Day 09

'Bank of Ireland', Pencil on Paper

This is probably my favourite building in Belfast and it's a shame that it's unused at the moment, I particularly like that the front façade faces directly down Royal Avenue meaning it's visible all along the main street. I actually decided to draw the front face of the building whilst having coffee and looking out the window of the recently opened 'Grand Central' along Royal Avenue which by the way is a quite a nice place to have a 'cuppa' if your ever passing by and in need of some refreshment. Doing a little digging I also found out, for anyone who's curious, that the building was designed by 'J V Downes' in 1928, completed in 1929 and apparently is the first Art Deco building in Ulster... so there's a few factoids for you there too.

A few years back I actually had the privilege of getting access to the interior of the building when looking for some exhibition space and as you'd imagine the building is as magnificent inside as it is out. In fact it would make an excellent space for an exhibition and I've often thought of seeing if it would be possible to organise something there. The main hall itself whilst small has a raised ceiling and because of it's position natural light floods in creating a feeling that it's much bigger, it would be great area for large scale paintings or prints. Throughout the rest of the building there's quite a lot of smaller rooms and extra spaces that would work really well for setting up installation work. As well as this a lot of the features and fittings that existed when the bank was functioning are still there, the likes of the the Vault and a safe that is seemingly in the middle of the room due to wall being missing could be used to great effect to create some site specific work. There is definitely a lot of potential for something to happen there it just needs the right people to take it into their heads and utilise such a wasted and wonderful space.