Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/05/024

Address :
The Savoy Donaghadee Road Bangor Co Down BT20 4QR

Townland:
Corporation

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
22/07/1988 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Residential Home

Former Use
Hotel

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:
J5111 8191

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Owner Category

Housing Association

Exterior Description And Setting

A detached four-storey multi-bay former hotel in the International style; built to designs by Robert N Savage in 1931, refaced and extended by John McBride Neill in 1933. Located on the corner of Hamilton Road and Donaghadee Road in the centre of Bangor. U-shaped on plan with connecting bays on a north-south axis; single-storey return to rear. Metal sheeted pitched roof to main block and flat roof to porch. uPVC rainwater goods. Walls are painted smooth render with curved corners. Windows are black powder coated aluminium (replaced 1989); to main elevations they are arranged as bands of glazing in groups of four (multi-paned to ground floor). The principal elevation faces north and has a strong horizontal emphasis with continuous moulded bands above and below glazing. The slightly projecting entrance bay is three windows wide and has a strong vertical emphasis; stepped gable with centred SAVOY in large applied lettering. Entrance to ground floor under flat- roof; deeply recessed steel-framed double-leaf automatic doors to centre flanked by full-height windows. The east elevation comprises gables of front and rear blocks, each with single openings to all floors; rear block with additional window to ground floor. Connecting bays with breakthrough arch to left and right creating access to internal courtyards; single opening to all floors with entrance door to ground floor. The south elevation is sixteen windows wide with ramped and stepped access to entrance doors to left and right respectively. To right at ground floor is single-storey return; gable contains modern glazed fire-door; exposed section to east is four windows wide. The west elevation is six windows wide. The exposed section of the rear return is three windows wide. Setting The Savoy is prominently located at the convergence of four roads, on the corner of Hamilton Road and Donaghadee Road. Bounded to road on west, and to neighbouring building at east, by masonry wall and hedgerow: bollards and chains to front. To the rear of the building are free-standing blocks of two-storey apartments, part of the Savoy complex; access at south by tarmacadam driveway. Roof: Metal sheeted Walling: Render Windows: Aluminium RWG: uPVC

Architects

Savage, Robert Savage, Neill John McBride

Historical Information

The hotel is first shown, uncaptioned, on the fifth edition OS map of 1939. According to Patton, the hotel was originally designed by Robert N Savage and built c.1932 for John Gaston of Northern Ireland Tours who ran bus tours and opened the hotel for the summer season. It was nicknamed locally, ‘Sing-Sing’, due to its ‘rather…meagre vertical fenestration’ and Gaston decided to remodel the façade to designs by John McBride Neill in 1933. It was re-fronted in the International Style in 1933 and is a rare example of this style in the province. Neill later designed the Tonic Cinema, now gone, and was responsible for a number of other cinemas throughout the north of Ireland. Patton calls the building, ‘probably the most distinctive building from the 1930s surviving in the province’. (Perspective; Patton, p.100, Ulster Architect) According to valuation records of May 1934, the hotel had been open for three seasons, indicating that it had first opened for the 1931 season, and not in 1932 as suggested by Patton. The hotel is entered as ‘New Savoy Hotel’, the occupier is John Gaston and it is leased from Hugh H Moore at a valuation of £132. The hotel was open from the beginning of June to the end of September, and had 72 bedrooms for its first two seasons. By 1933, following the remodelling which raised the valuation to £350, it had 127 bedrooms, but the valuer commented that there were only four bathrooms in the hotel and the bedrooms were ‘small’. Accommodation on the ground floor included a bell room and refrigerator with electric motor and there were 41 bedrooms on the first floor and 43 each on the second and third floors The hotel had a diesel oil engine which ran four hours a day to provide electric light and an outside boiler house for central heating. There were basins with hot and cold water in each room. A plan and dimensions are given. The hotel appears to have enjoyed considerable success and throughout the early decades of its life, it was extended and improved. In 1936 a new wing was added to the rear of the hotel, enlarging the hall and lounge on the ground floor and raising the valuation to £430. In 1942 the hotel was occupied by the military, but the exact use made of it is not noted. An elevator was installed to serve all floors in 1950, the hotel now being supplied with electricity from the Electricity Board Northern Ireland. The elevator reduced the number of guest rooms by three, but these rooms were used as staff accommodation, and the valuation was raised to £530. By 1950 the hotel was open about 18 weeks in the year. In 1951 the hotel was again extended to the rear. Additional accommodation was provided on the ground floor; ladies and gents toilets, a lounge, store, and manager’s apartments. On the first floor, there were 5 more double bedrooms, three single bedrooms and one storeroom. The valuation was raised to £580. In 1954 and 1955 staff accommodation and a boiler house were added together with an additional block of bedrooms and a covered corridor. A Nissen hut was removed and the valuation raised to £600 and then £650. It is likely that following the increasing popularity of package holidays abroad in the 1960s and 1970s that the hotel fell into decline. It was converted for use by the Royal British Legion Housing Association in 1989-90 to designs by Robinson Patterson Partnership. Some single storey sections of the former hotel site were demolished and the main building and annexe blocks were refurbished. The facades were re-clad and windows replaced. At the time of writing the building was undergoing a major programme of refurbishment. (Patton, p.100, Ulster Architect) References: Primary Sources 1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939 2.PRONI VAL/3/D/4/1/B/9 – Valuer’s RV Binder (1933-57) 3.Ulster Architect, July/August 1990, p.26-9 4.Perspective, Vol 5, No 4, March/April 1997, p.29-36 Secondary Sources 1.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Z. Rarity V. Authorship

Evaluation

The Savoy is an imposing four-storey multi-bay former hotel in the International style; built by Robert N Savage in 1931 and re-faced and extended by John McBride Neill in 1933. Prominently located on the corner of Hamilton Road and Donaghadee Road. Converted for use by the Royal British Legion Housing Association in 1989-90, the building is currently used as sheltered housing under the Clanmil Group. Despite the loss of all interior detailing from its original use as a hotel and the fact that its external form has been compromised by modern extensions and inappropriate detailing, the Savoy remains one of the few distinctive buildings of the 1930s to survive in the province and an example of the interpretation of the International style by a local architect. Its streamlined style and severe detailing are of note.

General Comments

Date of Survey

21 July 2010