Country Life
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July 18, 2021 A view of the Parliament Buildings down Prince of Wales Avenue. Photo by Paul Highnam for Country Life. Credit: Paul Highnam
In the second of two articles marking the centenary of the establishment of the Northern Ireland Parliament, John Goodall looks at the Art Deco seat created to accommodate it. Photographs by Paul Highnam
In November 16, 1932, Edward, Prince of Wales, arrived in Belfast to open the newly completed Parliament Buildings at Stormont on behalf of George V. The Prince was a veteran of such events, having already played a ceremonial role in the establishment of parliaments across the British Empire from Valletta to Canberra. Where they were provided with new buildings to make outward expression of the political change they represented these early 20th-century institutions of nascent statehood shared much in common.