Whitla Hall, Methodist College, 1 Malone Road, Belfast, BT9 6BY

Whitla Hall, Methodist College, Belfast

Whitla Hall is a double-volume school assembly hall built in 1934–35 in a functional modernist style, and represents an unusual example of 1930s architecture in the context of Northern Ireland. It was designed by the Liverpudlian architect Alan Hodgson Hope (1909–65), whose design was selected through open competition. Hope went on to spend the remainder of his career on the island of Ireland, working extensively around Dublin. The hall was funded by a bequest of £10,000 from Sir William Whitla (1851–1933), the eminent physician, Queen's University Belfast academic, university MP, and former school governor of Methodist College, who served as governor for 27 years. The final construction cost came to £10,400. The building was officially opened in December 1935 by the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon.

Although of architectural interest as a functional modernist building of its period, the hall's significance has been adversely affected by the loss of historic fabric in a fire in January 2011, and by subsequent changes to the plan and detailing arising both from the Music Department extension and from the renovation and remodelling that followed the fire. It was restored and reopened in October 2011.

Setting and Site

The hall stands within the Methodist College campus on a slight rise to the west of the original 1860s college building, with a metalled car park between the two. The building was originally freestanding, with open ground to all sides. By at least 1959, large-scale construction on the southern side of the school grounds had closed in the space to that side, with structures abutting the south face of the building. At some point after around 1970, a large Music Department extension was added to the west end. Gardens to the north slope gently down to railings marking the College Gardens boundary, and a late 20th-century building abuts the northern face. The west side is closely flanked by mainly late 20th-century buildings.

Overall Form and Structure

The original building comprises a large double-volume hall in a simple pitched, gable-ended structure. Toilet accommodation and linking corridors flank either side. The footprint of the original structure is approximately rectangular and symmetrical. A post-1950s single-storey structure abuts the south façade, partially obscuring clear views from that direction. To the rear (west side) is an extensive two-storey post-1970 addition housing the Music Department, which is wider than the hall itself, creating a combined T-shaped footprint when viewed from above. The Music Department extension also has an approximately rectangular, symmetrical footprint.

Roof

The roof to the main hall is gabled and pitched, covered in blue-black natural slate. The ridge tiles appear to be matching fireclay. The gables are raised to form parapets with stone capping, and the skews are returned some distance along the long façades to create parapet ends. At the centre of the ridge is a tall timber fleche ventilator. The eaves are overhanging. Rainwater goods to the original section were originally cast iron, though some portions have been replaced in uPVC. All other areas of the building are flat-roofed with overhanging eaves, and their rainwater goods are uPVC.

External Walls and Openings

The walls of the original building are faced with rustic wire-cut red facing brick, resting on a shallow plinth. The Music Department extension is faced with a closely matched brick. All window openings are plain and flat-headed. Window frames and the main entrance doors have been entirely replaced in what appears to be powder-coated aluminium. Other external doors are plain painted timber with plain vision panels.

East (Entrance) Façade

The east entrance front is symmetrical, centred on the gable of the main hall. A flat-roofed, part-two-storey, part-single-storey breakfront incorporates an open colonnaded porch with rooms over, flanked on either side by small single-storey ancillary rooms. The colonnade is flanked by low cast in-situ concrete planters. To the upper floor of the breakfront there are three flat-headed shallow window openings to the front and one each to the sides. The small ancillary rooms each have one front window opening; the room to the right also has a side window, while that to the left has a side door opening. Set well back on either side are the east faces of the flanking corridors and toilet blocks, each with one east-facing window. Within the open colonnaded porch are three paired entrance doors, and at the upper level are small clerestory windows. The entrance has level access.

North Façade

The north façade is composed mainly of the side of the main hall. Either end of the hall is flanked with plain brick panels rising above the eaves to form a parapet. The upper central portion of the long façade is articulated with plain brick pilasters, and the resulting recesses each contain tall paired windows — six pairs in total. To the far left is the north face of the entrance breakfront. At ground floor, the middle section advances forward with two flat-roofed single-storey projections: a full-length corridor, to the left side of which is a further projecting toilet block with two windows to the north face and one to the west. To the immediate right of the toilet block and the far right of the corridor are projecting entrance bays containing recessed paired doors, with three window openings between the doors. A raised platform extends between the doors, with a short flight of steps at either end flanked by walls with cow-nosed ends, and a retaining wall extending between the two stair flights. All entrance doors other than the main front entrance are approached by short flights of concrete steps flanked by low rendered walls with cow-nosed ends.

South Façade

Most of the left side of the south façade is obscured by later unrelated single-storey buildings. The original upper level is exposed and matches the north face: plain brick panels rising to parapets at either end, with the upper central portion articulated by plain brick pilasters creating recesses each containing tall paired windows — again six pairs. The exposed right side mirrors the equivalent section of the north face, with the side of the entrance breakfront to the right and a plain brick panel rising to a parapet to the left. Within this panel at first-floor level there is a later-added fire escape exit with paired doors, and at ground floor a single window. A dog-leg steel fire escape stair with a curved landing is attached to the brick panel.

West Façade

All but the upper section of the western gable of the hall is obscured by the Music Department extension.

Music Department Extension

The two-storey Music Department extension attaches to and is wider than the west face of the hall, with its eastern faces projecting either side of the hall. The southern side of the east face of the extension is obscured by later unrelated buildings. The northern side of the east face has a grouping of four tall window openings to the left, with four squat window openings below; the openings are separated by rendered mullions.

On the north face of the extension, the left side has four tall window openings to both ground and first floors, matching the arrangement described above. On the right side there are two stepped projections: the first has a door to the left and a single window to the right at ground floor, with two windows at first floor; the second step forms the blank face of a breakfront to the west façade.

The west face of the extension is symmetrical with a double breakfront arrangement. The exposed faces at either side of the west façade and the first breakfront are formed with plain brick panels, with a later door added to the ground floor of the left side. The second and innermost breakfront forms the centre of the façade, with a glazed two-storey entrance screen at its centre. To the left of this central element there are two window openings, a door (possibly added later), and a further window at ground floor, with four window openings at first floor. To the right there are four window openings at ground floor and four at first floor. The ground-floor windows are shorter than those at first floor, and all are evenly spaced.

On the south face of the extension, to the far right there is a door sheltered by a later canopy supported on circular steel columns. On the right side of the north face of the extension there are four tall first-floor window openings with a door to the right side approached by a wheelchair ramp. To the left side, two stepped projections — the cheeks of the breakfronts — are present: the first has two window openings to ground and first floors, and the second is blank.