Lemon Tops
This piece is one of several that I have made over the past few years recreating lost buildings in miniature. I make models as part of my work as a theatre set designer, and I have also recently been researching the architectural history of Belfast's theatres and cinemas.
I particularly like places that have a story to tell or an unusual mix of textures and styles.
In this case I was also drawn to the extreme contrast between the colourful exterior with its once- inviting signage, and the decayed and repellent state of the building.
The Grand Hotel opened on Bangor's seafront in 1889 and the building stood for nearly 100 years.
It had changed hands several times by the mid 1930s when Barry's Amusements first moved in.
Though smaller than their more famous venue in Portrush, it contained many familiar rides and attractions, including a Ghost Train, Dodgems, a Helter Skelter and a Hall of Mirrors.
Barry's closed in 1979 and after a fire the building was demolished in 1984.
The model was created using reference photos and film clips from the early 1980s when the building was near the end of its life.
A "lemon top" was a cone of ice-cream covered in a bitter-sweet lemon-flavoured sauce.
I thought this was an apt name for a building with such a conflicted appearance, and I was also amused by how the pointed turrets seemed to echo the shape of an ice-cream cone.