Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/024

Address :
Former St Malachy's School 21 Oxford Street Belfast County Antrim BT1 3LA

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
05/08/1974 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
School

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/13 SE

IG Ref:
J3434 7427

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A diminutive two-storey gabled ashlar stone schoolhouse of 1874 in the Gothic style by Alex McAllister, located on Oxford Street, and abutted by buildings to either side. Roof of natural slate, pitched, with cast iron rainwater goods. Walling is ashlar sandstone with pink banding; red brick to rear (partial remains only.) Windows are replacement timber , Gothic arched and cusped to first floor. Principal gable in cream sandstone with pink banding with small rose window and pierced quatrefoil above it having fine banding over. Almost symmetrical, but the doorcase is set forward to one side, embraced by Venetian capitals and incised lettering recording it as a Christian Brothers School. Date of founding (1874) on shield above the door. Arcades of windows, three pointed at ground floor and four cusped at first floor. Modern fenestration in four panes each. Polychrome decoration over the windows, with alternate pink and cream sandstone. Abutted by a modern building to left and a three storey redbrick building to right. Part of the original red brick back wall remains, but the building has been extended beyond it. Setting This has lost much of its original context, although the buildings to the N are roughly similar in date. However its small scale and distinctive character make it an important building for its area. Schedule of materials: Walls: Ashlar sandstone; rear wall red brick. Windows: timber Roof: natural slate RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Rush, James P

Historical Information

St. Malachy’s Christian School, a two-storey Gothic schoolhouse located at No. 21 Oxford Street in close proximity to the Lagan River, was constructed in 1874 to designs by Alexander MacAlister (c. 1821-1897). MacAlister, a Belfast-based Roman Catholic architect is described by the DIA, along with Timothy Hevey, as ‘one of the leading Catholic architects of Victorian Belfast’ also designing the shopfront for the nearby Tedford’s Chandlers at No. 5 Donegall Quay (HB26/50/026A) as well as the Convent of Mercy, Sussex Place in 1879-80 (HB26/30/024B); the Convent of Mercy was constructed beside St. Malachy’s Girl’s School (HB26/30/024A) which was designed by Timothy Hevey, MacAlister’s main contemporary of the period, and was a sister organisation to the boy’s school on Oxford Street (Dictionary of Irish Architects). St. Malachy’s schoolhouse was erected in 1874 and was founded due to a bequest by a Mrs. Margaret Magill who wished ‘to provide a school for the education of the children of the Bargees of Belfast,’ that is, the children of the sailors and dockworkers that were employed along the quays of Belfast’s port. Patton described the completed St. Malachy’s School as a ‘two-storey building in cream sandstone with pink banding; rose window and pierced quatrefoil in gable … with Venetian capitals [and] not quite symmetrical.’ Construction of the schoolhouse cost £2,000 and the building was first opened on 1st October 1874 (Patton, pp 259-60). Upon completion the two-storey Christian Brother’s school was valued at £50 in the Annual Revisions; there was no change to the site until 1900 when the Belfast Revaluation reassessed the schoolhouse. In that year the valuer slightly increased the value of the site to £55 and noted that the school was administered by the Rev. J. P. Ryan, the superior cleric of the Christian Brothers at the site who acted as principal (Belfast Revaluation; Belfast Street Directories). There was no subsequent alteration to the value of the school by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930; however in the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935 the value of the building was increased to £120 although, as a school, St. Malachy’s Christian Brothers School remained free from taxation. The building survived the bombardment of the docks during the Belfast Blitz in 1941 and after the end of the Second World War the building was included in the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956; the value of the school stood at £208 by the end of the revaluation in 1972. The appealing Gothic design of the schoolhouse has received much praise from several critics; Brett, writing in 1985, described St. Malachy’s Christian School as a ‘tiny and delightful sample of Victorian Gothic … another ecclesiastical building which illustrates [the] thesis that Victorian, like all other, architecture may have its charm much enhanced by the onset of decay’ (Brett, p. 50). Patton took a similar view noting that ‘the Victorians associated particular styles of architecture with different purposes and a church school was inevitably Gothic’ (Patton, ‘Belfast: An illustrated Yearbook’). St. Malachy’s Christian School was the only school operated by the Christian Brothers in Belfast that was not constructed on parochial property due to the private bequest of Mrs. Magill; over time the school, which had opened primarily to educate Dockers children, came to expand its reach and took pupils from other sections of the city, providing both primary and secondary education outside of the National School System. In the aftermath of the Second World War the school came under pressure to close due to the isolation of the school from Belfast’s residential areas and the lack of accommodation provided by the tiny building. Admissions to the Oxford Street School ceased in 1966 and in 1972 the doors were closed as the final pupils completed their secondary education (St. Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School website). When the Christian Brothers vacated the building, the former school was initially occupied by a clothing firm who converted the building into a warehouse. St. Malachy’s School was listed in 1974 when it was being utilised as a store; however, the First Survey image records that in 1980 the building underwent a major renovation when the interior was stripped and converted into commercial space. St. Malachy’s School House is currently utilised as office space and, although the original interior has been completely removed and replaced, the Victorian facade has retained its Gothic character and has been sympathetically maintained. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 –First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931 5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-44 – Annual Revisions 1862-1897 7. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/37 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/42 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72 10. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1943) 11. First Survey Record – HB26/50/024 (1970) 12. First Survey Image – HB26/50/024 (1980) 13. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 2. Duddy, M., ‘The call of the north: A history of the Sisters of Mercy’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2010. 3. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 4. Patton, M., ‘Belfast: An illustrated yearbook’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 1990. 5. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. St. Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School website – http://www.stmaryscbgs.com/1history.asp

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A small sandstone building in the Gothic style, dated 1874, to designs by Alexander MacAlister, founded as a school for the education of the children of Bargees. This represents the development of education and social responsibility in the late Victorian era. The Venetian Gothic style was employed in other mercantile structures in the City and forms an interesting link to commercial and port history hereabouts. The setting is degraded, but the façade remains a distinctive and lively feature on Oxford Street. Although compromised by loss of fabric and detailing, the old school remains significant, both architecturally and historically.

General Comments

Date of Survey

15 October 2012