Post up any old photos of buildings (or street scences) either proposed, built or long demolished

Here's a few to kick off:

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0008.jpg
Queen's University

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0007.jpg
Spinning Mill for the Northern Spinning & Weaving Co Ltd

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0006.jpg
http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0006a.jpg
The RVH

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0001.jpg
Frames

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0002.jpg
The Memorial Home for Incurables

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0005.jpg
Ross's Mineral Water Manufactury

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0004.jpg
Warehouse, Donegall Place

http://ireland.archiseek.com/victoriana/antrim/images/0003.jpg
Warehouse, Tomb St

Belfast Techincal Institution:

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/misc/18.jpg

The place hasnt changed from 1898 and still uses its old steam generator.

- edit

Is the Belfast Technical Institution now part of Belfast Metropolitan College?

Yes, but most people still use "the Tech" when referring to it.

Check out Gerry Ward's 'Old Belfast' set on Flickr - it's the shiz.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerryward/sets/72157608810194458/

and the 'Old Belfast' pool

http://www.flickr.com/groups/oldbelfast/pool/

and 'Belfast Before and After' pool

ouch

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2216587738_d6edbb171b_o.jpg

The thing is most of the buildings posted still exist.

I would say while Belfast architecture may not be as good as its Victorian heyday, I think it is better now than it has been for most of the interim period, Bearing in mind much of the old part of the city was destroyed during the war, then came industrial decline, the troubles and economic stagnation.

Yes Belfast had and still does have some simply beautiful buildings, but as rightly stated the war devastated many areas, High Street was effectively bombed to the ground as were other areas.

The mistakes in later years did not help. I don't think the modern buildings doing up now are that horrendous, some are yes, unfortunately. But no point being all sad about it, times change as does architecture and taste.

Its a shame what happened to Queens ,with the older buildings around the back. Which were replaced with monstrosities!

Its a shame what happened to Queens ,with the older buildings around the back. Which were replaced with monstrosities!

Does anyone know what happened to the building at the back of the quad at Queens, it's now the admin building? The admin building ruins that quad, at least the main library tower is getting demolished, it's a total eyesore.

I think that the biggest loss was the Deaf and Dumb Inst. When it was there Queens was at one end of Elmwood Avenue and it was at the other... that is something we see in Paris, Vienna, London... Long Avenues with Stunning landmarks at their end... I can't help but think that Belfast has always had two types of people in charge; the ambitious visionaries and the f**k wit conservatives who hold it back... Look at the Carlisle Circus, Crumlin Road Courthouse Area... Thats another area that seems as though it was never finished to its original plan.

Queens, like a lot of Lanyons buildings, were nice looking but poorly constructed, requiring lots of maintenance. Queens went through a period of giving up fixing them and just building new blocks. They must spend a lot of money maintaining their buildings now.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2681719653_fa4525de4f_b.jpg

Heres an older image of the institute before the surrounding land was developed. As far as I know it stood where the MBC now is on the Lisburn Road.

Thats correct. The MBC being a huge improvement obviously.

Just on a note I hit in an earlier post. Does anyone know if there was any grand plans for the Crumlin Road/Carlisle Circus area? Also Have heard that the Grand Central Hotel (Now Castle Court) was the proposed site of the new Central Rail Terminal... any info available on that?

Just on a note I hit in an earlier post. Does anyone know if there was any grand plans for the Crumlin Road/Carlisle Circus area? Also Have heard that the Grand Central Hotel (Now Castle Court) was the proposed site of the new Central Rail Terminal... any info available on that?

The Central Railway Station is mentioned in Brett's book "Buildings of Belfast" published in either 1968 or 69. No pics unfortunately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpU4DgefFPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpU4DgefFPo

Interesting - you can see the shadows on the road of some impressive architecture! Amazing the amount of people walking about - ban all cars from the city centre!

Thats an amazing video.

