Grannymar

Belfast’s Jaffe Fountain

There is a round plaque at the front of the fountain canopy in remembrance of Daniel Joseph Jaffe.

It was first sited in Victoria Square before being moved to the Botanic Gardens, south Belfast in 1933 and lay there for almost 70 years in poor condition. The fountain had to be painstakingly restored due to its condition and to study its original colours underneath the years of neglect.

It has been returned to the original location outside the new Victoria Square Mall.

It is a great link to Belfast’s history and the role of the Jaffe family. Daniel Joseph Jaffe was born in Mecklenburg, Schwerin, northern Germany on August 19, 1809. He laid the foundation stone of the synagogue in Great Victoria Street. He died in Nice on January 21, 1874, and was buried in the Jewish plot at Belfast Cemetery.

Daniel Joseph Jaffe and his older sons formed Jaffe Brothers, linen manufacturers, bleachers and merchants, at Bedford Street, Belfast. Otto a younger son, took over from his older brothers when they retired in 1877 and managed the business they had started with their father.  In 1880 the business had moved to 9 Donegall Square East and 10 Donegall Square South.

Otto Jaffe, was elected as a city councillor in 1894, and was elected as Belfast’s first Lord Mayor in 1899 (the first incumbent of the title ‘Lord’). He was knighted after his first term and re-elected as Lord Mayor in 1904. Sir Otto died in 1929, and was cremated in London.

The narrow triangular building is Bittles Bar. If you need a winter warmer you could try:-

Today I finish this mini series of The Belfast Entries.

Sugar House Entry

Black George McCartney ran  a sugar refining business in the second half of the 1600s, on the corner of Waring Street and Sugar House Entry which runs parallel to Bridge Street from north side of High Street.

Sugar House Entry

He ran the Waring Street sugarhouse up to his death in 1683. In 1678 he had leased adjacent land called Wilkins tenement in order to extend the sugarhouse. His sons Arthur & Chichester McCartney inherited the premises.

Sugar House Entry

The entry later became better known for the “Dr Benjamin Franklin Tavern”, owned by the Barclay family. The tavern was used as a meeting place for the United Irishmen, who met there under the name of The Muddlers’ Club”.

Next to Sugarhouse Entry is the Commercial Building, nowadays known as The Northern Whig. It was opened in 1820 and replaced four thatched cottages, one of which was a woollen drapers shop owned by the famous United Irishman Samuel Neilson.

The entry was closed (using emergency legislation) as a precaution against bombs and is now nothing more than a service access and is no longer a public thoroughfare. Best view is from Waring Street to High Street.

The Northern Whig

Nearby at the junction of Waring Street, Donegall Street, North Street and Bridge Street, is the oldest part of the city. Dubbed the Four Corners, it was from here that all milestones from Belfast were measured.

Photo: clara.net

On the junction of the four streets stands the old exchange and assembly rooms. Now a two-storey 18th Century edifice. The building began life in 1769 as a single storey marketplace, with the second level added five years later. In 1792, ten Irish harpists congregated for the historic Belfast Harp Festival. Their music was notated by Edward Bunting and a revival of traditional Irish music began. The building is more familiar to today’s locals as the former Northern Bank. Occasional art exhibitions and plays are held within its somewhat faded grandeur.

Northern Bank

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Wilson’s Court is just off Ann Street. One of earliest surviving buildings is The Mermaid Inn, which used to be The Rainbow Hotel in the 1860s. It’s family run and like The Lifeboat Bar and The Capstan, took its name from the city’s seafaring history. When I walked past the black roller shutter was down, so not worth a photograph.

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Castle Arcade, although an historic route and site of the original Belfast castle, it now lacks character due to the modern buildings on either side. It cuts diagonally from Cornmarket/High Street to Castle Lane. Several large historical photographs of the Entry are permanently displayed on the walls.

The Entries we have visited over the past few weeks were once part of the town’s waterfront streets. They ran between warehouses and on down to the quayside, an area that was destroyed by an intense German aerial assault in the Second World War. In 2006 and 2007, along with a number of the other Entries environmental refurbishment was carried out to improve their condition.

Pottinger’s Entry connects Ann Street with High Street in an almost straight line.  Today the Entry provides good acoustics for guitar-wielding buskers. The small alleyway is also home to some independent shops but the principal attraction is a refurbished Victorian pub called The Morning Star.

