89 Durham Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT12 4GB

89 Durham Street is a symmetrical, detached, two-storey, three-bay former Tuberculosis Clinic in red brick with sandstone dressings, built between 1916 and 1918 to designs by the Belfast architectural partnership of Young and Mackenzie. It stands on the west side of Durham Street, where it terminates College Square, situated opposite Christ Church and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, with modern housing, office developments, and the Westlink motorway forming the broader immediate setting.

Origins and Historical Significance

The building was originally constructed as the Central Tuberculosis Institute, reflecting Belfast Corporation's direct response to the tuberculosis crisis of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tuberculosis had become, in the words of historian Elizabeth Malcolm, a "major scourge" in urban Ireland during this period; in 1906 it accounted for almost 16% of all deaths on the island. Tenders for the new institute were invited in August 1916 and the contract was awarded to the McIntyre Brothers of Carrington Street — David and Robert McIntyre — for the sum of £3,710. The contract with Belfast Corporation was signed in October 1916, though the firm did not gain access to the Durham Street site until 2nd February 1917. This delay caused considerable difficulty: due to the uncertain economic conditions of the First World War, the prices of materials rose sharply in the intervening months. The McIntyre Brothers were forced to suspend work in 1917 owing to financial difficulties, and in April 1918 they requested additional payment to offset losses from soaring material costs. The matter was resolved swiftly and the Central Tuberculosis Institute was completed by June 1918.

The original contract specifications required the use of Scottish sandstone from "the best Ballochmyle quarries." Young and Mackenzie's original plans show the ground floor housing an x-ray room, an operating room, and a dental surgery, while the first floor contained general offices, a lecture room, and a laboratory. The building was opened to patients in 1918 under Dr Andrew Trimble, Belfast's first Chief Tuberculosis Officer. During the Second World War, the institute was operated by Dr James Shaw. In 1960, the Northern Ireland Tuberculosis Authority vacated the building after more than 40 years of occupation, and it was subsequently taken over by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, which ran an outpatients' facility known as the Central Chest Clinic from the site. The Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service occupied the building from 1971 until it was eventually vacated.

The Architects

Young and Mackenzie was the partnership formed by Robert Young and John Mackenzie in 1868, which had become the most successful architectural practice in Belfast by the early 20th century. The firm were leading designers for the Presbyterian Church in north-east Ulster and obtained many of the most important commercial contracts in central Belfast. Their medical work included the Thompson Memorial Fountain (1885) and the Dufferin Children's Hospital on the Lisburn Road (1907–09).

Exterior Description

The principal, east-facing elevation is the most elaborately treated face of the building. The overall composition is symmetrical, dominated by a gabled breakfront at the centre. This central bay contains a semi-circular headed entrance doorcase of banded classical design, with a carved female head to the keystone inscribed "Hygea" — a representation of Hygeia, the goddess of sanitation and health. The keystone does not appear on Young and Mackenzie's original plans but is clearly a deliberate iconographic addition appropriate to the building's function. Above the entrance is a shallow canted bay window. The carved Belfast Coat of Arms appears in the gable. Beneath the central pediment, Belfast Corporation included the city's official Latin motto: "Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus" — literally meaning "For so much what we shall repay." To either side of the entrance bay sit 1/1 timber sash windows, and the outer bays each contain tripartite windows. The bays throughout are divided by banded pilasters with sandstone ashlar banding. Window surrounds on the principal elevation are ashlar blocked, and sandstone cills are used throughout.

The south gable has two windows to each floor, each with a banded surround, a projecting lintel, and a keystone, all embraced by banded pilasters. The north gable is detailed to match. The rear elevation is not visible, being screened by a two-storey mid-20th-century annexe in red brick with metal-framed casement windows.

The walling throughout the original building is English Garden Wall bonded red brick. The return is plainly detailed, its windows generally having simple keyblocked lintels. The upper floor extension to the west portion of the return is in stretcher-bonded brick. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and stone verges. To the front, stone-coped parapet gutters are fitted with replacement metal downpipes; the return retains original ogee cast-iron gutters on profiled brick eaves.

Windows on the principal elevation are generally timber 1/1 sashes, though those on the south are obscured by exterior secondary glazing. Elsewhere, windows are a mixture of uPVC, timber, and metal-framed casements. Steel security grilles are fitted throughout the ground floor and return.

Alterations

Two-storey and single-storey flat-roofed extensions were added in the mid-20th century, most likely around 1960 when the building was converted for outpatient use. Together, these additions form a courtyard arrangement that screens the rear of the original building. They are shown in their current form on the Ordnance Survey map of approximately 1970. These later additions detract from the building's original character, and the interior has been subject to modern refurbishment, though much historic fabric survives.

Setting

The building terminates College Square. The narrow perimeter frontage is bounded by simple wrought iron railings and gates with cast iron piers. Bitmac car parks to the rear and sides are bounded by steel security fencing.

Assessment

Although the design is not of the highest quality and the building has been compromised by modern extensions and internal refurbishment, 89 Durham Street retains considerable architectural interest through its style, proportion, ornamentation, and plan form, as well as historical importance as a work by Young and Mackenzie and as a physical record of public health provision and changing approaches to tuberculosis in Belfast in the early 20th century.