Floral Hall, Zoological Gardens, Antrim Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT36 7PN

Floral Hall, Zoological Gardens

The Floral Hall is a large, two-storey modernist concert and dance hall built in 1935–36 to the design of David W. Boyd. It stands within the grounds of Belfast Zoo on high ground to the west of Antrim Road. The building consists of a central circular shallow-domed hall with flat-roofed foyer and stage/service blocks to the north and south, and a semicircular entrance portico. The entire façade is finished in plain painted render. The hall last served as a concert venue in 1972 and is now largely disused and in poor repair.

The main hall features a relatively shallow domed roof covered in bituminous felt, with a circular ventilator projecting from its centre. The entire façade and structural elements retain their metal rainwater goods. The eastern elevation of the main hall proper forms an unbroken curve with ten very large openings to the ground floor and ten slightly squatter openings to the first floor, all of which are now boarded over. Two of the ground-floor openings formerly acted as large door screens extending to ground level. A terrace and walkway enclosed by a short rendered wall runs the length of this elevation. The lower ground level to the north means the terrace becomes a raised platform over 1.5 metres in height, accessed from the northeast by a broad flight of steps. The western elevation of the hall consists of a much shorter, shallower curve with six large windows at an intermediate level, a broad doorway to the far left, and another to the far right at ground floor level.

The northern foyer and entrance section comprises a large, symmetrical flat-roofed projection with a central three-storey block flanked by flat-roofed two-storey sections. A semicircular flat-roofed entrance portico projects from the ground floor of the taller section, featuring plain columns with a curving taper that support a tall plain rendered frieze. Within the portico, following its semicircular plan, is a series of doors now completely boarded over. Stone semicircular steps fan out from the base of the portico. The first floor of the three-storey block, directly above the porch, contains a large rectangular metal-framed window, now boarded. Smaller windows are positioned at the far left and far right of this floor. The second floor has similar outer windows, with a small painted moulding of the coat of arms of Belfast set at the centre. Both the coat of arms moulding and the large first-floor window are contained within a broad but shallow bay rising to a typically Art Deco stepped parapet. Upon this parapet sit the words "floral hall" in large letters (possibly metal) mounted on a projecting frame, executed in a sans-serif lowercase typeface that appears to be of later origin and not original to the building. Behind these letters, directly above the coat of arms, stands a tall angular Art Deco pediment moulding with reducing edges.

The eastern face of the three-storey block is only exposed at second-floor level and appears to have one large window. The western face, which is fully visible, contains a boarded doorway to the left with two small windows to the right. Further to the right is a small projection with an opening to its north face, now boarded but formerly a doorway. The two-storey flanking sections both have a large rectangular window to their respective first floors. The eastern section has a similar window on its eastern face at first-floor level and a much smaller window to the ground floor. The western section's western face is considerably larger in area, containing a boarded doorway and three small unevenly spaced windows to the ground floor, with two larger windows to the first floor.

The southern stage and service projection is considerably larger in scale than the northern entrance section and comprises two and three-storey blocks, with the three-storey block matching the height of the hall section itself. The two-storey section projects from the south side of the three-storey block. Due to the rising ground level, the ground-floor level of the two-storey block sits slightly below actual ground level, with a boarded doorway at the far left of the south face accessed by steps with rendered flanking walls. To the right on the ground floor are three relatively small windows. The centre of the first floor contains another doorway, reached by steps rising from west to east, flanked by two relatively small windows. Both the eastern and western faces of this block have two windows to each floor, with ground-floor windows being smaller. The south face of the three-storey block is only exposed at second-floor level and contains a central doorway flanked by pilaster-like piers. Both the eastern and western faces have two-storey flat-roofed bays; that to the east contains a large first-floor window and a much smaller ground-floor window, whilst that to the west has one large window at first-floor level.

All windows throughout the building are large rectangular metal-framed openings of varying sizes and shapes. Original frames appear to be retained, but all panes have been boarded over uniformly. Metal-framed windows are also present in the foyer and other sections of the building, all now boarded.