St Ann's Cathedral, Belfast

[Fearg]

Some shots of the new "spire of hope" under construction:

(part of) Spire on the ground
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Inside - spire will be visible from under the crossing:
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Scaffolding:
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North Transept - exterior
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Apse, exterior:
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Looking West
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North Transept - Interior.
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[aj]

cant help thinking the spire was chosen as its by far the cheapest one proposed an no other reason

[archipimp]

any images of the finished product?

[Fearg]

any images of the finished product?

I've not been back to see it since last week, but I don't think it will be finished until May.. The Cathedral website has a blog and some images of what it will look like. It looks more like "the spike" in O'Connell Street than anything else..

At 100 Metres, I think it will technically be the tallest church spire in Ireland.

http://www.belfastcathedral.org/news/

[Paul Clerkin]

less a spire. more a needle

[aj]

less a spire. more a needle

given the bulk of the base of the tower is it only me or does that spire look stupid... more like an aerial than a spire...

[AndrewP]

It looks like someone photoshopped the O'Connell Street Spire onto that picture!

[Archiseek Editors]

It actually looks a little silly - a better idea would have been to use a spot light shining into the sky at night.

[Fearg]

It actually looks a little silly - a better idea would have been to use a spot light shining into the sky at night.

I think the only place where it might "work" would be inside the church looking up through the new glass ceiling in the crossing..

Apparently the cathedral foundations are not the best (there is a noticeable slope in the nave going towards the crossing) so I suppose whatever design they chose, it had to be fairly light..

I think this is a drawing of the original vision for the cathedral. Not only was the tower omitted, but the transepts look quite different to what was actually built:

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[Fearg]

Couple of reports from the BBC news website.. its not just members of this forum who have doubts about its appearance!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6549473.stm

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6053&&edition=1&ttl=20070413210435

[Archiseek Editors]

some detail of the timeframe of construction of the cathedral
http://ireland.archiseek.com/buildings_ireland/antrim/belfast/19thc/stanns.html

[Fearg]

Well, the "spire" is more or less completed. They are now working on the glass roof over the crossing.

[Starch]

thoughts on Belfast's new spire!..... i think it's a tough one to make a decision on.....sometimes it looks good....other time's it looks embarrisingly out of scale for a 'spire' ..........
perhaps it's more successful in the flesh????

[Starch]

try again

[Starch]

ok no joy ...... here's the links then : )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whispertwomey/520609142

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abuddhistpodcast/508124518

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianjpalmer/476859438

http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodchop/496721884

http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodchop/496753355

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oistin/474805042

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oistin/474812923/in/photostream

[Paul Clerkin]

I really don't like that - it just looks completely incongruous on top of the weighty stone building.

[AndrewP]

That's a huge mistake. It looks ridiculously out of place.