18 UNIVERSITY SQUARE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey with attic, three bay, red brick, mid terraced former townhouse, now used as university offices for the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University. The terrace was built in stages between 1848-1853 with No 18 constructed in 1848-49. While University Square was laid out by Charles Lanyon, the architect of the actual terrace is unconfirmed. Fronting onto University Square in South Belfast, which links University Road on the west and Botanic Avenue on the east, the terrace faces south and overlooks the Old Library (now QUB Student Graduate Centre – HB26/27/002) and the grounds of the northern end of The Lanyon Building (HB26/27/005). No 18 is located approximately mid way along the row of 30 former houses and is flanked by No 17 (HB26/27/021Q) on the west and No 19 (HB26/27/021S) on the east. No 18 is abutted at the rear by a two storey flat-roof return built at half landing level, which is in turn abutted by a two storey return with hipped roof.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Welsh slate (replacement)
Walls: Red brick in Flemish bond
Windows: Front (S) - Timber sliding sash, single-glazed (possibly original), horns to GF & FF only, timber casement windows to dormers
Rear (N) - timber sliding sash, single-glazed / metal top hung & casement, leaded
Dormer windows to rear – timber casement & metal leaded
RWGs: Hidden parapet gutter to roof / Painted metal to yard

Front Elevation (S):
Three storey with attic, three bay, mid terraced, red brick flat facade built in Flemish bond with the entrance on right side of ground floor. Two single window openings to left side of door on ground floor level, and three above on both first and second floor levels, aligned vertically. Plain rendered plinth and corbelled painted stone cornice with lead to parapet edges. Nos 18 and 19 University Square form a breakfront from the houses either side, with full-height toothed painted rendered quoins on the left corner of No 18, and the right corner of No 19.
Pitched natural Welsh slate roof with red clay ridge tiles, brick chimneys with corbel detailing (rebuilt) to both left and right, shared with neighbours, with seven yellow clay pots each. Two dormer windows to roof, larger one to left side and smaller to right; both with pitched natural Welsh slate roofs, red clay ridge tiles, lead cheeks, painted timber apex and timber casement windows.
On ground floor level the doorway has an elliptical arched head with brick voussoirs and moulded plaster reveal, deeply recessed with fluted columns with Doric-type capitals to each side. The columns support a plain painted rendered entablature with moulded cornice. Painted raised and fielded panelled timber door (possibly a c1920s-30s replacement) with three tall rectangular panels to bottom section, and three top panes with Georgian wired glazing. Leaded stained glass fanlight with number ‘18’ in centre. Replacement ironmongery. Original low painted stone dwarf walls to either side of front door.
All windows to front are timber sliding sash, single glazed, have painted rendered reveals and splayed brick heads and are possibly original; two 6/6 to ground floor level with separate painted stone cills; two 6/6 to FF over continuous painted stone cill course; two 6/6 windows to SF (historic glass apparent) with separate painted stone cills. No rainwater goods to front elevation; hidden parapet gutter to roof, likely to be formed in lead.

Five replacement reconstituted stone steps lead from street level to landing of reconstituted stone paving slabs. Modern metal railings either side of steps. Small garden to front with shrubs. Concrete paved path linking to No 19 on E side. Flemish bond low brick boundary wall to street (not original) with reconstituted stone coping beneath replacement painted metal railings.

Side elevation (W):
Fully abutted by No 17 (HB26/27/021Q) on the west side.

Side elevation (E):
Fully abutted by No 19 (HB26/27/021S) on the east side.