Unfortunately with the population density in the city centre being nowhere near what it was in 1901 banning cars I think would just make the place seem even more empty.

yeah, great video, here's a slightly longer version of it -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HfPeW4kKyso

This probably isnt what you had in mind when starting this thread, but seeming as the Markets & Donegall Pass areas were getting a lot of mentions in the Belfast thread... these were the proposals they had for those areas in the late 60's. Both these areas weren't regenerated until (I think) the 80's. The pictures are from this book: http://opac.ni-libraries.net/02_Catalogue/02_005_TitleInformation.aspx?searchTerm=belfast+central+area+1969&searchTerm2=&searchTerm3=&searchTerm4=&searchType=99&Page=1&media=&branch=&authority=&language=&junior=&rcn=Y000045024&fr=tl

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/markets.jpg
This series of slab blocks is where the current estate is. The street on the left is East Bridge St looking towards the Albertbridge. On the top left is a pavillion looking building which would have been a major exhibition centre. It would be where the Edge bar is now. The road on the other side of the river is the Belfast Urban Motorway

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/markets2.jpg
The picture makes the flats look nice enough, but as the Divis Flats & Shankill blocks were built on the cheap theres little reason to suspect these wouldnt have been run down as well.

Most of the area was underused markets. The Waterfront Hall area was a cattle market and a abatoir, the latter was moved to Duncrue St. Things like this were considered unsuitable for the city centre. As so much land was availiable, the corporation had grand plans for it, including building the pavillion, council headquarters, pedestrian bridge to Ormeau Pk, Ormeau Avenue road bridge through gasworks over the river, Maysfield leisure centre, and Central station. As most of this was never built Central Station isnt as convenient a location as was intended.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/shaftesbury.jpg

This was an intended shopping centre for Shaftesbury Square, with loads of offices above it. The road on the left is a new road that was to link Boyne Bridge to Lisburn Rd. This is what Sandy Row does so I'm not sure why they wanted that. The road on the bottom is the Belfast Urban Motorway. This would have made life unpleasant for residents so was partly the reason why hundreds of houses would be demolished for this centre, and why a lot of the housing fronting main roads would be 'noise barrier' flats.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/shaftesbury2.jpg
The shopping centre looks interesting in the drawing at least. The plan was to leave about 10 shops on Sandy Row for the locals and for bigger goods and a better selection of items people would travel to Shaftesbury Square. This didnt get built but the Sandy row shops are in serious decline now anyway. I'm not sure about the current (derelict) dole office, whether it was part of this masterplan or was built before it.

Jesus.....thankfully that did not happen. I can only imagine how unbelievably horrible that would look today. I admire their ambition and vision, but that vast amount of featureless concrete would have been appalling. It would, with some re-design and use of modern glass and steel perhaps look nice.

I think the Markets design is unusual in that it looks like more of a middle class take on Brutalist housing. A bit like London's Barbican & Thamesmead schemes. I doubt the corporation of the time being would have willing to deliver that level of quality though.

Its funny though, because the images show the buildings as being white, it's making me think of the Titanic Quarter.

Just looking at it amazes me! We would have lost quite a few architectural gems if all of the 'white' buildings had gone ahead. I have seen plans for the urban motorway before, but not these.

I would think that most of these areas would have been again redeveloped in the 80's (like Divis) and we would have ended up with even more 2storey & bungalows over a vast swathe of the city centre (heaven for the planners!)

Always wondered why Central Station was located where it is now and not more centrally on Oxford St (as railway lines originally terminated here). Its taken 40 years for the development at Lanyon Place to even begin to resemble the original plans, however I do prefer the street scape now, to these images.

Many years ago my boss, then, told me about a building he had done design work on in East Bridge St for govt offices - this would have been 16 storeys - might have been where the BT building now stands.

Thankfully the Belfast Urban motorway was never fully realised. Hopefully after the York Street interchange is sorted attention will focus on converting the Westlink into a tunnel.