View from Ann Street - I know, you have seen this view before

The arched entrance from Ann Street is Victorian and was retained when the original building was demolished in the 1990s.

View from High Street

The Pottinger Entry is named after the first governor of Belfast. He had five sons. When the family were hit by financial difficulties, the five brothers were sent out to the East to seek their fortune.

One of the sons, Sir Henry Pottinger joined the British East India Company in 1806.  He was just a lad, and in 1809 fought in the Mahratta war, as a lieutenant. He later explored much of the land between India and Persia and became Resident Administrator of Sind in 1820; later he held the same post in Hyderabad.

Created a baronet in 1841, he negotiated the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 successfully negotiating a treaty to end the Anglo-Chinese Opium War.  He went beyond Whitehall’s instructions to claim Hong Kong as a crown colony, but was rewarded for his initiative by being named as its first governor. The governorship of Madras followed in 1847, and in 1851 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general.

He died in retirement on the island of Malta, in 1856.

Crown Entry connects Ann Street to High Street. I suddenly realise I have few photos for this one but the story holds even without them.

Each of the entries now has a sign like the one above, with a red marker to show where you are. As you can tell this poster belongs one entry over, at Wilson’s Court.  Crown Entry does not have such a sign.

Crown Entry

Robert Read started the family letterpress printing business at number 12 Crown Entry around 1840. His brother Patrick was at that time a writing clerk.

In 1843, another brother Daniel, joined in the partnership and as the firm grew so also did the premises and it soon extended into number 10.

They became Letterpress Printers and Lithographers, by 1850 they had become publishers and in 1855, they founded The Belfast Morning News a tri-weekly newspaper.

It changed title to the Morning News in May 1882 becoming the Morning News and Examiner two months later. In January 1883 once again became the Morning News and remained so until August 1892 when it was incorporated with Irish News.

The newspaper has continued to evolve and modernise with an online version today.

I wonder what Robert would think of the journey his dream has taken?

While researching for this post I found a link to The Criobh Ruadh Club, which was in Crown Entry, popular for more than Irish dancing classes and billiards!

I think I am headed in the right direction….

Not far to go….

I found it!

Anne ~ Slate resin figure on Mirror polished stainless steel
Sculptor ~ Lucy Glendinning

A 7m high mirror polished stainless steel column with internal lighting a laser cut pattern with coloured perspex insets and a life size figure cast in slate resin. The figure faces Saint Anne’s Cathedral.

On Lucy Glendinning‘s website, not alone can you learn about her but, see her commissions, exhibitions and read her poetry.

Anne is a commissioned sculpture for Saint Anne’s Square, the new city centre piazza behind Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. The sculpture was installed in November 2009.

A multi £million leisure, commercial and residential development on redeveloped land in the Cathedral Quarter, it was partially open when I visited. This elegant scheme will comprise of ground floor bars and restaurants with turnkey offices at ground and first floor level.

Rising over four floors from the second level will be residential apartments. The focal point of the development will be a new 14,000 sq ft piazza creating a new public space with potential for performing arts and events. An hotel is already open on one corner of the scheme.

The Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) is set to open in early 2102.  The venue, will be six storeys high with two theatres, visual arts space and dance studios.

The writing is on the wall.

No. Not this time… I went back.  I hobbled along the cobbles

to the Grand old Duke of York

The writing is on the ceiling…

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

The lines are from ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’ ~ by William Butler Yeats.

The other quote is by Oscar Wilde

And

And Flower of Scotland the Scottish Anthem - Elly could sing that one for you, she did learn something when she lived there!

Today I discovered that the owner of The Duke of York was responsible for the ‘wall garden’, He did approach the owners of the other premises off the entry, to encourage them to join in the venture, but they declined.  He went ahead and tidied his own area and has paid someone to look after the baskets and basins.  I saw evidence of this work on my latest visit.

The Grand Opera House, Belfast, first opened its doors on 23 December 1895. The first season included burlesque acts, musical comedies, farces and melodramas. Good job the Free Presbyterians were not invented back then or the house would have been pulled down in disgust! There was also a market for classical opera and drama with regular performances of Shakespeare.

Not many people know that an unknown Italian singer named Luciano Pavarotti made his UK debut on the stage of the Grand Opera House in the role of Lieutenant Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly.

