YMCA Building, 179-187 Albertbridge Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT5 4PS

YMCA Building, 179–187 Albertbridge Road, Belfast

This is a three-storey, seven-bay Edwardian Young Men's Christian Association building, erected in 1903 to the designs of Belfast-based architect William John Waterman Roome (1865–1937). It stands prominently at the junction of Albertbridge Road and Templemore Avenue, east of Belfast city centre, and is built to a rectangular plan with some alterations to the rear.

Architectural Description

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, supported by moulded eaves with a plain soffit and eaves brackets. Rainwater goods have been replaced with extruded semi-circular gutters and circular downpipes. The walls are built in red brick laid to Flemish bond, with red sandstone dressings. The gables are generally flanked by semi-octagonal brick pilasters and are terminated with ball finials; further ball finials appear over kneeler stones and apex stones. The principal windows are double-height timber casement oriel bays with spandrel panels, set into segmental-arched openings with sandstone springer blocks and hood mouldings. Doors are replacements.

Principal (North) Elevation

The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged. The ground floor comprises a series of shop fronts — originally six, now reconciled into two, flanking either side of the centrally located main entrance to the upper floors. Above this central entrance is a mosaic inscription reading "MOUNTPOTTINGER Y.M.C.A." The shop fronts are segmented by painted masonry pilasters rising to moulded cartouches on blank capitals, with a continuous enlarged ovolo cornice course above.

The central bay rises to four storeys and is gabled, flanked by semi-octagonal plain brick pilasters terminated by large ball finials. It features paired narrow double-height recessed oriel bays with moulded busts on key blocks and a central double-spring block. The third floor rises above eaves level, comprising four uniform square-headed 1-over-1 timber sash windows with a continuous sandstone cill and moulded head; intersecting sandstone pilasters rise to the underside of the apex stone and flank the kneelers. Three double-height bays sit to the left and right of the central bay, above the ground-floor shop fronts.

Left (West) Gable

The left gable is symmetrically arranged. The ground floor is blank painted brick with a central blank canted bay. A cornice course separates the ground and first floors. The first floor features a centrally located oriel bay. The second floor has an enlarged segmental-arched window flanked by two smaller diminished windows, all with a continuous cill course and hood mouldings. A brick chimney rises over the gable apex.

Rear (South) Elevation

The rear elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged, having been largely altered. It includes three first-floor roller shutters with wide segmental-arched windows above. To the right, the building is abutted by a historic three-storey former residential block; there are further modern and altered abutments, which are of no significant architectural interest.

Right (East) Gable

The right gable has an asymmetric ground floor, with a shop frontage to the left side and a square-headed infilled opening to the right. The upper floors are symmetrical, comprising two narrow square-headed windows at first-floor level and second-floor windows matching those on the left elevation.

Historical and Social Background

According to the Irish Builder, the building was constructed in 1903 by William John Waterman Roome, a Belfast-based English architect of strong Christian principles who designed church buildings, soldiers' homes, and halls intended to provide opportunities for self-improvement and harmless recreation. The Mountpottinger YMCA building is a characteristic example of his involvement in Christian projects. The building was originally intended to be one of three blocks along the Albertbridge Road, but only this block — Block A — was ever built, at an estimated cost of £12,000. The foundation stone was laid on 14 October 1903, and the builders were McLaughlin and Harvey (Irish Builder, Vol. 45, 19 November 1903, pp. 2090–91).

From 1903, six of the seven ground-floor bays were used as commercial premises. The upper floors were occupied by the Mountpottinger YMCA, accessed via the double-arched centre bay at ground level. By 1907, the top floor was also used for technical classes in connection with the Municipal Technical College. The building was maintained by a caretaker who occupied a private dwelling on the attic floor; the 1911 Census records this dwelling as consisting of four rooms.

When first assessed in 1903, the YMCA rooms on the first and second floors were valued at £45, the third floor at £13, and the six ground-floor shops each at between £20 and £30, with the caretaker's attic residence valued at £4. By 1928, all upper floors were valued together at £57.

Between 1903 and 1930 the upper rooms were let to various occupants. In 1914, a hemstitching factory operated from first-floor rooms before relocating to the adjoining two-storey redbrick factory at 171 Templemore Avenue. During the First World War, a local group organised support for families of soldiers and sailors from a first-floor office. In 1928, Scottish Legal Life Assurance and Co. had offices on the second floor. By the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935, the YMCA's value had risen to £110. By that year, the two bays furthest to the left of the entrance (nos. 185–187) had been combined into a single shop.

The building escaped damage during the Second World War, when the surrounding area was attacked in the 1941 Belfast Blitz. By the Second General Revaluation in 1956, the YMCA floors were valued at £540, subsequently reduced under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act to £432 and then £300 in 1958, at which level the value remained until 1972. Ground-floor shops saw values rise to around £110–£120 by 1956, individually reduced to around £80–£90 each by 1958.

In July 1952, an inventory and valuation of the property for insurance purposes assessed the entire building and its contents at £77,962 13s. 6d. At that time, the YMCA still occupied the first and second floors. The first floor contained the main meeting hall — named the Sir Samuel Kelly Hall after a local coal importer and philanthropist (1879–1937), who is commemorated by an Ulster History Circle plaque on nearby Castlereagh Street — along with a reading room, kitchen, and activity rooms. The second floor included games rooms, a gymnasium, and an orchestra room. The general office of the YMCA was on the ground floor. The ground-floor shops measured 17 by 36 feet and were fitted with fireproof ceilings.

In his illustrated architectural guide to Belfast, Paul Larmour described the Mountpottinger YMCA as "the best display in Belfast of the recessed oriel," a window type favoured during the Queen Anne Revival. Larmour included an original perspective sketch of the site showing that Roome had originally intended to construct a ventilator turret at the top of the building, though this was never built.

The YMCA occupied the upper floors until 1982, after which the former meeting halls fell into disrepair. The building subsequently received a £1.4 million renovation, and in 2009 a Christian denominational church, Exchange, took occupation. The three bays on either side of the ground-floor entrance were interconnected and converted into two large commercial premises at some point after 1986, when the First Survey record still showed six separate shops.

Setting

The building occupies a prominent position at the junction of an arterial route to the east of Belfast. It is surrounded by a cluster of socially significant historic buildings including schools, churches, a swimming bath, and an orange hall, beyond which the area is largely two- and three-storey terraced housing. The rear of the building now operates as a car park enclosed by a palisade fence. A contemporary bus shelter stands immediately in front of the principal entrance.