Stormont House, Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 3XX

Stormont House (formerly Speaker's House) Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, County Antrim

Stormont House is a well-proportioned, symmetrical, detached, multi-bay, two-storey-with-attic former residence built in 1926 to the designs of Ralph Knott (1878–1929), an English architect and partner in the firm of Knott & Collins. Constructed in red brick with stone dressings, it is the earliest building to have been erected as part of the redevelopment of the Stormont Estate, predating the completion of Parliament Buildings by six years. Its classical detailing reflects an early 20th-century revival of Queen Anne style, expressed through multi-pane flush timber casement windows, oversized chimneystacks, and a pedimented stone doorcase. The main decorative detailing has been retained both internally and externally. The building has group value with the other listed structures on the Stormont Estate.

Historical Context

Following the Government of Ireland Act of 1920, the former estate of Stormont Castle was selected as the home of the newly formed Northern Ireland Government and Parliament. The Stormont Estate was acquired by the Commissioners of Public Works and Buildings of the Imperial Government in 1921 at a cost of £20,334, though Parliament Buildings were not completed and opened until 1932. Ralph Knott had originally been selected by the Board of Works to design Parliament Buildings but was replaced by Arnold Thornely. He was subsequently contracted to design a pair of parallel administration blocks to accommodate civil service offices; however, following a financial reassessment in 1925, these were merged into a single four-storey building, and Knott's services for that project were no longer required. The intended plural name "Parliament Buildings" has nonetheless been retained, reflecting the multiple offices originally envisaged. Despite losing these contracts, Knott completed Speaker's House in 1926. The Annual Revisions set its rateable value at £150; this rose to £220 in the First General Revaluation of 1935, following the opening of Parliament Buildings, and to £280 in the Second General Revaluation of 1956–72.

The building was first recorded on the fifth edition of the Ordnance Survey maps of 1938–39, which depicted it in substantially its current layout, excluding the later two-storey administration block to its east. It served as the official residence of the Speaker from 1926 until 1972, when the Northern Ireland Government was abolished and Direct Rule implemented. Since devolution, it has no longer been used as the Speaker's official residence and is currently occupied by the Northern Ireland Office. The building was listed in 1987 and underwent renovation in 2008.

Architectural writers have noted that following the partition of Ireland, architecture in Ulster did not immediately follow modern trends but embraced a neo-Georgian revival. Hugh Dixon observed that neo-Georgian architecture was popular in the newly formed Northern Ireland because the style blended successfully with older buildings in both urban and rural settings. Speaker's House shares characteristics with T. F. O. Rippingham's contemporary series of police stations, including a hipped roof, Georgian multi-pane glazing, and side chimneys — demonstrating that the neo-Georgian style could also be effectively applied to state buildings.

Exterior

The principal north elevation is symmetrical and five windows wide, with advanced end bays. At its centre sits a flat-roofed, square-plan entrance porch housing an elaborate pedimented carved stone doorcase. The porch contains double-leaf timber doors, each with a single decorative raised-and-fielded panel, above which is a rectangular fanlight with decorative glazing bars. The deep stone architrave surround is surmounted by a segmental pediment supported on scrolled console brackets, which is in turn topped by a decorative ball finial and swags.

The symmetrical south garden elevation is nine windows wide with a central flat-roofed entrance bay. The entire ground floor is fitted with French doors with stepped keystones. The central bay comprises a tripartite arrangement of multi-pane timber French doors flanked by stone columns with stylised capitals, elaborately carved stone overpanels, and a continuous fluted entablature.

The west side elevation is abutted by a lower two-storey section with a square-headed door opening fitted with a replacement timber panelled door and a painted Doric portico. The east side elevation is abutted by a lower two-storey section and a later flat-roofed single-storey extension, as well as a flat-roofed glazed wing built around 1975.

The roofs are hipped and clad in terracotta tiles with terracotta ridge tiles. The chimneystacks are large and profiled, constructed in brick with cast cement detailing. Dormer windows are lead-lined. Rainwater goods are cast iron, including a single decorative box hopper with raised digits reading "1926". The brick walling is machine-made red brick laid in English garden wall bond with cement pointing. A lead-lined continuous brick plat band runs at first-floor sill level. Window openings are gauged brick with flat arches and contain bipartite and tripartite multi-pane timber casement windows, together with multi-pane French doors.

A large single-storey flat-roofed wing was added to the east of the building around 1975 as a two-storey administration complex.

Setting

The building sits on a mature site to the southeast of Parliament Buildings, enclosed by steel security fencing. The front driveway is finished in bitmac, with a modern security cabin to the northwest. To the rear, a stepped stone-paved terrace is enclosed by a rough-hewn sandstone wall.