Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB04/15/020

Address :
Music Centre, aka Ballymoney Performing Arts Centre, 23 Charles Street, Ballymoney, BT53 6DX, Co. Antrim

Townland:
Townparks (Ballymoney)

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
31/01/2020 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:
22/13NW

IG Ref:
C9473 2607

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

2-storey Edwardian red-brick school building, built 1905-06 to designs by James A. Hanna (Denis O’D Hanna’s father) as a technical school and extended in 1914 to designs by Hobart & Heron. Located on Charles street in Ballymoney, just N of the town centre, next to mixed-use commercial buildings and 20th century houses. The school faces SW and is rectangular in plan with a pitched roof, a pair of large projecting gables to main SW elevation and single-storey flat-roofed projections to the SW corner and the rear. (Originally T-Plan with one centrally located projecting gable to main elevation, the second projection was added as part of 1914 extension to SE.) Generally all walls are red-brick with no plinth at the base and a brick string course at first floor level. The window openings are a mixture of square-headed and round-headed, some with reconstituted stone surrounds and all window cills are reconstituted stone. There is a cast metal box profile gutter on brick dentils at the eaves and most of the downpipes are cast metal. The roof is asbestos slate with plain ridge tiles. Front elevation (SW) Consists of two large symmetrical 2-storey gabled projections with an entrance bay between them and a small flat-roofed porch projection to NW corner. Gables have one large square-headed sexpartite window at ground level with reconstituted stone head and reveals; head is rounded profile and reveals are squared. There is a large Palladian style window flanked by 2 no. round-headed arched windows at first floor level. The Palladian window has reconstituted stone surround with moulded architraves and keystone details; plain soldier course headers to arched windows. Gable is parapeted with roll-top terracotta coping and corbelled brick kneelers. It is decorated at the apex with a pair of brick pilasters on foliate terracotta and reconstituted stone corbels, brick pinnacles and a terracotta panel with foliate terracotta tiles. The side walls of both gabled projections are plain red-brick. The entrance bay at ground level has a door opening on the left and a window on the right. The openings have similar window heads to gable. The window is bipartite with 2 no. opening lights at the top. The door is segmental arch-headed in boarded painted timber with original knob and has a tripartite glazed overlight. To the right of the doorway is a single brick pilaster on a foliate terracotta and reconstituted stone corbel, similar to the gable. At first floor level are 3 no. evenly spaced square-headed openings with brick soldier heads; windows have opening lights at top. The porch to NW corner has door to right similar to entrance door and a tri-partite window to left similar to ground level gable windows. It has a parapeted roof above, stepped over doorway and framed with a decorative brick pilaster similar to the gable. There is a decorative cast metal downpipe with hopper to left of window. To the left-hand side of the roof there is 1 no. tall red-brick chimney; 2 stage with a moulded recon. stone capping and clay pots (other similar chimney probably removed during 1914 extension/remodeling works) To note - prior to listing GF window bay to RHS has been partially boarded up. Rear elevation (NE) The rear elevation has a large 2-storey gable to right-hand side, a large 2-storey projecting gable to the left- hand side and a narrow 2-storey bay in the middle. Both gables have plain clipped verges; sprocketed eaves on the right-hand gable. There are 2 no. single-storey flat-roofed toilet blocks, a large one connected to the N corner and a small one attached to the gabled projection on its NW face. The right-hand gable has a large square-headed tripartite central window with a plain recon. Stone surround flanked by 2no. Square-headed openings. At ground level there is a smaller square-heading opening in the centre flanked by 2 no. larger segmental arch-headed windows; centre window with recon. Stone surround and arched windows with brick soldier heads. Windows were generally boarded with timber but appear to be painted timber single-glazed with top opening lights. Left-hand side projecting gable is similar to the right but with only central window at first floor and 2 no. openings at ground level; square headed door to right and segmental arch-headed window off-centre (both boarded). Central narrow bay has 2 no. openings at first floor, 1 no. long vertical stair window and 1 no. standard window; both square-headed with solder course heads. There are 2 no. small windows of similar detail at lower level above roof of toilet block (all windows were boarded and lower ones were partially obscured from view). The toilet blocks generally have plain square-headed windows(boarded at the time of survey). The larger block has a recon. Stone window heads and fascia and the smaller block has brick heads and a painted timber fascia. At the right- hand side of the small toilet block there is a set of external steps with painted metal guarding rail leading to a basement door. Side elevation (NW) Consists of 2-storey projecting gable to the left-hand side with side wall of single-storey porch projection attached to right. The gable has 1 no. tripartite window at ground level and a Palladian style window at first floor. Gable copings and kneelers are similar in detail to SW elevation but there are no decorative brick and terracotta wall details. Windows are similar in detail to SW elevation but ground level windows were boarded with timber at the time of the survey. Side elevation (SE) 2-storey with a gable to the centre. The gabled section has a Palladian style window at first floor with similar detail to SE gable. The ground floor has 6 no. evenly spaced square-headed openings with brick soldier heads; a door to the left and 5 no. windows. Continuous brick hood mould and string course above the openings (boarded with timber at the time of the survey). There is 1 no. tall red-brick chimney; moulded recon. Stone capping and 6 no. clay pots. Materials: Roof: Asbestos slate RWG: Generally cast metal / some replacement uPVC Walls: Smooth red clay brick and reconstituted stone –brick generally laid in Stretcher bond to original 1905 building/ Some English garden wall bond to later extensions Windows: Generally single-glazed painted timber / Some casements with hoppers and some sliding-sash tbc. The school is set back slightly from the street and sits within its own landscaped grounds surfaced in tarmacadam, with mature trees along SW boundary. There are original entrance gates, railings, piers and low walling on the SE boundary to Charles Street. The piers and walling are red-brick. There are recon. Stone mouldings and caps on the piers; moulded brick coping on the walls. The railings are decorative wrought iron (replacement timber fencing on top of low walling). There is a linear range of single-storey outbuildings on the NE boundary (1 no. with concrete block walling and corrugated asbestos roof/ 1 no. with boarded timber walling and asbestos slate roof).