Yeh, the Belfast Urban Motorway would have destroyed the City if it had been realised. I remember someone saying thats why for instance there is lots of car parks on Ormeau Avenue, and why the fires station is so far from the road, because there is still planning restrictions for the motorway to go through there

There is some more info about it here-
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/belfasturbanmotorway.html

Yeh, the Belfast Urban Motorway would have destroyed the City if it had been realised. I remember someone saying thats why for instance there is lots of car parks on Ormeau Avenue, and why the fires station is so far from the road, because there is still planning restrictions for the motorway to go through there

The reason for all that undeveloped land and the fire station being set back is to make way for Bankmore Link (part of the inner ring road).
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/bankmorelink.html

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj246/G2GAP/BankmoreLink2.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj246/G2GAP/BankmoreLink1.jpg

The inner ring is to be a focus of the Roads Service over the next ten years to take traffic away from the City centre and instead of traffic going through the city it will go round (in theory). I like the idea but don't know if it will be successful, unless restrictions are placed on the city centre roads to force traffice unto this route.
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/belfastinnerring.html
http://applications.drdni.gov.uk/publications/document.asp?docid=14520

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj246/G2GAP/InnerRingRoad.jpg

I like very much

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/mervillenearbottom.jpg

This is Merville Garden Village on the Shore Road, one of Belfast's real architectural gems that I'm sure many dont know about. Built in the late 40's by Ulster Garden villages, this estate inbetween the Abbey Centre & Rathcoole contains 250 flats, 170 houses, and several shops. Every building is whitewashed and has distinctive black windowframes, doors & (fake) shutters, apart from the red brick shops & flats that front the Shore Road.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/citybusrenegade/mervilleeastofphonebox.jpg

Effectively a long cul de sac that climbs the hill, Merville has excellent landscaping and greenery. Every street seems to have at least one cherry blossom tree. There's a real continental feel to the estate, which includes a European style dual carriageway with a grass verge in the middle. Merville would have been aimed at working class & middle class tenants. The design of the flats here and in their other scheme at Abbot's Cross aren't a million miles away from Corporation dwellings of the era, like Annadale, but it's the whitewash & the little details that make them look classier. If Merville had one flaw it would be that it doesnt make use of the Glas na braden river that flows alongside it, it's bank of the valley being abandoned. However this could be fixed with an basic bridge to the maintained other side.

Its funny though, because the images show the buildings as being white, it's making me think of the Titanic Quarter.[/QUOTE]

http://www.glenravel.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=92

Issue 34 page 2, Arnotts building, bombed during WW2-what a pity.

http://www.glenravel.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=92

Issue 34 page 2, Arnotts building, bombed during WW2-what a pity.

I have to say i really like the building that replaced it on bridge street, a bit of a sprucing up and it would look really well. i think bridge street in general has some great buildings on it

Bridge Street on Google maps (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=bridge+street+belfast&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=uk&ei=jk4uSsaNMY6D-QbN17nRAw&ll=54.599893,-5.927258&spn=0,359.996411&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=54.599859,-5.927347&panoid=02dsuF--E_Gjt3FNeI3Amg&cbp=12,296.13,,0,0.16)

Also another lost gem - Victoria Memorial Hall on May street

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/49/80/498041_36878ddd.jpg

http://freespace.virgin.net/mp.hearth/MusicHall.jpeg

Also another lost gem - Victoria Memorial Hall on May street

It wasn't demolished that long ago from memory. If it had of survived it could have been a good venue, maybe a comedy club or something as part of the Queens festival.

I agree that Bridge street has a lot of character. The railings on the upper floor windows of the cash converters block are meant to symbolise radar.

Another area that I think has a lot of potential is the Haymarket arcade. I was there a few years ago on a sunny day, Backbeat records were playing songs on a PA, the place would have been ideal for an outdoor coffee. Last week when I was there though there were even more void units than usual.

The railings on the upper floor windows of the cash converters block are meant to symbolise radar.

That's an old post war building, I think its horrid and surely it will be replaced soon.
Bridge street pre WW2 was only half as wide as it is now!

