Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/233

Address :
Arnott House 12-16 Bridge Street Belfast County Antrim BT1 1LS

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
07/04/1994 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop

Former Use
Shop

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13NE

IG Ref:
J3400 7440

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached asymmetrical multi-bay four-storey red brick Georgian revival former department store, built c.1955, to the designs of Young and Mackenzie with a chamfered corner bay and shopfronts spanning the entire ground floor. U-shaped on plan with principal elevation facing west onto Bridge Street, a secondary elevation facing south onto High Street and single-storey infill to the centre. Flat roof hidden behind parapet wall with moulded concrete coping and deep concrete cornice supported on brackets. Brown brick walling laid in English garden wall bond with moulded concrete cornice over the first floor and a further cornice over the fascia of the ground floor. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with concrete sills and 6/6 timber sash windows with exposed sash boxes (unless otherwise stated). Asymmetrical principal west elevation is nineteen windows wide with a shallow breakfront to either end. Two decorative moulded concrete window surrounds to the principal elevation incorporating a single window opening to first and second floors and comprising; architrave surround and cartouche with letter ‘A’, to the first floor flanked by flat panelled pilasters and scrolled console brackets supporting a balconette to the second floor with iron railing and a pair of engaged Doric columns supporting an open-bed segmental pediment (this window having a 6/9 timber sash window). The breakfronts also have a similar decorative concrete surround with a plain entablature in place of a pediment. The ground floor has polished granite clad shopfront framing large display windows with a painted masonry architrave over and full-span fascia. Generally replacement windows and doors to the ground floor. North side elevation abutted by brick infill structure with vehicular entrance. East side elevation fronting onto a small alley with glazed brick cladding to the ground floor and uPVC windows. Symmetrical secondary south elevation onto High Street is fifteen windows wide with a shallow breakfront to either end. Detailed as per principal elevation with a single pedimented window surround and further window surrounds to the breakfronts, as per principal elevation. UPVC windows to entire south elevation. Setting Located on a corner site at the junction of High Street and Bridge Street. Roof: Flat RWG: Not seen Walling: Brown brick Windows: Timber/uPVC

Architects

Young & Mackenzie

Historical Information

Nos 12-16 Bridge Street, a four-storey Neo-Georgian commercial building, was constructed in 1955 and replaced a former department store which was destroyed during the 1941 Belfast Blitz. The original Victorian department store on the site was constructed in 1866 to designs by Thomas Jackson & Son; the façade was 120ft in height and consisted of ‘piers and clustered columns of granite with free use of red Aberdeen granite’ (Dublin Builder, p. 154; Dictionary of Irish Architects). The Belfast Street Directories note that the department store at nos 12-16 Bridge Street was occupied by John Arnott & Co. Ltd., ‘wholesale and retail drapers [as well as] shirt and underclothing manufacturers’ (1918 Belfast Street Directory). Arnott’s Department Store stood for 75 years until it was demolished during the Belfast Blitz which occurred in April and May 1941. Photographs of the aftermath of the attack show that the Bridge Street was heavily bombed resulting in the loss of almost all historic buildings on both the west and east side of the street. With the end of the Second World War in 1945 (the formerly narrower) Bridge Street was widened into its current layout (Bombs on Belfast; Patton, p. 42). The large waste grounds produced by the heavy bombardment of Belfast’s city centre were not fully built over until the 1950s; the current four-storey Neo-Georgian building was constructed on the site of Arnott’s former department store in 1955. Patton states that the new edifice was designed by Young & Mackenzie, an architectural firm that was formed in 1867/68 and ‘received some of the most important commercial commissions in the city’ (Dictionary of Irish Architects); in 1957-59 Young & Mackenzie also designed the opposite nos 1-21 Bridge Street in a contrasting ‘Festival of Britain style’ (Larmour, p. 94). Both buildings were constructed for John Arnott & Co. Ltd. The Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1856-72) valued nos 12-16 Bridge Street at £8,384 and noted that the upper floors of the building were utilised as offices for the Northern Ireland Ministry of Finance; by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value of nos 12-16 Bridge Street (which was known locally as the Arnott’s Building) stood slightly lower at £8,212. Patton (writing in 1994) described the Arnott’s Building in the following terms: ‘Rather dull four-storey neo-Georgian building in rustic brick relieved by a chamfered corner, broken segmental pediments and wrought iron balconies to some second floor windows’ (Patton, p. 42). John Arnott & Co. continued to operate from the site until the firm went out of business in 1974 at which time the ground floor shop was occupied by other tenants. In 1994 Nos 12-16 Bridge Street was listed and in that year Patton notes that the ground floor was occupied as an electrical showroom. In recent years the former Arnott’s Building has been utilised by Royal Mail as one of their main post office branches in Belfast’s city centre. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938 2. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/42 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 3. Dublin Builder, Vol. 8 (15 Jun 1866) 4. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1918) 5. First Survey Record – HB26/50/035 (1971) 6. First Survey Image – HB26/50/035 (1976) 7. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. ‘Bombs on Belfast: The Blitz 1941’ Newtownards: Colourpoint Books, 2011. 2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

Attached asymmetrical multi-bay four-storey red brick Georgian-revival former department store built c1955 to the designs of Young and Mackenzie, located on the corner of Bridge Street and High Street in central Belfast. Extensively bomb damaged during the Second World War, Bridge Street was largely reconstructed during the 1950s. This neo-Georgian building with its chamfered corner bay has a rhythmic quality to its façade with Queen Anne Revival details more commonly seen in school buildings. While the original windows to the High Street façade have been replaced with uPVC, this buildings is a good example of design of this era by a local architectural practice of note after the damage of the war.

General Comments

Date of Survey

24 April 2013