Belfast City Hall
Belfast, Co. Antrim
Tel: 028 902 70456
At the heart of the city is Donegall Square, a spacious public area dominated by the
imposing City Hall and a huge statue of Queen Victoria
who visited Belfast in 1849. Designed by Sir
Brumwell Thompson, the Hall was built between 1896
and 1906 in classical renaissance style with a
gleaming Portland stone exterior and a sumptuous
Italian marble interior. The central dome and corner
towers have been unashamedly borrowed from Sir Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral. There
are 45-minute guided tours available which take in
the palatial entrance hall, robing room, council chamber and views of the magnificent 173ft high
dome whose whispering gallery, oddly, cannot be reached.
The council chamber is, naturally, the grandest room, with hand-carved wainscoting and
walls dotted with portraits of British royalty and aristocracy. Outside, at the east side, is a sculptured
group commemorating the victims of the
Titanic, at that time the largest ship in the world, and one of
many liners built in the Belfast shipyards.