The canopy overlooking the pavement is pretty unique, college street being the only other major use of this in town. The blue tiling is very distinctive, the only other building like this is Transport House. Whether you like the building or not it really should be listed for heritage reasons, for it to be replaced would be controversial for sure. Personally I really like it as well as the simplistic brick building across the street from it. Would you be as supportive of demolishing buildings in Bridge street if the shops they had there were among your favourites?

http://i.ebayimg.com/05/!BUHuWF!B2k~$(KGrHgoH-DMEjlLltmFiBKL8,(GY-g~~_1.JPG

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a156/postcardsextra/shop26mar09/pic199.jpg

The sand stone building, Rosemary Street/High Street (looks like a bank) including the triangular topped buildings on the left of High Street, were not demolished by the Nazi's but in the 60's or 70's. All that remains on left hand side is the last left triangular roof building (now without the triangle at roof level and the building beyond). You can see Arnotts store at Bridge street beyond (with the dome).

Are you guy's aware that the First Trust Bank Portion of the block of building's fronting University Road, Belfast, was built post 1989. This end terrace matches the rest of the building (chimneys not present is only give away-although quite often in facade retention the chimney's dissappear anyway). The only reason that I know this is that I can remember it being built. So what is wrong with building in the old style? There aint anything 'tacky' about that building. I haven't got a photo of it (G2GAP may well have) google street view number 36 University Road, gives a good view.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu111/Homebird_01/gallery_past8.jpg

Here's a quiz for you guy's. This photo wrecked my brain for days. Can you work out where it was taken in Belfast? There are 2 clues in there. In actual fact I think there are only 2 buildings left today.

Here's a quiz for you guy's. This photo wrecked my brain for days. Can you work out where it was taken in Belfast? There are 2 clues in there. In actual fact I think there are only 2 buildings left today.

Is that looking towards Donegal Square from the end of bedford street/start of dublin road?

It does look like that area but no

is it victoria street with the old townhall on the right?

is it victoria street with the old townhall on the right?

No

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/welterweight1953/img146-1.jpg

The haymarket when it had a roof and dormers. This view is from near the front of the Central library.

The photo, I think, is taken from Queen Street, looking up Upper Queen Street. The tram is travelling along Wellington Place, from the Black Man towards Donegall Square North. The building on the right, at the corner of Queen Street and Wellington Place, is now McKelvey House.

Emily,

That took me days to work out, and only with the aid of an aerial photo taken in the late 40's. Henry's is Dial house (Capital house - I think its now called). The tall Victorian building is Eagle Star House (Zurich now). You can see the top of the spire to Church House above Henry's. The Presbyterian War Memorial Building is far down on the right of the street (This building and Spires complex are the only one's left standing). The old original Athletic Stores would be on our Left at the corner with Wellington Place. Also the latest Athletic Stores, soon to be demolished would be just on the right of us. Maybe the Athletic stores should move to Castlecourt as the legacy is for demolishion of there premises where ever they go.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/welterweight1953/BelfastpicsforForum019.jpg

Here is Scottish Provident complete with statues on each dome and on the centre mid pitch. All gone probably in someones garden. Also note the old YMCA adjoining on Wellington Place. Apparently when they were about to build the Royston House (is that what you call it) the developer persauded the YMCA to take the top floor in return for demolishion. Nice turrett at roof level. On Donegall Square West the tall building beyond is the old Northern Bank, and beyond that, you cannot see it, but is a real gem, which would not look out of place in Venice, fronts Howard St. Unfortunately can not get a photo up on the net any of you guy's able to. These were all demolished in the early 70's for the Northern Bank safe. PS you can see Henry's further down Wellington place at junction with Upper Queen Street (another fine building)

Great photos 937delta!!! Thanks!!! ... I'm gonna try and get a pic from the exact location on Queen Street this week to compare the two side by side just out of interest.

