History and Architecture of Parliament Buildings
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History
Parliament Buildings was formally opened on 16 November 1932 by the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII. It remained the home of the Northern Ireland Parliament consisting of the House of Commons (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House) for 40 years until 1972. Following political unrest, the Parliament was prorogued and Northern Ireland came under direct rule from the Westminster Parliament.
From 1972 until 1998 Parliament Buildings was used mainly as office accommodation for the Civil Service. There were exceptions, in 1973 and 1982, when there were unsuccessful attempts to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland. It has been the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly since July 1998.
Architecture
The layout of Parliament Buildings follows that of the UK Parliament at Westminster. Like Westminster it has a grand central meeting area (the Great Hall), with the Assembly Chamber and the Senate Chamber directly opposite one another, leading off from the Great Hall.
Designed in the Greek classical tradition, the building is made from English Portland stone mounted on a granite base quarried from the mountains of Mourne. It is 365 feet wide and 92 feet high to the top of the statue of Britannia.
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The Great Hall is the most richly furbished part of the building and among its main features are:
- Plain cream Italian Travertine marble walls that provide an ideal contrast to the fine blue, red and gold artwork on the ceiling. This paint has not been re-touched since 1932 thanks to a special – and secret – waxing process.
- Five chandeliers – four smaller aluminium replicas and a main central chandelier made of cast metal adorned with gold and weighing 740 lbs (336 kilos). This was made for Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany as a gift to his cousin King Edward VII and hung originally in the state apartments in Windsor Castle. It was placed in storage at the beginning of the First World War and later presented to the Government of Northern Ireland.
- A cream, golden and walnut Italian marble floor, laid out in a symmetrical pattern. This pattern is repeated on the ceiling directly above.
- At the top of the grand staircase, a two-ton (2,230 kilo) statue of the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, later Lord Craigavon. He and his wife rest in a Portland stone tomb in the grounds at the east wing of the building.
The Assembly Chamber was originally designed for 52 Members of Parliament, with the seating layout in the Westminster "adversarial" format – Opposition on one side and the Government party on the other. Today, MLAs sit in a modern, European-influenced, U-shape format. In January 1995 a fire, caused by an electrical fault, completely destroyed the Chamber and the opportunity was taken, not only to restore the Chamber to its original grandeur, but to upgrade the entire building.
In order to ensure the burr walnut walls could be replaced in the Chamber, all the English walnut available at the time of restoration was purchased in advance. Like the originals, the new walnut wall panels are inlaid with an intricate, hand carved, ebony, Greek key pattern. A further feature of the Chamber is a series of columns decorated with gold at the top, which are placed on two opposite sides and extend to half the height of the walls.
The Senate Chamber is an architectural "time capsule", as virtually all of it is in its original 1932 state. It provides an excellent example of how closely Parliament Buildings was modelled on Westminster. For example, the "adversarial" seating, in red leather, is similar to the House of Lords. The Senate ceased to exist with prorogation of the NI Parliament in 1972. The Senate Chamber is now used for meetings of Assembly Committees.
In terms of its design, Italian marble was used extensively; genuine 1930s Irish damask linen was applied to the wall panels and there is a particularly fine finished ceiling.
There are also three "arabesques", a type of decoration based on curving leaves and branches, which is found especially in Islamic art. These are painted on the ceiling of the Strangers’ Gallery and show the three main industries at that time – linen, shipbuilding and agriculture.
Parliament Buildings Timeline
| 1921 | Northern Ireland Parliament established |
| 1922 | Construction of Parliament Buildings begins |
| 1932 | Parliament Buildings formally opened by then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) |
| 1939 | In World War II, the Senate Chamber was used as an operations room by the RAF. The whole building was painted black using a bitumen mixture in order to make it less visible to German bombers |
| 1972 | Northern Ireland Parliament prorogued |
| 1973-98 | Building used by Northern Ireland Civil Service |
| 1974 | Power-sharing Executive (Sunningdale) |
| 1982-86 | Northern Ireland Assembly (Rolling Devolution Experiment) |
| 1995 | The Assembly Chamber was devastated in an accidental fire |
| 1998 | Restoration completed following fire |