Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/07/008

Address :
Masonic Hall Hamilton Road Bangor Co Down

Townland:
Corporation

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
23/07/2012 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Hall

Former Use
Hall

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
115/12

IG Ref:
J5067 8166

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Owner Category

Masonic Lodge

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey five-bay neo-Baroque styled Victorian Masonic Hall erected c.1880 to designs by John Boyd. Rectangular plan form with Dutch gables and large return to the rear. Located on Hamilton Road adjacent to Dufferin Hall (HB23/07/007B) and St Comgall's Parish Church (HB23/07/007A); east of the town centre. Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; ventilation lanterns on the ridge; cast-iron rainwater goods, gutters breaking through parapet to hopper heads. Ruled-and-lined render walling with stucco moulded string courses and detailing; pilaster quoins. 2/4 timber sliding sash segmental-arched ground floor windows; moulded surrounds with squared heels; curved hood moulding on side brackets. Leaded round-headed arched first floor windows with moulded surrounds comprising scrolled heels and stepped impost; continuous moulded cill courses throughout. Four-raised panel double-leaf doors; stilted round-arched fan light over with moulded surrounds and central key-block; flanked by Corinthian pilasters, extended over cornice course with Masonic symbols to frieze; segmental pediment with moulded drop dentils, setback in the centre and aligned with first floor cornice course. The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged. Central front entrance on slightly projecting bay; flanked by two windows both sides ground and first floor. Pilasters rising above entrance to meet moulding between and containing five- and six- pointed stars; open bible over with square and compass symbol; segmental hood moulding on moulded brackets at window arch level. Balustraded parapet with corner urns and central curved gable with scroll base bearing “BMH”; chimney removed. The left (east) gable comprises plain pilasters rising to moulded eaves surmounted by a decorative Dutch gable and chimneystack. Single door located to the left with first floor window over. Single ground floor window located right of centre. The rear (south) elevation is abutted by a two-storey, two-bay gabled return (roof pitch running parallel to main block forming internal gutter) adjoining the left and centre bays; blank exposed elevation to right. Right gable of rear return is plain and comprises various single and bi-partite square-headed 1/1 sliding sash windows and casement windows. The left gable is decorated to match the style and characteristics of the main body of the building. (See below). The right (west) gable as left; ground floor and first floor windows flanking chimney breast; string course to first floor. Blank moulded panel surmounted by pediment located to first floor central bay. Extended elevation to the right comprises diminutive Dutch gabled façade two windows wide. Urns over pilasters throughout. Setting A compact site located on one of the principal thoroughfares in Bangor and adjacent to residential street to the west. The front is bounded by a concrete balustraded parapet wall; mild steel gate and stucco moulded piers. Sweeping stone steps leading up to front entrance with matching balusters and moulded handrail. Ramped rubble masonry wall to east, shared with adjacent building. Two-storey Victorian residential terraces encompassing the west and south; two-storey mixed-use to the north. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Stucco / render Windows: Timber / leaded lights RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Boyd, John