I've been trying to find some old photos of Ann Street for some time ... would anyone have any or know where to find any? -- I'm interested as most of the retail buildings date from the 80's onwards so i'm wondering in what style the street appeared before these new buildings...

http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/24007/2314891680104537802S600x600Q85.jpg

I've been trying to find some old photos of Ann Street for some time

This is looking across Victoria Street towards where the new police station is to be. I think I can remember the corner building in the 80's.
I wonder why they use to call Belfast the Athens of the north. Maybe it was a beautiful city.

http://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=be121b8b2152212f069933b180b9e738&topic=197.15
Can't get this image on to the page. Its the 3rd photo down the page (1st B&W image called Howardst)
However, Demolished post 1970, a little bit of Venice in Belfast. Another excellent boutique hotel option for Belfast if it had of survived!!!! The building was located on Donegall Sq West, fronting Howard Street.

http://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,21828.600.html


Belfast York Road Station

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/welterweight1953/BelfastpicsforForum067.jpg

That is utterly shocking, I had never seen a picture of what Clifton street looked liked.

Anybody got any old photo's of the cranes to the Musgrave slipways viewed from Victoria Park. I can remember there were loads of cranes on those slipways until the late 80's early 90's. It was a very impressive site, looked abit like New York from Central Park - very iconic view of industrial Belfast.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1470251
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1470229
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1470177

Ann St/Victoria St another shot of what was there before the new police station.

I can remember some of the old destroyed buildings around clifton street. It was an amazing part of town which has just been vandalised beyond belief!!

What happened to the church?

Replaced by that sorry excuse of a building.

the church up on the right was St Enochs. Really impressive looking and was i think the largest presbyterian church in Ireland. I can also remember a building beside where the clinic is there beside the westlink. It looked, from what I can remember as a child, like a mansion, but it would resemble some of the buildings you can see on the left in the foto.

I wonder why the idea of rebuilding lost buildings never had much support in the UK? France, Germany, Poland etc rebuilt many of their lost cities, but UK never even attempted that. Why?

I wonder why the idea of rebuilding lost buildings never had much support in the UK? France, Germany, Poland etc rebuilt many of their lost cities, but UK never even attempted that. Why?

We like metal decking, PVC, etc are designers cannot design anymore, we like low maintanence. eg many apartment blocks have railings which if were painted black would finish off the building-but on no that's too much work so lets just leave them dull grey and galvanised. Basically the UK is fast becoming the land of temporary crap buildings.

I wonder why the idea of rebuilding lost buildings never had much support in the UK? France, Germany, Poland etc rebuilt many of their lost cities, but UK never even attempted that. Why?

The problem we have is that we have modernists jumping all over such attempts using words like "twee" or "Victorian Disney Land", it's ironic as most of the buildings we lost piss all over their glass and concrete boxes.

the church up on the right was St Enochs. Really impressive looking and was i think the largest presbyterian church in Ireland. I can also remember a building beside where the clinic is there beside the westlink. It looked, from what I can remember as a child, like a mansion, but it would resemble some of the buildings you can see on the left in the foto.


St. Enochs is on the left and still exists, what happened to the Memorial Church (on the right)...anyone know?

St Enochs is destroyed, its the memorial church that lies derelict today. St Enochs was home to rev hanna and it was his statue that stood in the centre of carlisle circus.

The book above is incorrect then :)

Was before my time, was destroyed in 1985 I believe.

Is the Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church protected??

I read in August it's incredibly close to the point of no return in terms of dereliction and ability to restore.

The problem we have is that we have modernists jumping all over such attempts using words like "twee" or "Victorian Disney Land", it's ironic as most of the buildings we lost piss all over their glass and concrete boxes.

Come one, there are loads of great examples of modern architecture out there.

Im very much against building new buildings in classical styles, after all we are living in the 21C, but I support rebuilding of lost ones.

http://i.ebayimg.com/18/!B,ZokQgCGk~$(KGrHgoH-DoEjlLluCsSBKrU,q4Z+g~~_35.JPG

I have been wondering about a building located behind Tesco's Royal Avenue. This is not the best shot, but if you look to the right hand side of Bank Buildings there is what appears to be a church tower. It is quite tall can't figure out what it is.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/4036505651_856cdc686a_m.jpg
Donegall Square west. The Venetian style building has been re-rendered, the 'barn' roof removed and decorative roof features removed. The Gothic bank adjoining was quite nice. This block was demolished late 60's early 70's.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/4041931636_242f976c58_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/intervene/4041931636/sizes/l/

Wow.....to be honest, the area behind city hall looks rather grim. Yorkshire House is vile.

