Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/43/026 A

Address :
St Malachy's College 36 Antrim Road Belfast BT15 2AE

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
04/03/1988 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:
130/9SE

IG Ref:
J3325 7536

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Owner Category

School

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached asymmetrical three-storey red brick Gothic Revival school, built in 1867, to the designs of John O'Neill. Irregular on plan with a central spine wing running on a north-south axis and an entrance tower to the north end, a north wing set on an east-west axis abutted by an irregular group to the north, a further wing to the south set on an east-west axis abutting the chapel (HB26/43/026B) and abutted by a further south projection. Steeply pitched natural slate roofs with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and lead valleys. Roofs set behind slightly raised gables topped by sandstone coping with decorative apex and gableted kneeler stones. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on dentilled red brick eaves courses and cast-iron downpipes. Large red brick chimneystacks with tapered bases and slated abutments. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with flush black brick courses and projecting brick plinth course with sandstone chamfered trim. Paired window openings with sandstone surrounds, trefoil-headed to the ground floor, shouldered to the first and second floors with flush splayed sandstone sills, set within polychromatic brick and sandstone gauged pointed-arched openings to ground and first floors, square-headed to the second floor with chamfered flush sandstone lintels and timber sash windows. Principal east elevation to spine wing is seven windows wide with a slightly advanced four-stage tower to the north end and flat-roofed painted masonry entrance porches to the re-entrant angle at either end. Steep natural slate pyramidal roof to the tower surmounted by a wrought-iron Celtic cross with paired lancet windows having 2/2 timber sash windows. Replacement hardwood glazed double-leaf doors to both entrance porches. Rear west elevation to the spine wing is sixteen windows wide abutted by a lean-to single-storey corridor. Paired segmental-headed window openings to the first and second floors with chamfered surrounds, gauged brick heads, shared sandstone sills and multi-pane timber sash windows, pointed-headed polychromatic and sandstone window openings to the corridor with steel casement windows. North elevation to the south wing is four windows wide, detailed as per spine wing with decorative dormers to the roof having hipped slate roofs, with turned timber colonettes flanking timber casement windows (those to the west having leaded coloured glazing). East gable abutted by glazed concrete pedestrian bridge. Symmetrical south elevation to south wing is nine windows wide with a pair of advanced gabled breakfronts to either end and a central entrance bay with a large wall-head dormer. Four dormers as per north elevation and sandstone crosses to the apexes of both gables. Pointed-headed door opening formed in gauged polychromatic brick and sandstone with a shouldered sandstone door surround and trefoil panel over embellished with discs and a quatrefoil panel. Vertically-sheeted timber door opening onto universal access ramp. The south wing is abutted by a three-storey projection to the west end with plainer detailing including tripartite timber casement windows to the second floor and 2/4 timber sash windows to the remainder. Wall-head dormers to the west elevation to this projection. South elevation to north wing is six windows wide, detailed as per principal spine wing with a pointed-headed door opening to the east bay formed in polychromatic brick and sandstone and a shouldered sandstone surround with vertically-sheeted timber door. This elevation is extended eastwards by a further three bays as a three-storey red brick block incorporating a pointed-headed carriage arch and detailed as above. The north wing is terminated to the west by a symmetrical gabled elevation having triple pointed-headed window openings to each floor with shared sandstone sills and timber sash windows. The north rear elevation is abutted by a further three-storey north projection, a two-storey block and a lean-to extension. Gauged brick segmental-headed window openings to this elevation with four decorative dormers to the roof, as per south wing. Setting Located to the west of the Antrim Road and to the north of the Crumlin Road on a large enclosed site accessed via bitmac avenues opening onto Crumlim Road via pair of replacement steel gates on large red brick and limestone piers with moulded capstones and onto Antrim Road via decorative wrought-iron gates supported on large cast-iron Gothic piers. Central spine wing abutted by St. Malachy’s Chapel (HB26/43/026B) enclosing the rear yard to the south. Roof: Natural slate RWG: Cast-iron Walling: Red brick Windows: Timber sash / leaded stained glass / steel casement

