belfast skyline

[Maxwiggan]

sunny day

[Maxwiggan]

a selection of belfast buildings and a look at the skyline

[johnglas]

God, the 70s and 80s were even more brutal in Belfast than I thought! Not brutalist, just brutal.

[Maxwiggan]

Yeah there are some major crimes on display here to enjoy it you have to wait until it rains and gets dark then you can pretend you are in bladerunner Los Angeles or Gotham City but you need a good imagination! :-)

[johnglas]

maxwiggan: I come from Glasgow - you don't need to tell me!

[Maxwiggan]

north street

[thebig C]

Hey

Does anybody know what year Windsor House was built and who built it? I can never find that info. Actually, for the tallest building on this Island there is very little known about Windsor House!

C

[cgcsb]

Windsor house is now the second tallest building on the island after Elysian, Cork. I notice that Belfast didn't get as much benefit from the boom as cities in the Republic did. There's still a large amount of surface car parks in the city centre and aside from the kremlin, Donegal street is empty and very poorly illuminated at night. Also alot of the street paving, pedestrian crossings and street lights are very 80's in their design. Almost retro

[thebig C]

Windsor house is now the second tallest building on the island after Elysian, Cork. I notice that Belfast didn't get as much benefit from the boom as cities in the Republic did. There's still a large amount of surface car parks in the city centre and aside from the kremlin, Donegal street is empty and very poorly illuminated at night. Also alot of the street paving, pedestrian crossings and street lights are very 80's in their design. Almost retro

I think Elysian is 71m to the roof. The Spire brings it to 81:).....can we count those???

C

[cgcsb]

I thought the spire was always counted, is it not?

[Maxwiggan]

Some recent twilight shots.

interesting to see how the introduction of these two vertical elements will impact the surrounding area

[rob mc]

Whats the other building to the left of the picture?Is that part of the obel development or is it something else?

[Maxwiggan]

thobel consists of the tower element and a 5 or 6 floor lowrise the building in the left background with the red neon and reflecto glass is the royal mail building further along to the left, set back from the quay is the new " Boat" development.

[thebig C]

I thought the spire was always counted, is it not?

I was always under the impression that buildings (for the purpose of tallest) were counted to roof height. Now I know the famous stories regarding the Spire on the Chrysler Building being kept secret until the last minute, so it could capture the Worlds tallest building title. On the other hand, I have seen many instances when Spires and even television towers are regarded as structures rather then buildings:)

Anyway, I am going off topic.......back to my question.....does anyone know when WindsorHouse was built and by whom?? I just can't find this info anywhere:))

[Maxwiggan]

If you are going to include Ariels and masts then this is the tallest structure in Ireland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabane_Mast

[johnglas]

...Ariels and masts...

God, I didn't know there were fairies on the tops of highrises!
You can forget looking at the bottom of the garden, then...

[Maxwiggan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8025036.stm

bbc article on changing cityscapes in the uk.

[Rhoikos]

There is a class painting in the Royal Ulster Academy of the Arc.

[Rhoikos]

Dunno about those coloured squares on the Boat

[GregF]

Belfast is the dreariest city in the UK. The photos above prove it!

[wearnicehats]

Belfast used to be a very attractive city. Unfortunately little or nothing of it was left standing after WWII. How lucky for Dublin that they opted out of that one.

You'll also find that many buildings built up until the Good Friday agreement tended, for some reason, to take on a rather "defensive" design approach

[PVC King]

Victoria Square is a very good addition to Belfast; the dome is an amazing place from which to view Cave Hill and the bay. Sadly other than Victoria Square which has completely dominated prime retail (and has enough void space to satisfy all high end demand for another 5 years); the opportunity to build high quality buildings is curtailed by the rental levels acheivable by developers. Until such time as top graduates remain in the city the capacity for outstanding buildings beyond the odd civic commission or if tourist driven leisure continues to grow; is sadly limited.

A real pity as Victorian Belfast was a real treasure; less call centres more fund management....

[cgcsb]

Victoria square destroyed more than 1/4 of Belfast's surviving georgian stock. Although for some that was a positive thing. Victoria Sq. is very impressive though, and I just wish ABP wasn't so uptight about the Dublin Central scheme, the proposed skypark would have been just as interesting as viccy's dome.

[thebig C]

Victoria square destroyed more than 1/4 of Belfast's surviving georgian stock. Although for some that was a positive thing. Victoria Sq. is very impressive though, and I just wish ABP wasn't so uptight about the Dublin Central scheme, the proposed skypark would have been just as interesting as viccy's dome.

Really? I do remember that there was controversy that one of Belfasts oldest pubs was demolished/closed to make way for it but I thought that the only large scale demolishion involved Churchill House, a 1960s slab?

[cgcsb]

Really? I do remember that there was controversy that one of Belfasts oldest pubs was demolished/closed to make way for it but I thought that the only large scale demolishion involved Churchill House, a 1960s slab?

there was a good bit of decaying georgian housing, in fairness I suppose it was only fit for demolition. A similar pub opened just outside victoria square in a classic building, not sure if it's different owners though. The kitchen bar I believe it's called.