Gustav Wilhelm Wolff Site Belfast Northern Ireland Is Up For Sale Again Questions Need To Be Answered Who Let The Cottages Be Demolished?And Still Lie Where They Fell

 

This is the site where two cottages once stood at 2-4 Station Road Sydenham Belfast Northern Ireland, the last remaing part of the Gustav Wilhelm Wolff estate known as the Den. Northern Irelands Shipbuilding History lies in a heap once cottages that could have become part of the shipbuilding history of Northern Ireland and part of a major tourist industry were demolished at 7-00am one morning to make way for apartments that have never been built, the Developer has never been back to the site to clear it or to ensure it is made safe by removing the rubble that was once two historical cottages of the like that has never been seen before in Northern Ireland.

Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was born in Hamburg, Germany in November 1834 Wolff was taken on as a full partner of Harland in 1862 the name of the Belfast Shipyard Changed to Harland and Wolff. the cottages were an asset to Northern Ireland, the decision taken to allow them be demolished was very short sighted even though the connection was there, questions have to be answered as to why two cottages that held so much history for Northern Ireland were demolished and left in a pile of rubble, as can be seen in our photograph above what was the urgency to demolish the cottages at 7-00am in the morning, then leave the cottages as they fell,who gave the go-ahead to let this happen,why was the go-ahead given before residents in the area were told it was going to take place.

The cottages meant so much to the community of Sydenham and was part of the history. why was the community not involved in any decisions taken to demolish the cottages removing the only remaining link to Harland and Wolff  shipbuilders and Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, the cottages were also a vital link to our children's history the Sydenham Community want answers.The Shipyard of Harland and Wolff has meant so much to the larger Sydenham area as so many fathers and sons from the Sydenham area worked for the company that vital link has now been broken, and the need to have our children's history safe guarded is the main aim of the Palmerston Residents Association.We look at the Titanic Quarter as not having a shipping history it may take the name of a liner that was built in the shipyard but that is all it achieves.

Harland and Wolff has built many ships and liners they were the world best they employed a lot of Northern Ireland people yet this is not marked in any way at the Titanic Quarter, so many people worked and died at Harland and Wolff none of which have been remembered in any way at all, even to have named  buildings after Sir Edward Harland, Gustav Wilhelm Wolff and William James Pirrie.  Great ships were built but are no part of the Titanic Quarter, names we should never forget the  SS Canberra, Seillean and Olympic, yet they are forgotten. We also seem to have forgotten the names of the Passengers and the workers who lost their lives on the Titanic.

2-4 Station Road would have been the community museum of Harland and Wolff for our children's history, yet it lies in ruins the Palmerston Residents Association chairman Terry Hoey would like to meet with Sammy Wilson of the DUP to talk over some of his concerns regarding the demolition of the cottages to enable the Residents Association to get the answers they need.