A grand dame
HISTORY
with serious
style
The Scottish Provident Building sits impressively on Donegall Square overlooking Belfast City Hall’s western side. Built in a grand Italian Renaissance style and designed by local architects Young & MacKenzie, it was completed in 1902.
HISTORY
Built in Giffnoch sandstone, its many sculptural features include a copper roof and Corinthian style columns.
The beautiful stone carvings executed by Purdy & Millard represent Belfast’s main industries of that time - printing, ropemaking and shipbuilding. Sitting as guardians on either side of the pediment are two sphinxes, made in bronze and patinated that distinctive turquoise from their long service in the elements.
INTERIOR
The impressive interior retains beautiful and original features.
Still intact are the fireplaces, tiled corridors and stain glass windows by Ward & Partners on the first floor depicting the Scottish coat-of-arms. The ‘SPB’ as it is referred to, is one the most impressive early Edwardian structures in the city and continues to represent the thriving heart of Belfast business.
