Shed at building supplies yard ('Minnis Fleck Building Supplies'), Circular Road, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 3AE

A two storey timber store built around 1900, standing within a building supplies yard on the north side of Circular Road, south-east of Larne town centre. The structure is constructed of rubble stone with timber cladding and measures approximately 15.5 metres by 11.4 metres in rectangular plan.

The ground floor of the south gabled elevation is completely open, whilst the upper floor is clad in timber with two window openings and a large central loft door. The west elevation is built in random basalt rubble and is abutted by a large two storey lean-to structure. An open-tread external staircase rises on the right-hand side, providing access to the upper floor doorway. The east elevation is abutted by a neighbouring building and is largely obscured from view. The rear north elevation could not be observed.

The roof is a Belfast truss structure comprising six McTear trusses and is felted.

The Belfast truss was developed in the mid-nineteenth century to meet demand for efficient, lightweight and long-span roofs brought about by the industrial revolution. The first known reference to a curved wooden felted roof structure supported by bowstring girders appears in an 1866 advertisement in the Dublin Builder by the Belfast firm of felt-makers McTear & Co., which continued manufacturing trusses until ceasing business in 1908. A second Belfast felt supplier, Anderson & Co., began producing trusses to a slightly different design in 1886, launching their Mk II version in 1896, promoted as maximising long spans whilst maintaining light weight. The term Belfast truss is now widely used to apply to all timber bowstring trusses where internal bracing members meet on the top curved member rather than on the bottom as was conventional.

The building is well preserved and largely unaltered, providing a good example of a medium-sized Belfast truss roofed structure in an urban setting. Its continued use for what was likely its original storage purpose is of additional interest. The structure is of industrial archaeological significance.