Old Town Hall, Belfast

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the linen and rope-making industries, the town became a municipal borough in 1842. Council meetings were initially held in a small rented building in Victoria Square which later became part of the premises of Cantrell & Cochrane. By the mid-19th century the town council found this arrangement inadequate and decided to commission a purpose-built town hall. The site they selected was a former pork market in Victoria Street. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nineteen bays facing onto Victoria Street with the end blocks of three bays each projected forward as pavilions; the central section of five bays, which…