The Grand Opera House, Great Victoria Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT2 7HR

The Grand Opera House is a four-storey Victorian opera house built in 1895 to designs by London theatre architect Frank Matcham. It occupies a prominent position on the west side of Great Victoria Street at its junction with Glengall Street in Belfast City Centre.

The building comprises a rectangular auditorium with a flytower rising to the east, topped by a mansard roof. Supporting accommodation is arranged around the auditorium, with three-storey flat-roofed extensions abutting the north and west elevations. A first-floor crush bar with glazed timber framing and a curvilinear roof was added around 1980 above the principal entrance.

The roofing consists of natural slate with leaded ridges over painted stone corbelled eaves. To the south of the auditorium stands a corbelled brick chimney with painted sandstone cornice. A distinctive octagonal cupola ventilates the auditorium, its ventilation louvers surmounted by a copper roof, with a second stage featuring a copper domed roof and finial. A later ventilation chimney occupies the centre.

The walls are constructed from English garden wall bonded red brick over a smooth rendered plinth, with painted moulded sandstone string courses. Windows are generally square-headed timber-framed 2/2 sliding sashes in brick reveals with decorative carved stone pediments. The east elevation features painted rendered walling to door head height.

The principal east elevation is notably decorated. Its exposed central section comprises three recessed bays. At ground floor each contains a square-headed opening with replacement double-leaf timber doors. The second floor displays a pair of timber-framed windows with leaded stained glass, separated by painted stone pilasters. The third floor contains a roundel window in a painted stone architrave, surmounted by a painted stone archivolt with keyblock. Above this rises a painted frieze reading "GRAND OPERA HOUSE", topped by a decorative triangular pediment with ornate stucco tympanum reading "CIRQUE".

The central section is flanked by engaged square towers. Each tower contains a painted stone relief panel surmounted by a square-headed ventilation opening with a cast-iron openwork grille in a smooth surround. Above this sits a round-arched-headed pediment. The upper stage of each tower displays two narrow openings containing cast-iron ventilation grilles, surmounted by a stone cornice to onion-domes flanking the pediment.

To either side of the towers, single bays feature segmental-arched-headed recesses with bullnose reveals at ground floor, surmounted by decorative hood-moulds with keyblocks. The first floor of each bay contains a timber-framed casement window with leaded stained glass, surmounted by a projecting lintel and triangular pediment supported on console brackets. Relief panels above read "MUSIC" on the left bay and "DRAMA" on the right. A partial balustrade terminates at a scrolled pedimented parapet rising to the third floor.

The north-east elevation is three storeys high. Two segmental-arched-headed openings at ground floor contain replacement double-leaf timber panelled entrance doors, each surmounted by a glazed fanlight. The first floor displays a pair of timber-framed casement windows with leaded stained glass, surmounted by a stone panel containing a moulded arch with an ornate stucco tympanum reading "ARTS". Above runs a moulded stringcourse to a pair of windows at the second floor (similarly detailed), separated by a console bracket and surmounted by a shouldered pediment. A balustrade rises to the parapet. Behind the slated roof to the second floor, an exposed curved clerestory rises at the third floor with rendered walling. Four keyed oculi with horizontal transoms containing metal-framed casement windows are separated by ornate pilaster details.

The south-east elevation is three storeys, abutted by a two-storey block. A segmental-arched-headed recessed panel (a former entrance) appears at ground floor. The first floor features a large timber-framed oculus window in a moulded architrave with a stylised keyblock, set within a smooth rendered surround and surmounted by a triangular pediment supported on console brackets with pedimented heads. A bronze statue crowns the apex. A balustrade to the parapet conceals the slated roof to the second floor; the clerestory matches that of the north-east elevation.

The south elevation is three storeys with a clerestory to the auditorium visible behind on the left, and a gabled bay on the right. At the left, a double-height segmental-arched-headed entrance opening contains double-leaf timber panelled loading bay doors surmounted by a panelled spandrel panel. A gabled dormer above contains an oculus in a keyed surround. The loading bay is flanked on the left by a single window at first and second floors, and on the right by five openings at each floor. At ground floor, openings are surmounted by hood-moulds on corbels with segmental-arched-headed lights above; the centre and right openings contain timber panelled entrance doors. The clerestory contains two oculus windows in smooth architraves at the left (flytower) and one at the right (auditorium), with signage reading "OPERA HOUSE".

The gabled bay at the right contains a pair of double-leaf timber panelled doors on the left, flanked on the right by further double-leaf doors. At first floor, the left side displays two low-level semi-circular windows with smooth architraves, followed by a pair of windows with a shared corbelled sill and shared ornate scrolled pediment. These are flanked on the left by a single window and on the right by a single window surmounted by a projecting lintel and triangular pediment supported on console brackets. A relief panel above reads "ARTS". Four windows appear at the second floor. The scrolled gable terminates in a partial balustraded parapet at left and right. The gable itself contains a pair of timber casement windows surmounted by a semi-circular window set in a triangular pediment supported on console brackets at the apex, flanked by cornices on console brackets to left and right.

The west elevation is abutted by a three-storey extension, as is the north elevation. The building occupies a tight city centre site, accessed directly from the street at the east and south. The principal entrance, formerly facing east, has been rerouted through the lobby extension to the north-east side, with through access leading to the theatre.

Rainwater goods comprise cast-iron moulded gutters and round downpipes throughout.