Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/30/010 B

Address :
Klondyke Building Cromac Avenue Gasworks Building Park Lower Ormeau Road Belfast BT7 2JQ

Townland:
Malone Lower

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
07/03/1990 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Gas Works

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
147/01 NE

IG Ref:
J3425 7319

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

A large red brick building orientated on the east-west axis and on the south west corner of the Gasworks site. Its west gable fronts the Ormeau Road and a tall brick wall runs along its south boundary. The main block originally contained the coal-gas retorts and the slightly narrower section at its east end, the water gas plant. Pitched natural slate roof with raised dressed sandstone verges. A tubular metal duct runs along the ridge. This was originally for venting fumes from the internal space (it worked on the venturi principle). Although now defunct, a pipe still runs from its east end across to the chimney. The duct’s west end is covered with a radial screen and surmounted by an ornately fretted cast-iron standard. Box and ogee section metal rainwater gutters. Walls are constructed of red brick with external pilasters along side walls and corners. Advanced base course with chamfered granite coping. Corbelled brick eaves course below which are continuous diamond shaped openings trimmed with stepped purple brick and into which modern aluminium-framed fixed windows have been inserted. A chamfered sandstone and brick string course runs beneath these openings. This course is level with the chamfered sandstone copings to the pilasters. Between the string courses and pilasters are large blank rectangular recesses, into many of which large modern aluminium-framed glazed units have been inserted to illuminate the interior. The north elevation is partly abutted at right by a lower single-storey building, formerly a workshop and now an industrial unit. The south (rear) elevation is almost entirely abutted by a modern flat-roofed office block which rises to eaves level. The exposed section of the east gable of the main section has three high-level cast-iron brackets to support a shaft long removed. Its apex has five semicircular-headed openings (all now infilled). As already noted, a pipe runs from the end of the ridge duct to the chimney. A number of infilled segmental-headed openings are located below the pipe, all trimmed with purple brick. There is similar detailing along the south elevation of the water gas section. The east gable of this section has a blank pedimented gable trimmed with brick, with two small and two larger blank panels below. Modern glazed units have been inserted into the latter. The west gable is of special note. It has an advanced base course of quarry-faced granite blocks laid to regular courses and coped with chamfered granite. Surmounted by four shallow brick pilasters between four panels (two of which are blank) framed with moulded sandstone dressings. Modern glazed units have been inserted into the two middle panels. An ornately detailed terracotta frieze runs across the top of the gable. Over it is a pedimented gable trimmed with moulded sandstone dressings. Its tympanum carries three panels framed with moulded sandstone. The middle panel carries a dressed sandstone plaque bearing the Belfast coat of arms and motto - Pro tanto quid retribuamus (For so much which shall we repay). It is flanked by bas-relief sandstone panels bearing ‘18’ and ‘91’ (1891) against a herringbone-brick background. Chimney Located just beyond the east gable of the main section of the building, the chimney is full height and is slightly tapered with an off octagonal cross section. It is of red brick with purple brick quoins. Tie bars secure the lower section and a lightning conductor runs down its side. Setting: The building is located at the south west corner of the park, with its west gable facing onto Ormeau Road. It is abutted by an office block with parking located at the entrance of the building (facing east). An original redbrick boundary wall is located along the south side of the building, acting as a buffer from the nearby railway line. Materials - Roof: Natural slate RWG: Cast-iron box and ogee-section Walls: Brick Windows: Aluminium

Architects

Watt, Robert

Historical Information

The Klondyke Building was originally part of Belfast Corporation’s Ormeau Road Gasworks. The site date from 1821 and although not the first such undertaking in Ireland, it eventually became the largest in the country by the mid 19th century. The former Retort House was completed in 1891. The building is attributed to Belfast-based architect Robert Watt who also designed the Gas Office. During this period, James Stelfox was employed as a General Manger of the works and overseen the expansion programme, the Gas Office (HB26/30/10C) having opened three years previously. The Gasworks is shown on the 1901 OS map and subsequent editions, with a 1910 map of the Gasworks captioning the building as ‘Retort House’ and containing 288 retorts which could produce 2.16 million cubic feet of gas per day. A retort is a horizontally-mounted earthenware D-shaped tube in which coal was heated in the absence of air. Its gas content was given off, leaving coke at the end of the process. A smaller building on its east gable is marked as ‘Water Gas No.1’, with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic feet of water gas per day. This type of gas was made by heating coke and then passing steam over it. Unlike coal gas, however, water gas has little luminosity, so oil was injected into it so that it would be suitable for gas lighting and could thus be added to the coal gas. This oil was imported and piped all the way to the gasworks from Alexandra Wharf. The water gas apparatus came on stream at the end of 1893. The 1910 map also shows a ‘Boiler House’ abutting the north side of the water gas building. Here the steam for the coke would have been generated. A ‘Blower House’ along the east side of the boiler house would have contained fans for blowing the steam on to the coke in the water gas apparatus. There were also two chimneys at the east end of this block. Water gas production was invented in America and Belfast was the second city in the British Isles after London to use it. In an interview in 1894, James Stelfox noted that this section had originally been intended as a conventional retort house, but that water gas had been adopted instead. Given that the building dates from 1891, but that the Klondyke gold rush in the Yukon did not begin until 1897, its name is obviously a later introduction, perhaps in acknowledgement of this American process and/or the use of oil to boost the water gas. The Gasworks closed in the 1980s. By this time, the interior of the building was an empty shell, the retorts having been long removed (coal gas production ceased in the 1960s). Over the past 20 years, the entire gasworks site has been redeveloped. The Klondyke building was converted to offices for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, with a number of modern interventions. References – Primary Sources: 1. Date inscribed on E gable (1891). 2. PRONI D2177/2/3. Miscellaneous newspaper cuttings on Ormeau Road Gasworks. Of particular note are Belfast Evening Telegraph of 14/11/1893 and 19/1/1894, and the Northern Whig for 13/4/1894. 3. PRONI OS/10/1/61/9/1. First edition OS 25-inch map, Co Antrim sheet 61-09 (1901). 4. PRONI D3231/8. Plan of Gasworks (1910). References – Secondary Sources: 1. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of Belfast, p.60 (Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985). 2. P. Larmour, Belfast: an Illustrated Architectural Guide, p.52 (Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987). 3. M. Patton, Central Belfast: a Historical Gazetteer, pp 258-259 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Historical Society, 1993).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation F. Structural System J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance V. Authorship X. Local Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

An attached three-storey, former Retort House, now offices, built c.1891 to designs by Robert Watt. Rectangular on plan and located at the south west corner of the park, with its west gable facing onto Ormeau Road. A utilitarian red brick building given interest by the use of granite and sandstone dressings, and contrasting coloured brick. The size and quality of the stonework on the tympanum on the apex of the west gable is of particular note. The metal truss roof is an excellent example of this type of roof construction whilst the juxtaposition of the chimney is a reminder of its former role as a gas production unit. The building has group value with the nearby meter house (HB26/30/10A) and Gas Office (HB26/30/10C). Historically, the building is of local interest in reflecting the late 19th century expansion of the Ormeau Road Gasworks. Aside from Carrickfergus Gasworks, this is the only retort house remaining in the Province, and the only surviving one in Ireland associated with a water gas plant.

General Comments

Date of Survey

13 May 2011