Architects

O'Neil, John

Historical Information

St Malachy’s College was built in 1865-7 to designs by John O’Neill, on a site that had been occupied by the Diocesan Seminary of Down and Connor since 1833. The contractors for the new building were Messrs Byrne. The site of the school ,‘Vicinage’ house and grounds, had been leased in 1832 from the McCabe family, one of whom, William Putnam McCabe, had been a noted figure among the United Irishmen.(Heatley) The school is first shown on the large-scale plan of Belfast dating from 1871-3. The school began life as the boarding department of the Diocesan Seminary, founded in 1833 by Bishop Crolly. However, the Seminary appears to have always operated as a grammar school for the mercantile and professional classes as well as a training institution for priests. On November 3rd 1833, the feast day of St Malachy, the new Diocesan Seminary building was officially opened, the site on the Crumlin Road being used to house boarders. The Seminary itself was then attached to St Patrick’s National School in Donegall Street. By 1843, there were 50 boarders at Crumlin Road with 100 day pupils attending at Donegall Street. (Heatley; Street Directories) The Diocesan Seminary boarding department at Vicinage House is first shown on the large-scale town plan of Belfast dating from 1858. Part of the footprint of this early building is retained to the north of the present building and it is possible that some earlier fabric has been retained in the present structure. Between 1865 and 1868 the main buildings of the present college were constructed to designs by John O’Neill. O’Neill’s original design included a chapel and a belfry stage to the tower, but these were not executed according to his plans and the chapel was built some years later to the west of the site. (Irish Builder) The central portion of the main building was built at this time as well as a wing which was allocated to the Christian Brothers. (Heatley) The president of the college was Dr Richard Marner and his successor in 1876, Dr Henry, added a further wing on what had been intended as the original site of the chapel. (Heatley) By 1877 the school was known as St Malachy’s Diocesan College. (Street Directory) In 1881-2 additions by Mortimer Thompson included the chapel, a wing to the south and an entrance gateway on the Antrim Road. Some of the stained glass installed in later years is said to have been the work of Harry Clarke, but Snoddy attributes the stained glass to Richard J King, who worked for Harry Clarke and took over as manager when Clarke died. King was active from 1928 to 1974 but the date of his work for St Malachy’s is uncertain. (www.dia.ie; Snoddy) The Belfast Directory of 1887 records that the ‘recent enlargements’ had cost £8,000 and had been carried out with a view of affording opportunities for pupils to study for Royal University degrees, Intermediate and Civil Service exams and commercial pursuits. The school at this time had three departments, the university school, the intermediate school and the mercantile school. (Street Directory) In 1900 the school was valued at £500, later reduced to £380 on appeal and it was noted that the building had cost £9504. Secondary boarders, of which there were 108, paid £40 a year, while the fee for day pupils was £8.10s. The classrooms and refectory occupied the ground floor and part of the second floor with the remainder of the second floor taken up by professors’ apartments. The entire third floor was given over to dormitories and the rest of the building was used as offices and servants’ apartments. The chapel was valued at £84 and its estimated cost of construction was £1488. (Valuation records) Additions were carried out to designs by John P McArdle in 1926 and a gymnasium and lavatories by John Valentine Brennan were added to the north of the rear quadrangle in 1935. (www.dia.ie)The south wing was extended in 1949 to designs by McLean and Forte to match the style of the original. (Larmour) Further buildings were added to the site, to the west of the main building in the 1960s, 70s and 90s. Today St Malachy’s College is a boy’s grammar school of around 1200 pupils. There is no longer a boarding department but the diocesan seminary, now called St Joseph’s, continues to occupy part of the site, in a building to the east of the main quadrangle. (www.stmalachyscollege.com) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/8/30/2/30 – Belfast Town Plan 1871-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2 5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/1/1 Belfast Revaluation 1900 7. Street Directories 8. Irish Builder Vol 11, 15 May 1869, 118,119 Secondary Sources 1. Heatley, F “The Story of St Patrick’s Belfast, 1815-1977” 2. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987 3. Snoddy, T “Dictionary of Irish Artists, 20th Century” Dublin: Merlin Publishing, 2002 4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online 5. www.stmalachyscollege.com

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Attached asymmetrical three-storey red brick Gothic Revival school, built in 1867, to the designs of John O'Neill. An impressive complex of red brick school building exhibiting an array of High Victorian detailing, largely intact to the exterior with much of the internal fabric periodically replaced during the course of the twentieth-century. Still serving its original function, the school is enhanced by the attached St. Malachy’s chapel (HB26/43/026B) and forms a significant part of the wider built heritage of north Belfast.

General Comments

Please note this record has been renumbered it was previously recorded as HB26/43/007

Date of Survey

16 October 2012