Gate Lodge, Stormont Estate, Massey Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 3XX

Gate Lodge and Entrance Screen, Stormont Estate

This detached two-storey stone gate lodge and secondary gate screen at the Massey Avenue entrance to Stormont Estate was built around 1932 to designs by Arnold Thornely, a Liverpool-based architect appointed by the Board of Works to oversee the design of Parliament Buildings and all associated structures on the estate.

The gate lodge is a substantial structure constructed in Portland limestone ashlar with a pyramidal roof finished in gauged slate with rolled leaded ridges. At the apex sits a stepped Portland limestone ashlar chimney stack surmounted by clay pots. A blocking course to the eaves supports a lead-lined drip cornice framing the upper storey. The walls feature continuous cornices over each floor and shallow corner pilasters.

The north front elevation, which faces Massey Avenue, is symmetrical and two windows wide. It has a central shallow breakfront containing a square-headed door opening with Portland limestone architrave and scrolled console brackets supporting a hood cornice. The door itself is original oak with raised-and-fielded panels and two incorporated lights, opening onto a concrete paved footpath and ramp within the lawn. Square-headed window openings throughout retain original steel casement windows with original lead cames and some bronze mechanisms, set within shallow recessed surrounds.

The east side elevation is symmetrical with a single window to the ground floor set in a shallow breakfront. The rear south elevation is three bays wide and is abutted at ground floor level by a tall semi-circular limestone ashlar wall that encloses a small rear yard. The west side elevation is symmetrical with two windows to the first floor and a shallow bay window to the ground level containing three windows, each flanked by shallow pilasters.

The entrance screen is an elaborate, symmetrically arranged composition comprising a central vehicular entrance gate supported on a pair of tall Portland limestone ashlar piers, flanked by a pair of pedestrian entrance gate screens. Curved sections of cast-iron railings on a limestone ashlar plinth wall extend to either side, interrupted by cast-iron piers with urn finials. The highly decorative cast-iron gates are surmounted by anthemion finials with gilded details. The central piers are topped by full Greek Doric entablatures, antefixae and urns. The pedestrian entrances are framed at either end by further stone piers embellished with elaborate carved panels, antefixae and decorative cast-iron lamps.

The lodge is identical to its counterpart at the Upper Newtownards Road entrance. Thornely designed not only all the gateways and gate lodges for the estate but also the four-storey Parliament Building itself, officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 16 November 1932, with the gate lodges completed by this date. The magnificent processional avenue lined with lime and yew trees extends from the main gates, past the statue of Lord Carson, to the foot of the famous sixty steps of Parliament Buildings, representing one of the most outstanding architectural sights in Ireland.

The gate lodge and screen retain most of their original materials and detailing, representing fine examples of early to mid twentieth-century craftsmanship and the application of classical architectural devices. As part of the Stormont Estate, the structure has group value with other listed structures on the estate and forms an important component of the architectural style and material vocabulary that characterises Parliament Building itself.

A refurbishment of the gate lodge and screen was carried out in 1997, during which the original gate screen was repaired and the granite plinths of the gate screen were restored. The lodge fronts onto Massey Avenue with a bitumac footpath and set-down area, with the entrance gates opening onto a bitumac avenue approaching Stormont Parliament from the west.