georgian-like panes. This arrangement was repeated on the west side. To the east was the west-facing side of the two-storey assembly hall, which had a series of full-height mullioned and transomed windows. To the north, the single-storey toilet block had a series of large glazed panels similar to the corridor to the south. The yard itself contained some small greenhouses. The eastern yard repeated this arrangement in mirrored fashion, with the section to the east (corresponding to the section to the west of the former yard) two-storey on the right (south) side only, and a single-storey flat-roofed section in render with large modern windows to the left.

The roof was mainly hipped and covered in red clay pan tiles, with a tall chimneystack in rustic brick at the east and west ends. Cast iron rainwater goods were present throughout.

Extending from the west side of the original school was a very large, mainly three-storey complex built as an addition around 1960, which was actually much larger than the original building itself. This addition contrasted sharply with the original, being in an overtly modern style, largely flat-roofed, with panel construction and much curtain walling. At the east end of the addition, close to the intersection with the original section, there was a hipped-roof section which appeared to be an earlier addition, possibly added in 1936.

To the south of the later addition, southwest of the original school, was a plain freestanding two-storey brick house built in 1949 as the caretaker's residence. To the south and east of the original school was a large car park bounded by relatively plain iron railings.