Designed by the prolific theatrical architect Frank Matcham, the theatre was a huge success from the outset.

Standing almost next door to the Europa Hotel – once known as the most bombed hotel in Europe - the Grand Opera House suffered damage by bombs on several occasions usually when the nearby hotel had been the target.

The theatre was listed in the 1970s and has been restored extensively since.  The crush bar on the front of the building at first floor level, was part of the restoration work and it overlooks Great Victoria Street.

Ornate ceiling

When the opera house was being restored, Cherith McKinstry, a contemporary painter and wife of Robert McKinstry, the restoration architect, was selected to re-create the ceiling’s original scene in a sympathetic manner.

An image of the interior can be found here.
The theatre continues to thrive, hosting musicals, plays, pantomimes and live music.

It has been awhile since I attended a Performance in the Grand Opera House. I see Madame Butterfly returns in March…. maybe I’ll treat myself!

Sculpture ~ Penny for your Thoughts
Artist ~ Peter Rooney

One of several pieces entitled ‘Penny for your Thoughts’, by Peter Rooney, they act as dual purpose sculptures and at the corner of Gordon Street and Dunbar Street they are used as bollards. This first example depicts one of Belfast’s best-known citizens - Henry Joy McCracken

The work reflects the commercial activity that was at the base of the development of Belfast and the Cathedral Quarter.

Peter Rooney was born in Belfast in 1954. He received his BA (Hons) from University of Ulster in silversmithing and jewellery and then his Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Arts with particular interest in ‘Public Art’.

Monied bollards aid parking for monied cars!

This tile informs us that it is part of Laganside Art Trail.  It marks the location of the town ditch and gate into Belfast in 17th century.

I will return to this spot in the near future.

“The Duke of York” in big letters painted on the wall with an arrow is to be found close to the cobbled entry of Commercial Court, one of the oldest streets in Belfast. It is in the Cathedral Quarter, close to the John Hewitt Pub.  I hear they’ve got a great selection of Irish whiskeys - around 150 in total - including lots of smaller productions.

The couple in the picture were part of a photo shoot.

The white exterior is well kitted out with seats, hanging baskets and just the right amount of vintage knick-knackery, featuring old-fashioned metal adverts for whiskey and Guinness and hanging flower baskets.

One plaque informs passers-by that Snow Patrol played some of their first ever gigs in the room on the first floor, it has been used over the years for live music.

Snow Patrol was here!

Belfast sinks - The Group!

Another opening on the right… now I wonder what lurks down there?

That lady looks familiar.

Wondering what she was up to I followed and was in for a surprise……….

Just look at the walls of this covered walkway…..

Since the ‘No Smoking’ ban was introduced in all public buildings, most pubs provide an outdoor space.  Even the row of buckets with sand for the butts are colourful.

I wonder how many faces you recognise?

I was so busy looking at the walls, I never noticed the ceiling. :sad:  I may go back another day and check it out!

Spirit of Belfast ~ Stainless Steel
Sculptor ~ Dan George

Chosen by public vote, the Spirit of Belfast in Belfast City Centre was created by New York artist Dan George.
The seven metre high sculpture is composed of four curved stainless steel structural elements including programmed in-ground lighting and is installed on a granite plinth base.

In the artist’s words:

“The Spirit of Belfast is the manifestation of our energy as we look to the future as well as a meditation on our past. It is a timepiece that weaves together the strength of steel and the delicacy of light, ocean liners and linen, progress and peace”.

Dan George creates large scale installations and sculpture.  A couple at the roadsides in Southern Ireland and one in Cork City.

One piece will be familiar to drivers on the M7 near Kildare Town, called Race of the black Pig. It comprises A series of 60 aluminium and colour reflective sections in the form of an abstract St. Bridget’s cross, mounted along the west side of the carriageway.  I have driven by it many times, but until now, never knew the background story.

Passage of Time an installation of six double ring aluminium units is located beside the new realignment scheme, approximately half way between Wexford and New Ross. Fixed between the two rings of each of the six units are images covered with coloured highway reflective sheeting. As viewers pass by the installation, seventy-five meters in length, the rings and coloured elements appear to move or shift in relationship to each other.

Finally the Halo Project a theatrically lit corridor for Tobin Street in Cork, Ireland. The link has interesting detail of this project.