Pump House, Queen's Road, Belfast, BT3 9DV

Pump House, built circa 1885–89 for the Belfast Harbour Commission to serve the newly cut Alexandra graving dock, situated on Clarence Wharf within the Harland & Wolff shipyard complex on the west side of Queen's Island, Queen's Road, Belfast.

This long, rectangular single-storey pump house is built in a late Victorian eclectic style, designed as a series of joined gabled pavilions in red brick with cream brick dressings to the gable verges. Semicircular and segmental arch-headed openings punctuate the facades throughout, and decorative classical motifs — including roundels, keystones, and acroteria — are applied across all elevations. Roofs are covered in natural blue slate. The building sits on a low sandstone base. Rainwater goods are a mixture of square-section downpipes with ogee gutters and round-section PVC. To the middle of the ridge of the pump house proper rises a tall gabled plant room finished in corrugated asbestos sheeting. The building has a deep basement level housing the pumps, which are still in active use pumping out the adjacent Thompson dry dock.

West Elevation

The west facade divides into two sections: to the right, three joined gabled pavilions; to the left, one long section with a central projecting gabled bay. The main entrance is reached by four sandstone steps and is set within a tall semicircular arch-headed opening at the centre of the third pavilion gable from the right. Double timber doors are flanked by a single pass door on either side. Above the doors, the upper area of the opening is filled with a mullioned and transomed timber frame glazed with small square panes. The arch surround and archivolt are in cream brick, with a sandstone drip moulding above. The decorative keystone is formed in sandstone and inscribed with the letters BHC, standing for Belfast Harbour Commission. Flanking the main arch on each side is a smaller matching arch, each containing a large sash window with horizontal astragals. The gable is framed by plain projecting cream brick pilasters supporting a heavily moulded, pediment-like verge finished with a moulded stone coping and an acroterion at the apex. At the junction of the verge and the pilasters is a shouldered detail with corbelled brickwork. Much of this detailing is repeated across the building.

To the right of the main entrance gable is a further but lower gable with similar verge detailing. At its centre is a blind roundel formed in cream brick, and the pediment is completed by a fine sandstone string course. The pediment rests on a series of four segmental arch-headed openings, which were originally bricked up; openings one, three, and four now have modern utilitarian sheeted doors inserted. To the far right is a further gable, the same height as the main entrance gable but narrower. A small blind roundel is set within the gable, and further roundels appear at the eaves and pilaster junctions. At the centre is a double-height semicircular arch-headed opening filled with tall timber diagonally sheeted gates; in recent times the right door leaf was bricked up and a modern steel window inserted.

The left portion of the west facade presents the side elevation of the long symmetrical pump house proper, with a central projecting gable. At the centre of this gable is a large mullioned and transomed timber-framed window. The gable is flanked on each side by five arched openings: the central arch of each group is elliptical and frames timber double doors with a simple radial fanlight above; the two openings to either side of this are semicircular arch-headed and contain sash windows. To the left of the right-hand set of double doors is a bronze war memorial plaque.

North Elevation

The north elevation is a simple gable flanked by pilasters with decorative eaves detailing, consistent with the rest of the building. A small pair of double doors was added in recent times to the lower left side.

East Elevation

The east side of the pump house proper mirrors the west elevation, with the exception that the group of five openings to the north of the gable projection are all windows rather than doors.

To the left of the pump house proper on the east side is a further gable, similar in form but with less ornate moulded verge detailing. Two evenly spaced semicircular arch-headed openings flank a memorial plaque commemorating the construction of Thompson's Graving Dock in 1911. The opening to the left is blind, while the one to the right contains a sash window; both have brick dressings and sandstone drip mouldings. To the left of this is a further lower gable, largely as described elsewhere, with three small modern and unevenly spaced doors at ground floor level. At the far left is the gable of the third pavilion, again consistent with the general detailing, but with two unevenly spaced modern door openings. This gable projects forward slightly and has heavy brick buttresses at its base. The exposed north face of this gable carries a further memorial plaque dedicated to the opening of the Alexandra Dock on 21st May 1889.

South Elevation

The south facade was symmetrical, with two warehouse-style loading bay doors stacked one above the other. To either side is a blind semicircular arched recess resting on a sandstone string course that merges with drip mouldings. Below the right arch is a memorial plaque remembering the designers, supervisors, and builders of the dock — presumably the Alexandra Dock, as it was built first. Below the left arch are five modern openings: three windows flanked by two doors. A large number of unsympathetic doors and windows have been added across the building in recent times.

Historical Context

The pump house was built between 1885 and 1889 to serve the Alexandra graving dock, named after Princess Alexandra, who cut the first sod in 1885. The dock was completed in early 1889 and inaugurated by the newly completed White Star liner Teutonic. To serve the dock, a large steam crane — reputed to be one of the finest in the British Isles — was installed alongside, capable of lifting loads of 100 tons at 50 feet, 80 tons at 60 feet, and 60 tons at 70 feet. Between 1903 and 1911, the much larger Thompson dry dock was cut immediately to the east of the pump house. The Alexandra dock is today permanently filled and serves as the berth for a small naval training vessel. The pump house itself continues to serve the Thompson dry dock.

Primary sources include the Harland and Wolff Papers (D.2805). Secondary sources include The Port of Belfast 1785–1985 (Belfast Harbour Commissioners, 1985) and Michael Moss and John R. Hume, Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff (Belfast, 1986).