“ This block at present is embedded like a semi precious gem in a great expanse of a worn out city “ (The Civic Trust assessors comments 1969)
“ Rather oppressive and hard to love, it is apparently known to some of its occupants as the Lubianka “ (Marcus Patton in his book Central Belfast 1993)
These two comments about Fanum House are at the opposite end of the spectrum of architectural criticism but before expanding on my liking for this building it may be necessary to mention a little background colour by way of anecdote
When I decided to leave Scotland’s shores to find riches in Northern Ireland, I arrived in Belfast one very wet November day in 1958. The route to what turned out to be our dubious “ digs “ or lodgings meant a bus journey up Gt Victoria Street which in those days dealt with two way traffic. Having seen the magnificent City Hall on the way, the rest of the journey was however somewhat disappointing. Gt Victoria Street seemed to be right out of the mid west of America with two to three storey domestic buildings and apart from the charm of the Grand Opera House, the whole decision to come to Belfast suddenly looked bleak. Little did I know that the decision would mean keeping me here thankfully for over fifty years and counting sadly with no riches!
It took a few years and particularly the period of the late Sixties, to see this in a different way and when Fanum House was being built, architects were generally excited that the scale of the centre city buildings of what was a major City was being looked at seriously by the planners. Fanum House, designed by architect Ian Campbell was at that time, at eleven stories high , the second highest building in Belfast after the dire Windsor House. It now lies at number 15 in the count.
Fanum House was built in the period 1965-68 and was awarded a Civic Trust Award in 1969. The citation quoted at the beginning of this article , went on to explain that “until the building gets a setting, any judgement is somewhat premature but it does attract by its considered and precise planning and detailing and by the bold decision to use exposed aggregate of Antrim basalt in a mix darkened by black cement.”
The last part of the citation is arguably the reason that most people use as the reason why they do not like the building but the assessors identified clearly that it would be pleasant to see more new office accommodation following this pattern. We are still waiting for this to allow Gt Victoria Street to develop properly and I do feel that Fanum House would benefit by other new buildings being in proximity to it but alas the deadly demolition gangs will be there soon . John Cusack, a reporter with the Irish Times working in Fanum House when the building was built and writing in the 8o’s said that “while awaiting the technical revolution that will squeeze all the functions of the office into a desk top computer, Fanum House is the very quintessence of urban working.”
I recently discussed with the architect Ian Campbell his original ideas. Originally, I had thought that the developers brief had driven the design but I should have realised that Ian would not allow such a mundane process to interfere with his ideas and he confirmed that the building was designed in accordance with Le Corbusier’s Modular which was a dimensioning discipline based on the human stature, Whilst I was suitably impressed by this, it was obvious in visiting the building now that whilst it was designed for office and uses a ceiling height of under three metres it was inappropriate for the modern computer floor installation for offices and it is probably why the building is under threat. A scurrilous rumour was spread that the original design was for nine stories and to obtain eleven the ceiling heights had to be reduced
To fit the additional storeys in. The architect was rather upset by this as you can imagine. I can quote the words of the book Modern Ulster Architecture when it cites Ian Campbell as an architectural purist who has produced work marked for over forty years by its neatness of planning, ingenuity of structure, refinement of form and delightful attention to detail and I believe that Fanum House exhibits all these attributes.
That is apart from the choice of colour of the pre cast panels and which was chosen apparently to make it easier to keep clean. I often feel that concrete buildings are not given the same understanding as stone in the capacity to effect good cleaning repairs and it is always invariably the wrong decision to demolish concrete buildings and generally always leave stone ones in place. In a period of sustainability it surely is prudent to retain concrete structures if suitable and depending on its particular and economic uses.
Fanum House was built in the period 1965-68 and was awarded a Civic Trust Award in 1969. The citation quoted at the beginning of this article , went on to explain that “until the building gets a setting, any judgement is somewhat premature but it does attract by its considered and precise planning and detailing and by the bold decision to use exposed aggregate of Antrim basalt in a mix darkened by black cement.”
The last part of the citation is arguably the reason that most people use as the reason why they do not like the building but the assessors identified clearly that it would be pleasant to see more new office accommodation following this pattern. We are still waiting for this to allow Gt Victoria Street to develop properly and I do feel that Fanum House would benefit by other new buildings being in proximity to it but alas the deadly demolition gangs will be there soon . John Cusack, a reporter with the Irish Times working in Fanum House when the building was built and writing in the 8o’s said that “while awaiting the technical revolution that will squeeze all the functions of the office into a desk top computer, Fanum House is the very quintessence of urban working.”
I recently discussed with the architect Ian Campbell his original ideas. Originally, I had thought that the developers brief had driven the design but I should have realised that Ian would not allow such a mundane process to interfere with his ideas and he confirmed that the building was designed in accordance with Le Corbusier’s Modular which was a dimensioning discipline based on the human stature, Whilst I was suitably impressed by this, it was obvious in visiting the building now that whilst it was designed for office and uses a ceiling height of under three metres it was inappropriate for the modern computer floor installation for offices and it is probably why the building is under threat. A scurrilous rumour was spread that the original design was for nine stories and to obtain eleven the ceiling heights had to be reduced
To fit the additional storeys in. The architect was rather upset by this as you can imagine. I can quote the words of the book Modern Ulster Architecture when it cites Ian Campbell as an architectural purist who has produced work marked for over forty years by its neatness of planning, ingenuity of structure, refinement of form and delightful attention to detail and I believe that Fanum House exhibits all these attributes.
