The Bank Buildings is a Grade B1-listed five-storey building located at the intersection of Castle Street and Royal Avenue in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. It was designed and built between 1899 and 1900 by W. H. Lynn as a department store and warehouse, owned by the firm of Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson & Co. It stands on the site of a bank erected in 1785, from which it takes its name. Since 1979, it has been owned by the Dublin-based company

Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...

, and serves as their flagship store in Northern Ireland. On 28 August 2018, during a £30 million two-year renovation, the building was gutted by fire, severely damaging most of the internal structure. Primark opted to restore the building to its 1900 appearance while expanding the size of the store. The store reopened on 1 November 2022.

History

First building

The first Bank Buildings was a three-storey building designed by Sir Robert Taylor and erected by Waddell Cunningham between 1785 and 1787, known as Cunningham's Bank. The bank closed in 1798 and the building was converted to residential use, becoming the residence of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

bishop of Down and Connor, Rev. Dr. William Dickson. The site of the bank was known as a place for public executions, with the last execution being carried out in 1816, on the doorstep of the building.

Second building

In 1853, the store became home to a wholesale drapery firm. The original building was replaced in 1855 by a four-storey building for Hawkins, Robertson & Co. The business was formed into a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

in 1880. Founded by businessmen William Robertson and Henry Hawkins (Waterford), J. C. Ledlie (Cork), and Robert Ferguson (Belfast), the business soon expanded and became a commercial department store.

Third building

The best known Bank Buildings were constructed between 1899 and 1900. The architect W. H. Lynn allowed for large plate glass windows to be installed in the lower floors. The department store continued to operate on the first two floors whilst the upper floors were used as a warehouse for the wholesale side of the business. The building remained under the ownership of ''Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson & Co.'' until the

House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...

group took control of the company in 1969. The department store still continued to operate from Bank Buildings until

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

took over from House of Fraser. Boots was then forced to move out in 1975. On 9 April 1975, three bombs were detonated inside Bank Buildings, starting a fire that extensively damaged the building. Refurbishments were carried out in 1979 and after 18 months the new owners, Primark Stores Limited established a store. They remain the current owners of the Bank Buildings.

Extension and refurbishment

In 2016, Primark announced it was expanding the building by and refurbishing it, creating 100 new jobs once completed. The expansion cost an estimated £30m and was expected to be completed in September 2018. Commonwealth House, which occupied 29-43 Castle Street was demolished between September 2016 and April 2017 and the extension was built in its place.

August 2018 Fire and restoration

On 28 August 2018, a fire broke out at roughly 11:00 BST near the roof of the building during business hours. Shoppers and staff were evacuated from the ground and first floors, and 11 fire appliances were called. The area around was cordoned off for public safety, and due to falling debris. The roof collapsed and the clock face was burnt out with the hands staying still at about 11:05. The fire was still spreading and had covered all floors of the building by 15:00 with more appliances called in to assist. The building suffered extensive damage to all levels, however the new wing of the building was relatively undamaged. In September 2018, a specialist team from London based firm Keltbray was called in to manage and undertake to extremely difficult job of making safe and demolition of part of the structure. In October 2018, Primark sent an application for planning permission to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

, in order to completely restore the building to its original 1900 appearance. Permission was granted on 26 October 2018, with the initial stages aimed at reducing the safety cordon due to commence "immediately". The project commenced with emergency

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

retention and demolition works by Keltbray. The upper two floors and roof level were taken down, which allowed a façade retention scheme to be put in place. The stonework recovered during the removal of the top two storeys was numbered and labelled, to be reused later in reconstruction. The iconic clock face was removed for restoration and eventual reinstatement. On 3 December 2018, the area around Bank Buildings was reopened to pedestrians, with concrete-filled

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...

s being used to support the fragile façades, and to protect the public from any potential collapse. Demolition of the damaged interior structure was completed by Keltbray in late 2019. Following reconstruction and restoration works, Primark reopened in Bank Buildings on 1 November 2022.

Bank Buildings Football Club

Representatives from the store attended the first ever meeting of the

Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...

at Clarence Place Hall on 4 July 1923. The league was open to applications from public bodies, private associations, schools and firms. Although they originally submitted a team for the new league, Bank Buildings Football Club never played a competitive match. The club is, however, considered one of the founding members of the Amateur League.

References

External links

* *{{cite web , url=http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/antrim/belfast/20thc/bankbuildings.html , title=Bank Buildings, Belfast, Co. Antrim (W. H. Lynn) , work=Irish Architecture , publisher=Paul Clerkin , accessdate=1 December 2009 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20020624061844/http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/antrim/belfast/20thc/bankbuildings.html , archive-date=2002-06-24 , url-status=dead Buildings and structures in Belfast Grade B1 listed buildings 2010s fires in the United Kingdom 2018 disasters in the United Kingdom 2018 fires in Europe Robert Taylor buildings Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom 2018 in Northern Ireland