Rear Elevation (N):
Main rear elevation is painted render and three storeys high with attic. It is abutted on left side by a two storey return with flat roof and conical rooflight, which is further abutted by a two storey return with hipped roof. A modern flat roof extension links the latter two storey extension of No 18 with the mews building at the rear of No 17 University Square. A shared yard with No 17 is enclosed by the main rear elevation, the rear return of No 17, the mews building at the rear of No 17 with its attached single story extension and the rear returns of No 18. Rainwater goods are painted metal, guttering supported on metal rise & fall brackets.
All walls to rear are painted render, with painted rendered plinth. Windows to the rear are varied in style and some appear original while others may be replacement. All have plain reveals and appear to have painted stone cills (unless otherwise stated).
Ground floor level of the main rear elevation is exposed to right side with a large window opening containing a multipane metal window with leaded lights, likely to be an Edwardian alteration; the window has a large central pane flanked by opening casements and a row of panes above with a small square opening light above large centre pane. On first floor level there is a window opening with a 6/6 timber sliding sash window on right side and a rectangular window opening at high level to left (above flat roof of return) with a triple timber window with patterned leaded lights. On left again is a window opening at second floor half landing height with an 8/8 timber sliding sash window (outer panes narrower than middle panes). At second floor level there are two window openings on right side, both with 1/1 timber sliding sash windows. There is a flat-roofed wall-head dormer (lead or similar material to roof and lapped over edges) on left side of second floor level with a metal casement leaded window and to the right, a pitched roof dormer window with natural Welsh slate roof with red clay ridge tiles, lead cheeks, painted timber apex and a timber casement window. Metal soil vent pipe running from left side of flat-roofed return, across horizontally between second floor windows and vertically past wall-head dormer.
Within the yard, the flat-roofed section of rear return is two storey, built at half landing height. Roof is lead with standing seams and a modern metal conical rooflight with metal finial. The W face (overlooking the yard) of the flat-roofed return has two window openings to ground floor, both with 1/1 timber sliding sash windows; window on left is narrow. Oriel canted window above on first floor level, with metal frame and leaded lights, lead (or similar material) to flat roof. Continuing along the W face, but now beneath the hipped roof section, there is a single window opening on ground floor level. The S face of the modern flat roofed extension (which links Nos 17 & 18) has a flush timber door on left side and a 3/6 timber sliding sash window on right.
The W elevation continues above the flat roof of the single storey extension; on first floor level there are three window openings, from right to left – a metal casement window with top-hung pane, and two 1/1 timber sliding sash windows; and on ground floor, beyond the extension, a large window opening containing a triple window with a large plain central pane flanked by 1/1 timber sliding sash windows. This window is behind metal bars and overlooks an alleyway which runs between the rear of the Mews Buildings behind Nos 14-17 University Square and the modern buildings relating to QFT, which then in turn back onto University Square Mews.
The N face of the single storey extension also faces onto the rear alleyway and has a window opening with paired 3/6 timber sliding sash windows behind metal bars.
The N and E faces of the hipped roof section of rear return are fully abutted by the large modern extension at the rear of Nos 19 & 20 University Square (QFT). Modern rooflight on E slope of hipped roof.

Historical information

As its name suggests, University Square was one of a number of streets created as a direct consequence of the construction of Queen’s College in 1845-49. Set immediately north of the College’s grounds, the street (originally intended to be named ‘Victoria Square’) was laid out in c.1847 under the direction of the designer of the college itself, Charles Lanyon, on land set aside for development by then owner, Jane Gregg. The rear (northern) ends of the house plots followed an already established boundary of a garden belonging to a pre-1832 residence whose integrity had begun to be broken up by the building of present nos.2-6 Mount Charles in 1842, nos.42-48 University Road in 1846-48, and, around the same time, the creation of what was to become University Street.

The new thoroughfare was mainly populated by large, generally similar but not entirely uniform, three-storey late-Georgian style brick-built terraced dwellings, nos.18-25 dating from 1848-49, 26-27 built in 1849-51, 4-17 in 1852, 28-30 in 1852-53, with the High Victorian nos.1-3 (on the site of three pre-1837 dwellings) following in 1871. Although Lanyon determined the layout, there is no indication that he was actually involved in the design of the houses themselves. Building agreements dating from 1847 state that the frontages were to be based Glenfield Place, a terrace then being built on Ormeau Road (present nos.121-35 - HB26/27/007A-H). The architect behind the latter is not known, but Paul Larmour has suggested that the University Square properties derived from it were the work of the prolific Belfast-based architect Thomas Jackson. So far no documentary evidence has surfaced to confirm this, but both the style of the buildings, and the fact that Jackson was later to be responsible for nos.1-3, suggests he may well have been involved with whole terrace. That said, many of the interiors have odd layout quirks (for example most of the entrances are awkwardly off-centre when viewed from their respective hallways), which seems uncharacteristic of Jackson.

The broad unity of nos.4-30 was broken in 1865 when the single-storey canted bay was added to no.19, with a two-storey version built on no.23 before 1873, similar projections appearing on nos.20 and 22 by 1883, and several others following suit in the early 1900s - some canted (nos.7 and 11) and some rounded (nos.12, 14 and 30); most of the dormers appear to be of the early 1900s also, as does the pebbledash to no.20. The mid to later 20th century witnessed changes to the rears of many of the properties, with extensions of various sizes added to many, in particular Queen’s Film Theatre at the rear of no.20, which started out in 1968 in a lecture hall addition but which, following several rebuilds (the most recent and most extensive in c.2004), has spread into what were the formerly the back gardens of a significant number of its neighbours to either side. The whole terrace underwent a major renovation in c.1990-94, with the small front gardens landscaped and adapted for disabled access c.2004.

