Stormont Castle - Belfast
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Windsocker
N 54° 36.286 W 005° 50.079
30U E 316918 N 6054504
Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast, served as the seat of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and successive Northern Ireland assemblies and conventions.
Waymark Code: WM3JBG
Location: Ulster, Ireland
Date Posted: 04/11/2008
Views: 88
The need for a separate parliament building for Northern Ireland emerged with the creation of the Northern Ireland home rule region in the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. Pending the construction of the new building parliament met in two locations, in Belfast City Hall, where the state opening of the first parliament by King George V took place in on June 21, 1921, and in the nearby Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Assembly's College.
In 1922, preparatory work on the chosen Belfast, began. The original plans for a large domed building with two subsidiary side buildings, housing all three branches of government - legislative, executive and judicial - gave rise to the plural in the official title still used today. Alongside the parliament and "Ministerial Building" the site would have been host to the Northern Ireland High Court.
The plans, reminiscent of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., were scrapped following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and its knock-on effect on the economy of the United Kingdom. Instead, a smaller domeless building designed by Sir Arnold Thornley in the Greek classical style and fronted in Portland stone, was erected on the site. It was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) on 16 November 1932.
After the shelving of plans to build a "Ministerial Building'", the headquarters of government was in effect Stormont Castle, a baronial castellated house in the grounds and which was originally meant to have been demolished to make way for the "Ministerial Building". Stormont Castle served as the official residence of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and was the meeting place for the Northern Ireland cabinet. Another residence, Stormont House served as the official residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. The reduced plans saw the High Court eventually built in Belfast city centre, and two extra levels being added to Parliament Buildings to serve as extra office space required after the loss of the Ministerial Building.
Two separate chambers were provided in the finished parliamentary complex, the green-benched rectangular House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the red-benched smaller rectangular Senate of Northern Ireland. In the main hall, called the Great Hall, a large gold-plated chandelier was hung. It was a gift from King George V and had originally hung in Windsor Castle, where it had been a gift of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The Kaiser's chandelier had been removed from Windsor and placed in storage during World War I. It was never hung in Windsor again.
Rear of Parliament Building. Still scarred with 'paint'The painting, The Entry of King William into Ireland, a gift from the Dutch government to its Northern Ireland counterpart, was hung in the House of Commons when it opened. However, it was removed after having been defaced by a Scottish preacher, who had travelled from Scotland for that express purpose. The reason for his anger was that the painting also showed the Pope, who had blessed William's enterprise. You can see images of the building on its Wikimedia Commons page
The building itself changed little over the years, even as the parliaments meeting inside it did. To camouflage it during World War II the building's Portland stone was painted with supposedly removable "paint" made of bitumen and cow manure. However, after the war, removing the paint proved an enormous difficulty, with the paint having scarred the stonework. It took seven years to remove the "paint", and the exterior facade has never regained its original white color. While most traces of it were removed from the facades (though having done damage that can be seen up close) some of the remains of the paint survive in the inner courtyards and unseen parts of the place.
Taken from Wikipedia
Type of Capitol: State, Province, Canton, or Other Primary Division of a Nation
Address:
Upper Newtownards Road
Belfast, Co Antrim Ireland
BT4 3SD
Dates of Construction: 16 November 1932.
Major Renovations: January 1995
Hours: 9am - 5pm
Capitol Web Site: [Web Link]
Historical Monuments/Memorials:
a statue to Edward Carson in dramatic pose (on the drive leading up to the building) in 1932, a rare example of a statue to a person being erected before their death, and the erection of a statue to Lord Craigavon in the main foyer, half way up the grand staircase. Craigavon and his wife are buried in the estate grounds.
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