1887 – McArthur Hall, Belfast, Co. Antrim

Built as boarding hall for Methodist College, Belfast. Grade B1 listed building, the original project was funded by a gift from Sir William McArthur and was completed in 1887. In 2010, the boarding departments in McArthur Hall and the Main Building closed, ending a 142-year history of boarding at the College. Converted to classroom use.

“This building was erected by Sir Wm – McArthur, K.C.M.G., for the education and training of the daughters of Methodist ministers, at a cost of T15.000, and was carried out from the designs of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane and Son, architects, Dublin, who succeeded in obtaining the first place from amongst sixty competitors in open competition, in 1887. The building is treated in a free Tudor style, and is built of red brick, with stone dressings. It has a frontage of 160 ft., and a depth of 110 ft., with two internal courtyards. On the ground floor it contains a large dining and recrea- tion-hall, library, study, matron’s rooms, kitchen, and offices, &c. On the first and second floors, dormitories and lavatories to accommodate sixty students. The builder was Mr. Robert Corry, of Belfast. The clerk of works, Mr. Henry Mothram. The heating was carried out by Messrs. Musgrave, of Belfast, and the plumbing by Messrs. Dowling, of same city. The wood-block flooring, parquet, and mosaic, by Wood- Block Flooring Company, and Messrs. Oppenheimer, of Manchester.” Published in The Building News, October 7th 1887.