Historical Information

Bangor Masonic Hall is first shown, uncaptioned, on the third edition OS map of 1901 where it occupies a formerly vacant site on the newly created Hamilton Road. The foundation stone was laid on 5th August 1882 , the Belfast Newsletter reporting the following day that the lodge was being erected for the brethren of Lodge No 746, Bangor, the largest lodge in point of membership in the North of Ireland at that time, including upwards of a hundred members. (Belfast Newsletter) The Newsletter attributes the growth of the lodge entirely to the exertions of Lord Clanmorris of Bangor Castle, the Worshipful Master of the Union Lodge, who was also instrumental in ‘making provision for the erection of a new hall’ and had, ‘through his instrumentality’ raised about half of the necessary sum of £1,200 by the time the foundation stone was laid. The site was donated by the Landlord of the town and Lord Clanmorris’ father-in-law, Robert E Ward. (Belfast Newsletter) The laying of the foundation stone was described by the Newsletter as the ‘grandest and most imposing spectacle ever witnessed in this ancient seaside town’. The crowd was estimated at 6,000 and a thousand masons were present. A sealed casket was placed into a cavity in the foundation stone containing coins, newspapers and a parchment scroll bearing the names of members of the lodge. (Belfast Newsletter) The plans were prepared by Mr John Boyd CE who also supervised the work. The contractors were Messrs McLaughlin & Harvey. (Belfast Newsletter) The Newsletter’s enthusiastic endorsement of the new lodge at Bangor continued in August the following year when it printed a description of the finished building. “While an ornament to the town and adding much to the general appearance of the now varied and beautiful architecture everywhere to be seen at our local Brighton, the hall is a fitting memorial of what can be done when untiring exertions are brought to bear in the furtherance and attainment of any desirable and laudable object.” (Belfast Newsletter) The front bears the monogram B.M.H (Bangor Masonic Hall). The Newsletter describes the interior as comprising a reading-room and library, off which is a large billiard room. These sections are separated by folding doors which can be thrown back to turn the two rooms into one for meetings ‘of a public character’. On the right-hand side are caretakers’ apartments. “A wide staircase leads to the upper storey where the hall proper – the lodge and ante-rooms – are situated. The former is very spacious and will afford ample accommodation for the numerous membership....it is certainly one of the finest rooms of the kind in Ireland...Great taste has been shown in even the minutest detail.” (Belfast Newsletter) On 29 August 1883, a ‘miscellaneous entertainment’ was held in the hall ‘in the interest of the building fund’. The entertainment was organised by W G Lyttle, an active freemason and also the author of a large number of poems and sketches in the character of ‘Robin’ a Co Down farmer. Lyttle gave a reading as ‘Robin’, entitled, ‘How I Became a Mason’. (Belfast Newsletter) A year later in July 1884, the debt still remained upon the building and a ‘Masonic fancy fair’ was held at Bangor’s market house to raise funds. “So elegantly got up indeed is the building that the members of the craft, although enthusiastic in their effort, were unable to meet the expenditure”. Lady Clanmorris and other notables of the town assisted at the stalls and all manner of produce, craft work and second-hand goods were available. The Newsletter noted the presence of ‘well-bred fowls, but exceedingly ill-mannered ones as they crowed and sung alternately without the slightest regard for the etiquette due to the occasion.’ (Belfast Newsletter) By 1885 the lodge was an established part of ‘The Bangor Season’ and W G Lyttle noted that the Lodge met in ‘the handsome new Hall, Hamilton Street, on the second Wednesday of each month and the meetings of the Royal Arch Chapter are held quarterly.” (Lyttle, p.37) In 1934 some improvements were carried out to the building under the supervision of Ferguson & McIlveen, architects. (Irish Builder) The central chimney was removed c1980 (Patton, p.92) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901 2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26 3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939 4. Belfast Newsletter, 3rd August 1882 5. Belfast Newsletter, 7th August 1882 6. Belfast Newsletter, 1st August 1883 7. Belfast Newsletter, 25th August 1883 8. Belfast Newsletter, 27th August 1883 9. Belfast Newsletter, 30th August 1883 10. Belfast Newsletter, 31st August 1883 11. Belfast Newsletter, 17th July 1884 12. Belfast Newsletter, 18th July 1884 13. Irish Builder, Vol 76, 22nd September 1934, p.802 Secondary Sources 1. Lyttle, W.G. “The Bangor Season, What’s to be Seen and How to See It” Belfast: Appletree Press, Facsimile edition of original published in 1885 2. Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey five-bay Victorian Masonic Hall erected c.1880 to the designs of John Boyd CE. The façade is a good example of decorative stucco moulding, typical of grander buildings of this period and the style. Detailing is of good quality and survives as original. Located with several civic buildings, such as Dufferin Memorial Hall (HB23/07/007B), and churches, including St Comgalls Church (HB23/07/007A) and Wesley Centenary Methodist Church (HB23/05/03). This is an good example of the type, well-detailed and robust in character.

General Comments

Within Bangor Central Area of Townscape Character

Date of Survey

11 November 2010