The street was populated in its early years by a mixture of Queen’s academics, and those well-off Belfast merchants and professionals wishing to escape the confines of the rapidly commercialising town centre for more sedate surrounds. By c.1920 the terrace was largely occupied by medical men and their families, but with the opening up of ‘education for all’ in the late 1940s, the properties were gradually acquired by Queen’s for use by their growing range of departments. By 1960 the University had taken possession of around two-thirds of the buildings, was occupying all bar one by 1974, with all coming into QUB use by the mid-1980s.

To the rear of the terrace two mews houses are noted from c.1880 onwards, one of which remained occupied as a private dwelling up until the 1960s. Both have since been demolished to make way for QUB extensions.

No.18 was one of University Square’s original eight houses, being built in 1848-49 along with the present nos.19-25. John Finlay (‘merchant’) is noted as the occupant in the 1850 street directory, Henry Black (‘wholesale grocer, Waring Street’) in that of 1852, and Mrs. Murray in that of 1858-59. Mrs. Jane Roddy is recorded as resident in the c.1861 valuation, with the representatives of Jane Gregg the immediate lessor(s) and the property valued at £44 for rateable purposes. The next resident was Rev J.H. Moore, c.1867-c.75, followed by Hugh Moore, c.1875-c.78, Waring Manley, (‘linen merchant’) c.1878-c.1900, Alexander Gribbon, c.1902-07, and Arthur B. Mitchell, a surgeon, 1907-c.31, who in the 1911 census was living there with his wife, Mabel, and their three young children, a governess and two domestic servants, with the house itself is recorded as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 14 rooms in use. Fellow surgeon, Charles H. McAfee was the next resident, remaining until c.1965, after which the property was acquired by Queen’s for use (along with neighbouring no.19) as the University’s Faculty of Law, a role it retained until at least 1996.

The building was listed in 1979. The early to mid 1990s refurbishment of the whole terrace witnessed the renewal of no.18’s roof covering and chimney and the building of a single-storey rear extension. In c.2003-04 the front garden was adapted for disabled access.

References – Primary sources
1 ‘Northern Whig’, 17 March 1849
2 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1852 to 1996
3 PRONI VAL12B/43A/4 annual valuation revision book, c.1861-81
4 PRONI VAL12B/43A/14 annual valuation revision book, 1882-97
5 PRONI OS8/30/3/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1883-84
6 PRONI OS8/30/4/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1896
8 PRONI VAL12B/43A/36 annual valuation revision book, 1897-1905
7 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/]
8 PRONI OS8/30/5/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1903
9 PRONI VAL12B/43P/3 valuation book, 1906-15
13 PRONI VAL12B/43P/6 valuation book, 1916-30
14 OS maps, 1958, 1970 (online - http://www.centremapslive.co.uk/)

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’, (unpublished QUB MA thesis), 1967
2 Rowan, A.J. and Brett, C.E.B., Historic Buildings…Queens University of Belfast, (Belfast, UAHS, revised ed. 1980)
3 David Evans and Paul Larmour, ‘Queen’s an Architectural legacy’, (Belfast, 1995), pp.51-53

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Three storey with attic, red brick, mid terraced, early Victorian former townhouse, now used as offices for the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University with most of the rooms now serving as offices and meeting rooms.
The terrace was built in stages between 1848-1853 with No 18 constructed in 1848-49. While University Square was laid out by Charles Lanyon, the architect of the actual terrace is unconfirmed. The terrace faces south onto University Square in South Belfast and overlooks the Old Library (now QUB Student Graduate Centre – HB26/27/002) and the grounds of the northern end of The Lanyon Building (HB26/27/005). No 18 is located approximately mid way along the row of 30 former houses and is flanked by No 17 (HB26/27/021Q) on the west and No 19 (HB26/27/021S) on the east. Internally there have been changes to the original floor plan, however some original features survive. The exterior retains much original character, proportions and detailing to the front with its distinctive doorcase with an elliptical arched head beneath brick voussoirs and fluted columns with Doric-type capitals, a detail which is repeated throughout the terraced row. There is coherence to the terrace despite elevational variations such as bay and bow windows which were added to some of the houses during the late 1800s into the early 1900s. No 18 is distinguished from the rest as it steps forward from the rest of the terrace along with No 19, forming a breakfront, with toothed quoins to each corner. The terrace has strong value as a group (Nos 4-30 University Square - HB26/27/015D-DD) and adds significant character to its setting within the Queen’s Conservation Area.