| Elmwood Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location in Belfast. | |
| General information | |
| Coordinates | 54°35′03″N5°56′14″W / 54.584186°N 5.937349°W |
Elmwood Hall is a concert hall and former Presbyterian Church on University Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. [1] It is situated opposite Queen's University Belfast.
Elmwood Hall was built originally as the Elmwood Presbyterian Church. It was designed in 1859 by amateur architect John Corry, but not actually erected until 1862.
The pulpit and other internal furnishings were removed, along with the stained glass windows. [2] The stonework was restored and the golden weathercock was added by HA Patton & Partners in 1975. The polished granite pillars around the front courtyard had lost some of their elaborately carved sandstone capitals, but these were restored in 2000.
Queen's University Belfast converted the church into a concert hall and renamed it Elmwood Hall. The building was deconsecrated and for a time became the home of the Ulster Orchestra.
Following the closure of the Queen's University Student Union for redevelopment, the Mandela Hall team will be relocating many of their live concerts, comedies and student events to the Elmwood Hall until Mandela Hall re-opens in 2021-2022 within the new Student Centre. [3]
The building has a mixture of styles, principally Italianate with a spire on top of a campanile. [1] It has been described as one of Ulster's best High Victorian church designs – a triumph of eclecticism, where the combination of apparently discordant elements such as a Renaissance arcade with chunky Venetian columns, mediaeval machicolations, a classical cornice and balustrade, a Moorish well canopy and a French needle spire are all absorbed into a coherent but very elaborate Irish version of a Lombard Gothic church (Irish Builder). [4]
Behind the polychrome freestone façade, the interior is surprisingly large, having a great width uninterrupted by roof supports, and a deep gallery running back over both vestibule and loggia, reached by a winding staircase beneath the tower (which, while part of the 1859 design, was added in 1872).
Belfast is the principal city and 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. It is second to Dublin as the largest city on the island of Ireland with a population in 2021 of 345,418 and a metro area population of 671,559.
The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast, is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as "Queen's College, Belfast", and opened four years later.
Union Theological College is the theological college for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Council for Training in Ministry. It has been responsible for training people for ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and also runs courses open to the wider public, including distance learning courses offered through BibleMesh.
Belfast City Hall is the civic building of Belfast City Council located in Donegall Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It faces North and effectively divides the commercial and business areas of the city centre. It is a Grade A listed building.
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is Queen's University, the institution pioneered Belfast's first programme of collegiate education. Locally referred to as Inst, the modern school educates boys from ages 11 to 18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school occupies an 18-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings were erected.
The Malone Road is a radial road in Belfast, Northern Ireland, leading from the university quarter southwards to the affluent suburbs of Malone and Upper Malone, each a separate electoral ward. The road runs parallel to the Lisburn Road and is linked by over a dozen side streets, while at its northern end, the Stranmillis Road rejoins the Malone Road to form University Road, which in turn joins with the Lisburn Road to become Bradbury Place. Most of the road is in the BT9 postcode district.
St Thomas' Church is a church of the Church of Ireland in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located at the end of Eglantine Avenue at the junction with the Lisburn Road and holds regular services. The parish extends from Elmwood Avenue to Adelaide Park, and from the Malone Road to the Lisburn Road.
The Assembly Buildings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, are the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Although there was a decision taken to move to a new location the General Assembly, in 2005, voted to overturn the decision. Since the refurbishment, in 1992, the Assembly Buildings are now open for functions as a commercial conference centre.
Lisburn Road is a main arterial route linking Belfast and Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Queen's Quarter is the southernmost quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland and named after Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland's largest university. The Quarter is centred on the Lanyon Building, the University's most prominent building, designed by architect Sir Charles Lanyon, while Botanic Avenue, Stranmillis Road, University Road and Malone Road are the main thoroughfares through the area. The Quarter encompasses a region bounded by the Ormeau Road, the Holylands and Stranmillis Embankment to the east and the Lisburn Road to the west.
The buildings and structures of Belfast, Northern Ireland comprise many styles of architecture ranging from Edwardian through to state-of-the-art modern buildings like the Waterfront Hall. The city's beautiful Edwardian buildings are notable for their display of a large number of sculptures. Many of Belfast's Victorian landmarks, including the main Lanyon Building at Queens University in 1849, were designed by Sir Charles Lanyon.
Robert James McMordie, KC was an Irish barrister, politician, and Lord Mayor of Belfast.
William Joseph Barre was a prolific Irish architect who built many well known buildings in Belfast in a Gothic Revival style, but was always overshadowed by his great rival, Charles Lanyon.
Queen's Students' Union (QSU) is the official representative body for students at Queen's University Belfast. Membership of the union is automatic and currently totals 24,560, making it one of the largest unions on the island of Ireland and in the United Kingdom. The Students' Union derives its existence and authority from the University's Statutes, and so is not entirely independent of it. Therefore, it must have amendments to its constitution approved by the University Senate. It aims to represent students' interests both with the university and the wider community, to create a sense of student spirit and provide services that aid its student members during their time at Queen's. The Students' Union can trace its origins to the nineteenth century, and has been based on University Road, directly opposite the University's main 'Lanyon Building', since it opened in 1967.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland. Like most Christian churches in Ireland, it is organised on an all-island basis, in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The church has approximately 210,000 members.
William Batt (1840–1910) was a Belfast-based architect. He joined the firm of Boyd and Batt, led by George Boyd and another William Batt who is assumed to be his father. In contemporary publications he was referred to as William Batt junior.
Laganbank was one of the nine district electoral areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland which existed from 1985 to 2014. Located in the south of the city, the district elected five members to Belfast City Council and contained the wards of Ballynafeigh, Botanic, Shaftesbury, Stranmillis, and Rosetta. Laganbank, along with neighbouring Balmoral, formed the greater part of the Belfast South constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.
Botanic is one of the ten district electoral areas (DEA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The district elects five members to Belfast City Council and contains the wards of Blackstaff; Central; Ormeau; Stranmillis, and Windsor. Botanic, along with neighbouring Balmoral, forms the greater part of the Belfast South constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament. It covers large parts of the centre and southern parts of the city.
Friar's Bush Graveyard is Belfast's oldest Christian burial site, located on the Stranmillis Road in South Belfast.
