Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall is the civic heart of the Northern Irish capital and one of the most impressive examples of Baroque Revival architecture in the British Isles, a grand domed building in Portland stone that dominates Donegall Square in the centre of Belfast and serves as the most visible symbol of the city's late Victorian prosperity and civic ambition. The building was constructed between 1898 and 1906, at the height of Belfast's industrial and commercial power as one of the greatest linen and shipbuilding cities in the world, and its monumental scale and exuberant ornamentation reflect the confidence of a city that considered itself one of the engines of the British Empire.
The architecture of the City Hall draws on the Baroque tradition of Christopher Wren and his successors, combining a symmetrical Portland stone facade with a central dome derived from St Paul's Cathedral with flanking towers and corner pavilions in a composition of considerable authority. The dome, which can be seen from many parts of the city, has become the recognised skyline symbol of Belfast and appears in virtually every panoramic view of the city centre. The interior, with its ornate marble staircases, stained glass windows and elaborately decorated council chamber, matches the exterior in ambition and quality.
The grounds of the City Hall contain memorials to several significant moments in Belfast and Irish history, including a large memorial to the victims of the Titanic, which was built in the Belfast shipyards of Harland and Wolff and launched in 1912. The Titanic memorial predates the larger Titanic Belfast museum by many decades and represents the earlier, more understated phase of the city's commemoration of the disaster. The rotating programme of events and seasonal ice rinks in the square makes the grounds a gathering place year-round.
The free tours of the City Hall provide excellent access to the building's interior and its history, and the building remains the working headquarters of Belfast City Council.