Architects

Hanna, James A Hobart & Heron

Historical Information

This building, originally a Technical School to serve the Ballymoney area, was constructed in two main stages. The original phase, dating from 1905-06 and built to designs of architect James A. Hanna of Belfast, consisted of a basically cruciform structure with the front elevation dominated by the north-westernmost (left-hand) projecting gable, and two smaller and seemingly identical gabled projections to either side elevations, of which only that to the north-west still survives.[ref 5] The second phase, completed in 1914 to designs by Hobart & Heron, witnessed the addition of a large extension to the south-east, fronted by a gabled projection to match the existing, but obliterating the symmetry of Hanna’s original composition. The building occupies what was previously an undeveloped site. Sometime prior to spring 1905, Ballymoney Rural and Urban District Councils decided to erect a ‘school for technical instruction’ and had secured a 999-year lease of the ground in Charles Street from Lord Antrim ‘at a nominal rent.’[1] Work commenced in mid-1905 under local contractor Albert McMaster, with Messrs Jameson & Son, also of Ballymoney, undertaking the plumbing and gas-fitting,[2] and the school was officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Aberdeen, on 21 November 1906. In its original form, the building contained ‘a science laboratory, manual workshop, domestic economy room, drawing classroom, and additional rooms for class teaching, all these being well equipped and furnished.’[4] By early 1914 the Ballymoney Rural and Urban District Joint Technical Committee had decided to extend the premises.[7] The work on this appears to have been complete by the end of that year, as a plan of the in the valuers’ office notebook from later that year shows the layout much as present and tells us that the building costs totalled £3,030 with ‘furnishing’ amounting to an additional £1,500.[6] The valuers tell that at this time the although the local authority run technical school occupied most of the building, six upper floor rooms were rented by Ballymoney Intermediate School, a private institution that became Ballymoney High School in 1924 and later again Dalriada School; it appears to have remained here until 1937. The building is marked as a ‘Technical School’ on the 1921-31 and 1951 OS maps, although by at least late-1950 the school itself had become known as ‘Ballymoney Technical College’.[11] Separate outbuildings to the rear shown on the latter map. On that of 1970 the outbuildings are shown at their present extent and the single-storey block to the northern corner of the main building had been added. By the date the College had moved into its new purpose-built premises (opened c.1968) along Coleraine Road a short distance to the north-west (now Northern Regional College). At some point in or before 1975 the old building became the Ballymoney Music Centre [13], a role it retained until the 2000s. The Centre closed c.2008 and the building is believed to have remained vacant since then. References – Primary sources 1 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 2 May 1905 p. 2 ‘Irish Builder’, 22 September 1906 3 ‘Northern Whig’, 18 October 1906, p.11 4 ‘Northern Whig’, 22 November 1906 p.8 5 ‘Coleraine Chronicle’, 24 November 1906 p.8 6 PRONI VAL12A/1/61 Valuers’ office notebook - Ballymoney UD (1910-20) 7 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 17 January 1914 p.11 8 ‘Northern Whig’, 5 February 1914 p.10 9 ‘Northern Whig’, 6 July 1914 p.11 10 OS map 1:1250/2500 1921-31 11 ‘Northern Whig’, 22 December 1950 p.3 12 OS map 1:1250/2500 1951 13 OS map 1:1250/2500 1970 13 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 December 1975 p.22 14 OS map 1:1250/2500 1989 15 https://www.ballymoneytimes.co.uk/news/ulster-scots-bid-to-convert-old-technical-college-1-1835161 [accessed 16 November 2019] Secondary sources 16 http://dalriadaschool.com/?LMCL=mUjYlt&page_id=2486 [accessed 16 November 2019]

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building H+. Alterations enhancing the building J. Setting

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Edwardian red-brick former technical school, built 1905-06 to designs by James A. Hanna (Denis O. D. Hanna’s father) and extended in 1914 to designs by Hobart & Heron. With most of its external fabric intact, it exhibits many classical features from the period. Originally T-plan the building was extensively remodeled in 1914, almost doubling in size. This later addition of a second, symmetrical projecting gable with decorative brick and terracotta detailing and reconstituted stone window surrounds in 1914 complimented the original design, though it is of slightly lesser qaulity in terms of materials and workmanship to the original building. Despite these alterations the building retains its proportions and ornamentation. Although originally built as a technical college, at some point in or before 1975 the old building became the Ballymoney Music Centre, a role it retained until the 2000s. Located in its original setting with ornate entrance screen, just N of Ballymoney town centre, it is of significant local architectural and historic interest.

General Comments

Date of Survey

06 November 2019