Victoria Park, Shorts in the Background and a ship under construction...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2568/4041185159_bd1e7669d6_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/intervene/4041185159/sizes/l/

^^

I love that.


Just been looking through that guys image threads from various places, absolutely gorgeous some of them.

I really like this pic for many reasons. The cranes look superb, but the silhouetted figures are excellent. Did you take it?

What happened to the cranes? Were they supplanted by Goliath variety?

Royal Avenue (Central Library on the right)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00133/img125_133453s.jpg

Stormont
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00133/img134_133459s.jpg

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00133/img135_133460s.jpg

http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/shipyard/img087.jpg

Canberra U/C (Note Aiport Road)
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/shipyard/img110.jpg

Did you take it?

What happened to the cranes? Were they supplanted by Goliath variety?

No, fortunately I'm not that old :lol:

York Street/Donegal Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk/Gallery/belfasttelegraph/1920s-30s/img078.jpg

Corner of Royal Avenue and Kent Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk/Gallery/belfasttelegraph/1920s-30s/img018.jpg

http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/shipyard/img107.jpg

Myrina Launch
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/shipyard/img098.jpg

http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/shipyard/img097.jpg

Thanks Plank!!! They're great pictures!

That Victoria Park shot, is really gritty, most of those cranes were taken down in the late 80's early 90's. It was fantastic driving along the Sydenham by-pass with that view as a back-drop. Victoria Park use to be a bit like a mini Central Park, instead of skyscrapers-cranes.

The boats used to be built on massive slipways and then launched, beside the airport road. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=airport+road+belfast&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=19.753319,56.90918&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Airport+Rd,+Belfast,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.609446,-5.894436&spn=0.001177,0.003473&t=h&z=19


This was before they built the dry dock and Samson and Goliath .

That view of Viccy park would probably be mostly obscured now, there's a lot more trees and bushes hiding Shorts. Sometimes Belfast looks better in old photos as there seems to be less trees. The roads are dirty but they look great without cars, they really mess up photos today.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/4041931636_242f976c58_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/intervene/4041931636/sizes/l/

Look to the right of the dome on city hall, you can see the huge gas storage tank at the gas works, wow, i never realized it was so large!

Look to the right of the dome on city hall, you can see the huge gas storage tank at the gas works, wow, i never realized it was so large!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/images/belfast-aerial1.jpg

If you want to see hundreds of old photos of Belfast, and NI, check this site out, if you haven't already:

http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk/thebelfasttelegraph.htm

Some of the pics of the blitz are eye-opening for the extant of the devastation caused by ze luftwaffe. Some of those cleared bombsites were derelict right up until the seventies. I would hazard a guess that three nights of Hitler's special attention did more for Belfasts Victorian heritage than any short-sighted planner/developer.

Belfast had the lowest numbers of AA gun protection than any other city (7 workable batteries!) no night fighter protection, :ohno: consequently, we had the highest death toll for a single nights bombing of any city outside London. Half of all houses in Belfast destroyed or damaged, 100,000 (1 in 4 at the time) homeless.

like these:
York Street/ Great Patrick Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img070.jpg

Bridge Steet from Castle junction
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img067.jpg

High Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img055.jpg

Bridge Street from High Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img059.jpg

Bridge Street from North Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img057.jpg

Bridge Street/Rosemary Street corner
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img048.jpg

North Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img045.jpg

York Street/ Donegall Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img039.jpg

Henry Street / York Street
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img035.jpg

International Bar
http://www.niphotocanvas.co.uk//Gallery/belfasttelegraph/blitz/img038.jpg

Most of these from 4th/5th May 1941

Just trawling through Aubrey Dale's fantastic collection of photos on geograph, found this one showing what used to be out the back of the city hall on donegall square south:

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/57/38/573867_31e1a373.jpg

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/57/38/573867_31e1a373.jpg

Such a crying shame that all those tram lines were ripped up in both Belfast and Dublin. Imagine what it would be like if they were all (or at least some) still there.