6 MOUNT CHARLES

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical three-bay two-storey Regency-style former house with portico and attic, built c.1840, converted to office use in the late twentieth-century, located on the north side of Mount Charles in south Belfast. L-shaped on plan with a two-storey extension to rear, and abutted to west by a flat roof single-storey addition to adjoining building, No 4 Mount Charles (HB26/27/008).

The roof is pitched natural Welsh slate, with two velux windows to rear (north) pitch; angled ridge-tiles. Extruded aluminium ogee gutters with uPVC downpipes mounted on a painted timber fascia, continuous eaves vent and projecting cornice. Raked stucco banding to east gable rising to painted rendered chimneystack with moulded coping and three yellow terracotta octagonal pots.
Walling is painted ruled-and-lined stucco over projecting plinth, corniced stringcourse between ground and first floor windows set on engaged panelled pilaster mouldings which frame the ground floor. Square-headed window openings, those to ground floor set in advanced box bays with cornice and raking blocking course; those to first floor diminished in height. Bull-nosed cast masonry cills to first floor; sloped concrete cills to ground floor. Windows are replacement timber sashes with moulded architrave surrounds and profiled horns; 6/6 to ground floor, 3/6 to first floor, unless otherwise stated.

Principal elevation faces south, and is symmetrically arranged, three openings to each floor, with central door opening contained within a portico comprising a canopy with dentilled cornice, supported on two slender Doric-type columns on stone pedestals. Square-headed door opening with a bolection moulded four-panelled timber door with brass furniture, surmounted by an original coloured leaded transom light, accessed by two bull-nosed stone steps.

The west elevation has a single ground floor and first floor window on right side, and is abutted by the single-storey, flat-roofed extension of the adjoining building.

The north elevation is largely abutted by a gabled two-bay three-storey return, detailed as main building and largely concealed from public view by a tall rear boundary wall.

The east elevation has a window to left side ground floor, and is abutted by a redbrick gateway to rear yard.

Setting:
Located on the northern side of Mount Charles, which links University Road on the West side with Botanic Avenue on the East. The principal elevation of the building faces south, over-looking a narrow street of mainly tall, terraced former houses. Mount Charles is gated at each end.

Materials:
Roof; Replacement natural Welsh slate
Walling; Painted ruled-and-lined render
RWG: uPVC
Windows: timber sliding sash

Historical information

Built c.1842, the Second Edition OS map (1859) shows that this house was one of the first properties constructed on the street along with nos. 2 and 4. Brett (1985) claims that nos.2-6 were built together, while Larmour (1987) attributes no.2-4 to renowned local architect Thomas Jackson (1807-1890), a largely domestic practitioner who also designed several high profile public buildings in Belfast including St Malachy's Roman Catholic Church on Alfred Street and the Old Town Hall on Victoria Street. The development of Mount Charles, along with other notable residential streets in the area, corresponds with the establishment of Queens College and the expansion of South Belfast in the early Victorian era.

The Griffith's Valuation (1847-1864) shows that no.6, and indeed the entire street, was owned by Bernard Hughes (1808-1878). More widely known as 'Barney,' Hughes was a wealthy Roman Catholic philanthropist and owner of Hughes Bakery. He is perhaps best known for creating the 'Belfast Bap' during the years of the Great Famine (1845-1852), providing cheap and widely available bread for the working class population of the city. In the 1850s Hughes offered a portion of his properties on Mount Charles to the the Roman Catholic missionary congregation the Redemptorists, a proposal which was overturned by the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, Cornelius Denvir (1791-1865) due to the site's proximity to St Malachy's.

The first recorded occupant of the house was James Bruce (1808-1861), a Scottish-born author and newspaper editor who moved to Belfast to undertake the editorship of the 'Northern Whig' newspaper. After Bruce's death in 1861, occupancy passed briefly to a William J. Shaw then c.1877 to William Gray (1830-1917), an architect who served as District Surveyor for the Board of Works in Belfast from 1862 to 1895. The Valuation Revisions of 1906 record that all the properties on Mount Charles had passed to Sir John Fegan (sometimes spelt Fagan), chief surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital and later Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Ireland. Mary Catherine Fagan, Dr. Fagan's wife, had the maiden name Hughes. While it is uncertain if she was a relation of Bernard Hughes, this implies that Dr. Fagan had possibly inherited the properties through marriage.

No.6 appears to have remained in residential use up to the mid-twentieth century, with the street directories recording a William T. Adair living there from 1901 to c.1940 followed by a Dr Charlotte C. Arnold. Along with nos.2 and 4, the house was badly damaged by two bombs in 1973 and 1974, with its neighbours being restored by Robert McKinstry and Melvyn Brown in 1982. Brett (1985) notes that, at this time, "No.6 [had] lost its portico, and [was] shabbily painted, but still [retained] its splendid tall single chimney." Photographs dating from around this time also show some inappropriate lean-to extensions abutting the western gable. A planning application and listed building consent was granted in August 1990 for "Extension, alterations and refurbishment of premises." This is probably when the house transferred to office use and received its current internal layout, including the rear extension. The missing portico was possibly restored at this time, as well as the lean-to extensions being replaced by a larger extension to no.4, which fills the gap between the buildings. The "tall single chimney" mentioned by Brett is now considerably shorter, possibly being reduced during these works.

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 First Edition OS map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 Second Edition OS map (1859)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/4 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1865-1881)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/36 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1897 - 1905)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/3 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1906-1915)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/6 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1916-1930)
7. Planning Portal NI, reference - Z/1990/0693 and Z/1990/0695

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, CEB 'Buildings of Belfast 1700-1914: Revised Edition' Friar's Bush Press, 1985
2. Larmour, Paul 'Belfast, an Illustrated Architectural Guide' Friar's Bush Press, 1987
3. Rafferty, Oliver P. 'Catholicism in Ulster 1603-1983, an Interperative History' University of South Carolina Press, 1994

Online sources
1. DIA (http://www.dia.ie/works/view/45414/building/CO.+ANTRIM%2C+BELFAST%2C+MOUNT+CHARLES%2C+NO.+002+%26+4)
2. DIA (http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/2763/Jackson%2C+thomas)
3. DIA (http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/2251/GRAY-WILLIAM)
4. Dictionary of Ulster Biography (http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/714)
5. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bruce,_James_(1808-1861)_(DNB00))

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A well proportioned porticoed stucco house, now in office use, composed on symmetrical plan to designs by well-regarded Belfast architect Thomas Jackson. The building has Regency overtones, highly characteristic of the domestic work of Thomas Jackson in the 1840s. One of a group of similarly-detailed houses, together with Nos 2 and 4 Mount Charles (HB26/27/008), it contributes to a prominent group at the western end of Mount Charles, a street otherwise characterised by tall red brick Victorian townhouses. Although a significant proportion of the original fabric has been renewed or replaced following bomb damage - including the distinctive portico - the character of the building has been carefully maintained during the late-twentieth-century refurbishment. Historically, the development of Mount Charles reflects the beginning of the residential expansion of South Belfast in the early-Victorian era, and are an important pre-cursor to the late Victorian townhouses which are more commonly associated with the University and Upper Malone districts. Additionally, no.6 has direct links with several prominent historical figures, including philanthropist Bernard 'Barney' Hughes. The Queens Conservation Area is enriched by the presence of this small group of fine buildings.