Architect leaves lasting legacy on Belfast’s landscape and life – The Irish News

The mid-1970s could hardly be described as an auspicious time to launch an architectural practice in Belfast, but Barrie Todd could never be accused, throughout his long career, of lacking vision or drive.

Starting on a modest site on Botanic Avenue, he tenaciously pursued a developer to secure his first major project, an office block on the site of the Mayfair Cinema and Kensington Hotel on College Square East.

He also knocked on doors in London in an attempt to build his portfolio, establishing an office in the capital and a reputation that would carry weight at home.

Upon returning to Belfast, he made the bold decision to settle in the heart of the city, purchasing a run-down warehouse in a derelict area near St Anne’s Cathedral.

After drawing up plans for an architecture studio and restaurant, which would become Nick’s Warehouse, he became a key figure in the development of the commercial and design success story that is the Cathedral Quarter.

Barrie’s office would also grow to around 100 staff on both sides of the Irish Sea and among his best-known projects are the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, with its central “street” feature to help younger visitors feel more relaxed, and “The Boat” in Custom House Square, whose four floors of flats above 12 floors of offices offer spectacular views of the Lagan.

Both innovative buildings received important awards.

Born in 1944 in Carrickfergus, Barrie was the son of an artist and was initially tempted to follow in his footsteps before his father convinced him to pursue a more practical career.

A pupil at Belfast High School, he also loved music, and a song he wrote, It Would Take a Miracle, was performed by Twink in the national contest to decide Ireland’s Eurovision entry in 1972. It lost to the country’s only entry sung in Irish.

Barrie maintained a passion for the arts throughout his life and was instrumental in the creation of the Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC), near his offices.

He met his wife Trish, an interior designer, at Belfast’s Botanic Inn and they settled on Annadale Avenue before designing an elegant family home in Hillsborough. They were a devoted couple and blessed with three children – Chris, Iain and Jill, a talented photographer who tragically died of cancer aged 23.

With characteristic determination, the couple would channel their grief into positive action by creating the Jill Todd Trust to fund cancer research and support aspiring photographers.

Among its innovative projects is the Ask An Architect initiative, in which professionals offer their expertise in exchange for a donation to the Friends of the Cancer Centre.

The project is supported by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, of which Barrie was president from 2000 to 2022.

He was also a lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, was appointed inaugural Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Architecture and the Built Environment in 2007 and received an MBE for his services to architecture a year later.

Having established a lasting legacy both in the physical infrastructure of Belfast and in the many lives he touched in the city and far beyond, Barrie Todd died aged 80 on 14 June.

His funeral was held at Hillsborough Parish Church, where his coffin was brought out to the sound of Joe Cocker’s Girl from the North Country.

He is greatly missed and will be missed by his wife, children, daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.

** The Irish News publishes a selection of reader obituaries every Saturday. Families or friends are invited to submit accounts of anyone they feel made a contribution to their community or simply led an interesting or notable life. Call Aeneas Bonner on 028 9040 8360 or email [email protected].