Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/04/001 A

Address :
Harding Memorial Primary School 105 Cregagh Road Belfast County Antrim BT6 8PZ

Townland:
Ballymaconaghy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
25/03/2014 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
School

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
147/2SE

IG Ref:
J3590 7254

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Owner Category

School

Exterior Description And Setting

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick school, built c.1913, to the designs of W.J. Fennell. Quadrangular on plan with central yard, facing east on the west side of Cregagh Road with a small Parish Hall to the north of the site (HB26/04/001B). Pitched and hipped natural slate roofs with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering supported on shaped rafter feet and cast-iron downpipes. Plain timber barge boards to the two front gables each filled with applied timber framing. Redbrick walling laid in English garden wall bond with projecting redbrick plinth course having moulded teracotta trim. Generally segmental-headed brick arched window openings with moulded brick surrounds and original multi-pane timber sash windows with top-hung overlights. Symmetrial front east elevation is six windows wide with an advanced gable to either end, three windows wide. The six central window openings are flanked by redbrick buttresses with offsets. The two central windows and the ground floor windows to each gable have sandstone lintels and sills with terracotta hood moulding while the first floor windows have terracotta sills and continuous moulded terracotta string course at each sill level. Above the central two openings is a rendered fascia panel with lettering stating; 'HARDING MEMORIAL PRIMARY SCHOOL'. The south side elevation to the south gable is three windows wide, detailed as per central front elevation, with an advanced square-plan tower having pyramidal roof and iron weather-vane with stone corbelled eaves course. The south elevation continues as two-storey range with tripartite groupings of multi-pane timber casement windows and redbrick aprons to each level flanked by double-height redbrick pilasters with rendered Doric capitals, repeated to its north elevation. The west range comprises a pair of attached redbrick blocks, windows boarded up. The block to the south is double-height single-storey with hipped roof, deep moulded eaves course and four tall window openings. The block to the north is two-storey, detailed as above and abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed projection to the northeast. The east elevation has a terrace spanning both north and south ranges. The north range is detailed as per south range to its south elevatin and abutted by a two-storey lean-to corridor wing to the north elevation with timber casement windows to the upper level and replacement timber casement windows to the lower level flanked by redbrick Doric pilasters. A further square-plan tower abutts to east end of this range, detailed as per above with a segmental-headed entrance having replacement timber glazed door and universal access ramp. Setting: Occupying a modest site on the west side of Cregagh Road with its south elevation fronting onto a small lane and its north elevation fronting onto Dromore Street, with bitmac playing areas to the rear and north. The site is enclosed to the street by iron railings on low plinth wall with matching pedestrian gates supported on octagonal-plan redbrick and sandstone piers, while the side elevations are enclosed by redbrick walling and modern fence. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron Walling Redbrick Windows Timber sash

Architects

Fennell, William J Wilshere, R S

Historical Information

The Willowfield National School (No 2), later the Harding Memorial Primary School, was designed by William John Fennell and opened formally on 5th April 1913. (Irish Builder) Willowfield Parish Church was consecrated in August 1872 and a day school was established in 1884. “However, the schools’ inspector disapproved of ‘a mixed school so largely attended by boys being conducted solely by [two] female teachers’ and the lady principal...resigned shortly after the school opened”. Willowfield No 1 school was closed in 1927 and became the parochial hall. (Haines) The current building, Willowfield No 2 school, commenced classes in April 1913 and in 1922 was renamed Harding Memorial School in tribute to Canon Charles William Harding, incumbent at Willowfield from 1900 until his death in 1922. (Haines) Willowfield Parish Hall, to designs by William John Fennell, was the first structure to be built on the site. Work began in 1910 and the building was opened in 1911, following which work began on the Willowfield National Schools, also to designs by Fennell. The school entered valuation records in 1913 at a valuation of £200, exempted. Valuer’s notes of 1913 state that the cost was £4,500 for the school, caretaker’s house to the rear and the school furniture (which cost £243) and the building was intended to accommodate 500 pupils. The school was supplied with gas and heated by means of radiators. A plan of the newly-constructed building is given together with dimensions. The school is first shown on the fourth edition OS map of 1920-1. The Irish Builder announced the formal opening of the school, which took place on 5th April 1913. ‘The accommodation provides for 400 pupils, half on each floor. Ample cloakroom and lavatory accommodation is furnished with hot and cold water. The pitch pine dual desks [desks where seat and desk are combined in a single piece of furniture] were specially designed and provided by Messrs Musgrave and Co Ltd. The entire building is heated with hot water pipes and ventilating radiators, also installed by Messrs Musgrave. Plumbing and gas work also electric bells were carried out by Mr J Sayers Belfast. Electric clocks were supplied by Messrs Gibson and Co Ltd, Belfast. The playground accommodation, both open and covered, is ample and well disposed of. A caretaker’s house has also been erected on part of the site. The general building contractors were Messrs Robert Corry Ltd and the architects, Messrs Fennell and Clarke, Scottish Provident Buildings, Belfast, who are to be congratulated on the execution of one of the most up-to-date and perfect schools in the city.’ (IB 12th April 1913) The school was extended to designs by Reginald Sharman Wilshere between 1929 and 1932 and continues as a primary school to the present day. (Irish Builder) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902 2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21 3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1931 4. PRONI OS/6/3/4/7 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/K – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 6. VAL/12/A/7/J/23 – Valuer’s Notebook (1912) 7. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/17 – First General Revaluation (1936-57) 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/24 – Second General Revaluation (1956-72) 9. Irish Builder, 12th April, 1913 10. Irish Builder, 27th April 1929 11. Irish Builder, 11th May 1929 12. Irish Builder, 18th June 1932 Secondary Sources 1. Haines, K “East Belfast, Paintings and Stories from Harbour to Hills” Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick school, built c.1913, to the designs of W.J. Fennell and extended to designs by Reginald Sharman Wilshere between 1929 and 1932. Quadrangular on plan with central courtyard, facing east on the west side of Cregagh Road with a small Parish Hall to the north of the site (HB26/04/001B) with which it has group value. An impressive early twentieth-century school building which retains much of its original character and detailing. It has social importance for the local community.

General Comments

Date of Survey

27 July 2011