Down Arts Centre

Municipal Building in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland

Down Arts Centre

Down Arts Centre

Location| Irish Street, Downpatrick
Coordinates| 54°19′44″N 5°42′56″W﻿ / ﻿54.3288°N 5.7156°W﻿ / 54.3288; -5.7156
Built| 1882
Architect| William Batt
Architectural style(s)| Gothic Revival style

Listed Building – Grade B1

Official name| Down Arts Centre (former Assembly rooms)
Designated| 20 October 1982
Reference no.| HB 18/19/001

Shown in Northern Ireland

The Down Arts Centre, formerly Downpatrick Town Hall and also Downpatrick Assembly Rooms, is a municipal structure in Irish Street in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. The structure, which was the meeting place of Down Urban District Council, is a Grade B1 listed building.[1]

## History

[edit]

The first municipal building in Downpatrick was a market house which was a gift to the town from Wingfield Cromwell, 2nd Earl of Ardglass and was completed in 1660.[2] It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor.[2] After the building became dilapidated in the 1870s, the local member of parliament, John Mulholland, offered to pay for a new building on the same site.[3][4]

The new building was designed by William Batt in the Gothic Revival style, built in red brick by Dixon & Co. and completed in 1882.[3] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Irish Street; it featured a prominent three-stage clock tower on the corner with Scotch Street; there was an arched doorway on the ground floor of the tower, a gothic window flanked by colonettes on the first floor and a clock face on the second floor. The façade facing Irish Street featured a series of narrow gothic windows on the ground floor and four wider gothic windows flanked by colonettes on the first floor. At roof level there was a modillioned cornice and a central chimney. Internally, there were two halls, the larger hall, located on the first floor, accommodating 800 people and the smaller hall, on the ground floor, accommodating 200 people.[2]

After significant population growth, the area became an urban district with the building as its meeting place in 1925.[2] It was also used as an events venue and the singer, Gracie Fields, performed in the building during the Second World War.[5]

The building continued to serve as the meeting place of Downpatrick Urban District Council for much of the 20th century,[6] but ceased that role after the enlarged Down District Council was formed with offices in Stangford Road in 1974.[7] It was badly damaged in a fire in 1983 but was restored in 1984: it was then converted for use as the Down Arts Centre in 1989[8] and the local rock band, Ash, held one of their earliest performances there in the 1990s.[5] A programme of refurbishment works costing £1.4 million supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and Down District Council started in February 2011.[9] The works, which were undertaken to a design by Kriterion Architects, included modernisation of the facilities as well as the creation of some additional creative space and were completed in June 2012.[10][11]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Down Arts Centre (former Assembly rooms) (HB 18/19/001)". Department for Communities. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
2. ^ a b c d Buchanan, R. H.; Wilson, Anthony (1997). "Irish Historic Towns Atlas: Downpatrick" (PDF). Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
3. ^ a b "Downpatrick Town Hall". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
4. ^ Parkinson, Edward (1928). The City of Downe from its Earliest Days. Belfast: William Erskine Mayne. pp. 41, 150.
5. ^ a b "Down Arts Centre reopens after £1.4m refurbishment". BBC. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
6. ^ "No. 2533". The Belfast Gazette. 7 February 1969. p. 52.
7. ^ "No. 3750". The Belfast Gazette. 23 November 1979. p. 963.
8. ^ "Arts Council of Northern Ireland helps launch Down Arts Centre". Arts Council of Northern Ireland. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
9. ^ "Down Arts Centre Renovation Now Underway". Down News. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
10. ^ "Kriterion Architects". Ulster Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
11. ^ "Down Arts Centre officially reopens following £1.4m redevelopment". Heath Club Management. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2021.

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