That is apart from the choice of colour of the pre cast panels and which was chosen apparently to make it easier to keep clean. I often feel that concrete buildings are not given the same understanding as stone in the capacity to effect good cleaning repairs and it is always invariably the wrong decision to demolish concrete buildings and generally always leave stone ones in place. In a period of sustainability it surely is prudent to retain concrete structures if suitable and depending on its particular and economic uses.
Steven Holl in describing what he feels about architecture says that “You know the design is good when the idea, structure and the material all line up.” In the case of Fanum House three out of three is not a bad record apart perhaps from the colour of the panels.
My main liking for this building is firstly the setting, with the foot print set right on the corner at the junction and strengthening Ventry Street and Gt Victoria Street . The entrance is carefully placed not in the front of the building but sited off a piazza and which was initially landscaped and now is an unlandscaped cark park.
The original intention was to express the ground floor structure but recent photographs show how easy it is to destroy this with unthinking and unsympathetic shop signage. The detailing of the pre cast panels is exemplary, with clear decisions made as to simple jointing and even in an eleven storey building all the windows can be cleaned without unsightly window cradling. Only the ugly aerial ecresions affects the simple roof profile of this building since the boiler house is set back at roof level allowing a clear plan at ground level the profile now ruined of course with a myriad of aerial contraptions.
I found out that the original name of this building was Highland House and when the lease was taken by the Automobile Association, they bought the right to change the name to Fanum House.The name Fanum is the one chosen by the A A for all their offices throughout the UK and the name comes from the Latin for temple hence the title of this article. It is of passing interest to know that the A A head office in Basingstoke became too small for the organisation and was vacated for some years but following refurbishment is again the Headquarters for the organisation.
My main liking for this building is firstly the setting, with the foot print set right on the corner at the junction and strengthening Ventry Street and Gt Victoria Street . The entrance is carefully placed not in the front of the building but sited off a piazza and which was initially landscaped and now is an unlandscaped cark park.
The original intention was to express the ground floor structure but recent photographs show how easy it is to destroy this with unthinking and unsympathetic shop signage. The detailing of the pre cast panels is exemplary, with clear decisions made as to simple jointing and even in an eleven storey building all the windows can be cleaned without unsightly window cradling. Only the ugly aerial ecresions affects the simple roof profile of this building since the boiler house is set back at roof level allowing a clear plan at ground level the profile now ruined of course with a myriad of aerial contraptions.
I found out that the original name of this building was Highland House and when the lease was taken by the Automobile Association, they bought the right to change the name to Fanum House.The name Fanum is the one chosen by the A A for all their offices throughout the UK and the name comes from the Latin for temple hence the title of this article. It is of passing interest to know that the A A head office in Basingstoke became too small for the organisation and was vacated for some years but following refurbishment is again the Headquarters for the organisation.
Would that the owners of Fanum House see some way to keep this building in good use ?
A bed room block perhaps to go with a hotel ?
I finish this article with a short summary of how I feel Fanum house compares with two other office buildings built around the same time. Unlike Fanum House, the brooding building called River House in High Street adds nothing to the streetscape and ignores completely the well respected listed buildings adjacent. The building has no setting to speak of and the ground floor scale is such that it is anathema to what should have been an important Cityscape scale of at least one and half storeys. Even the set back adds nothing to the setting. Contrast this with the nearby superb Transport House a modern building by J J Brennan and considered important enough to be listed by the Historic Buildings Council. This building built in 1959, respects the corner of this site and expresses the approach entrance with a well considered tiled art mural representing Belfast’s industrial history
Looking at Gt Victoria Street now, especially seeing the paucity of good architecture, I wonder if my original decision to stay in Belfast would have been different. That opinion I am sure, would have been helped if Fanum House had been built in the fifties since this building is in my opinion the best example of pure modern architecture in Gt Victoria Street. Jim Cusack again expressed in 1985 the view that the building perfectly fulfilled the purpose for which it was made and chose it as his favourite building in the Ulster Architect magazine
In conclusion in case anyone is intrigued about my opening comments about the doubtful condition and uses of the “digs” or lodgings I lived in for a few weeks in 1958 there is no prize for getting the right answer – You may use your imagination !
A bed room block perhaps to go with a hotel ?
I finish this article with a short summary of how I feel Fanum house compares with two other office buildings built around the same time. Unlike Fanum House, the brooding building called River House in High Street adds nothing to the streetscape and ignores completely the well respected listed buildings adjacent. The building has no setting to speak of and the ground floor scale is such that it is anathema to what should have been an important Cityscape scale of at least one and half storeys. Even the set back adds nothing to the setting. Contrast this with the nearby superb Transport House a modern building by J J Brennan and considered important enough to be listed by the Historic Buildings Council. This building built in 1959, respects the corner of this site and expresses the approach entrance with a well considered tiled art mural representing Belfast’s industrial history
Looking at Gt Victoria Street now, especially seeing the paucity of good architecture, I wonder if my original decision to stay in Belfast would have been different. That opinion I am sure, would have been helped if Fanum House had been built in the fifties since this building is in my opinion the best example of pure modern architecture in Gt Victoria Street. Jim Cusack again expressed in 1985 the view that the building perfectly fulfilled the purpose for which it was made and chose it as his favourite building in the Ulster Architect magazine
In conclusion in case anyone is intrigued about my opening comments about the doubtful condition and uses of the “digs” or lodgings I lived in for a few weeks in 1958 there is no prize for getting the right answer – You may use your imagination !
Copyright: Joseph Fitzgerland
Originally published in Perspective Magazine
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