Microbiology Building, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT12 6BA

Microbiology Building, Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast

The Microbiology Building is a prominent six-storey building with basement, constructed between 1961 and 1964 to designs by Sir Hugh Casson of the London firm Casson & Condor. It is built in the International style with notable Brutalist influences, and is widely regarded as one of the most architecturally distinguished post-war buildings in Belfast. Architectural historian Paul Larmour described it as "surely one of the high points in modern architecture in Belfast," noting its recall of "the heroic period of the Modern Movement in its uncompromising boldness, sleek form and functionalist stance." The building was funded through a generous subvention from the Poliomyelitis Society and opened in 1964.

Historical Context

Belfast expanded at a phenomenal rate during the 19th century. Its population of around 20,000 in 1800 had grown to 70,000 by 1841, over 120,000 by 1871, and 385,000 by 1911, making it by some way the largest urban population in Ireland. This rapid growth placed increasing pressure on medical facilities, particularly the Belfast Royal Hospital in Frederick Street. By the end of the 1800s a new hospital was clearly needed. The Royal Victoria Hospital was built at the junction of the Grosvenor and Falls Roads, designed by William Henman of Henman & Cooper, who had previously been responsible for the Birmingham General Hospital. The contract was won by McLaughlin & Harvey in September 1900. The foundation stone was laid in early 1901, and the hospital was officially opened on 27 July 1903 by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra during their visit to Ireland. From the 1950s onwards, a range of important new buildings were erected along the hospital road, of which the Microbiology Building is among the most significant.

Plan and Overall Form

The main building block has a rectangular plan form oriented east to west, set onto a significantly larger, irregularly planned single-storey lower ground floor. This lower ground floor extends with a rectangular projecting section to the north-west, a bastion-shaped canted section to the north-east, and a rectangular return to the south-east. The building is distinctive in its use of prefabricated modular concrete panels, and its wrap-around windows, horizontal bands of glazing and concrete panels all express this modular construction clearly on the exterior. The building is accessed primarily via covered flat-roofed walkways to the north at both ground floor and lower ground floor levels.

Roof

The main building has a flat roof of unknown construction, set below a parapet to the north and east, with a large raised rectangular chimney vent to both the east and west. There is a raised plant room at the centre of the roof with a flat roof and metal chimneys. Rainwater goods are concealed within the walling. The roof of the lower ground floor is flat, finished with concrete paving slabs, and serves as a walkway around the main building. At the south-east arm of the lower ground floor, two remaining rectangular sections of glass blocks form roof lights, each four blocks wide and six blocks long. The covered walkway to the north of the building also has a flat roof supported by square-section pillars.

Exterior Walling and Windows

The lower ground floor is constructed from vertically shuttered poured concrete walling — battered in profile, adding a strong textural quality — topped by a simple circular-section horizontal railing. The ground floor level of the main building block is constructed from sections of glazed curtain walling to the north and south, with a continuous horizontal band of high-level glazing, and intermittent sections of Flemish bond brown brickwork pierced by rectangular square-headed windows with thin green slate cills. The upper storeys use modular prefabricated concrete sections with continuous horizontal bands of single-glazed three-pane steel windows. Narrow wrap-around horizontal band windows run around the facade edges at each level, with concrete panels between the horizontal glazing.

Principal (North) Elevation

The front elevation features glazed steel-framed curtain walling at ground floor level with two glazed entrance doors flanked by perpendicular projecting glazed panels. The lower sections of glazing flanking the main door at ground floor level have frosted glass. The lower level of the covered walkway has two timber doors leading into the main building, connecting to two now-blocked doorways in the below-ground-level boundary walling to the north. There is a thin horizontal band of windows to the lower ground floor walling, now blocked. Rectangular balconies with square-section metal railings project from the first bay of the main building at each upper floor to the west.

East Elevation

The east elevation has a thin splayed full-height arrow-loop type window opening at the centre of the ground floor level with a recessed steel-framed light. This is flanked by a window to the north and a glazed two-pane metal-framed door to the south. The upper floors have concrete panels and narrow wrap-around horizontal band windows. At lower ground floor level there is a planked timber door in a recessed section, with some steel-framed windows remaining unblocked to the south-east. The end elevation of the concrete staircase is visible on the south elevation, featuring concrete panels and a painted metal horizontal handrail and balustrade.

South Elevation

The southern facade is largely similar to the principal north elevation, except for the central four bays, which have only narrow horizontal windows at ceiling level on each floor, intersected by thin vertical windows at each floor level. An external concrete staircase to the south-east is supported by a central concrete column of rectangular section, connecting all floors and the roof, with a painted metal circular-section handrail. Three sliding timber two-pane glazed doors at lower ground floor level are housed in a recess formed by the cantilevered construction of the extended lower ground floor flat roof.

West Elevation

The west elevation is similar to the east, with a thin splayed full-height arrow-loop type window at the centre of the ground floor, flanked by a window to the north and a door to the south. Concrete panels and narrow wrap-around horizontal banded windows appear at the edge of each floor. A large metal vent rises externally to the roof from the first floor window level. At lower ground floor level there is a sheet metal door and thin horizontal steel-framed rectangular windows, with vertical concrete shuttering below the lower ground floor windows and a smooth finish above.

Setting

The Microbiology Building sits within the Royal Victoria Hospital complex, to the south of the Grosvenor Road access route and to the north-west of Mulhouse Road. The principal entrance is approached from the public footpath to the north via a covered walkway at both ground floor and lower ground floor levels. Concrete shuttering topped by a simple circular-section handrail forms a retaining boundary to the north, north-west and east. A local access road lies to the west, where the ground falls away to the rear of the building. There is a large tarmacked car park to the south. The area between the public footpath and the irregular plan of the lower ground floor is laid to lawn with some established trees.