Transport House, Belfast

UK listed building

Transport House

Transport House, 2009

General information
Status| Offices
Type| Modernest
Architectural style| International Style
Address| 102 High Street
Town or city| Belfast
Country| Northern Ireland
Coordinates| 54°36′04″N 5°55′30″W﻿ / ﻿54.60098°N 5.92495°W﻿ / 54.60098; -5.92495
Construction started| 1956
Opened| 1959
Owner| Unite
Technical details
Floor count| 7
Design and construction
Architect(s)| J.J.Brennan
Main contractor| Carville & Sons Ltd
Designations| Grade B+

Transport House is a 20th Century Grade B+ listed building[1] located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Construction started in 1956 and it was completed in 1959 as offices for the Amalgamated Transport & General Workers Union.[2][3] It is one of Northern Ireland's youngest listed buildings.[2]

It was designed by J. J. Brennan, inspired by the contemporary design of Busáras, the bus offices and terminus in Dublin designed by Michael Scott that was opened in 1953. Transport House consists of two blocks, one seven stories high and the other five. The taller building is supported at one end by two narrow columns (piloti) covered in black tiles. Much of the buildings are clad in pale green tiles, but concrete cladding and brown bricks are also visible in places.[1] One of the narrow sides of the seven-story building is concave and decorated with a tiled mural (tiled by Robert Ross of Carrickfergus) showing stylised images of industries such as ship-building cranes, a plane and a factory, as well as male workers. The style is Soviet Constructivist.[2]

The building was listed in 1994.[1]

## Present

[edit]

By 2012 the building was unoccupied but owned by Unite.[2] Although partly boarded up it was considered to be in good condition. In 2019 plans were announced to relocate the union's office back to Transport House [3] In 2021 these plans were re-announced.[4]

## References

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1. ^ a b c "Historic Building Details". Department for Communities. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
2. ^ a b c d MacAmhalai, Michael (May 2005). "Building of the month - Transport House, Belfast". Twentieth Century Society. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
3. ^ a b "Transport House". Future Belfast. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
4. ^ "Nooks and Corners". Private Eye. No. 1560\. 12 November 2021.