12 COLLEGE GREEN

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey with attic red brick asymmetrical terraced house, built 1876 and facing south on College Green, NE of the main quad at Queens University, Belfast. Group value with adjoining No.10 and No.14 College Green (HB26 27 032E & G respectively); the three houses form part of a longer Victorian terrace incorporating No.2 – 26 inclusive, which overlooks the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church (HB26 27 004) within Queens Conservation Area, Belfast. Now used as Queen’s University’s School of Social Science, Education and Social Work (formerly School of Life Long Learning), encompassing No.12 -24 inclusive (No.16 is missing), the former houses are connected internally with two-storey gabled extensions added c.2004, in place of original returns.

Natural slate duo-pitched roof with black clay ridge tiles and two red brick chimneys, both rectangular on plan, centred on ridge with corbelled brick copings and several yellow clay pots; one shared with No.10 and the other shared with No.14 College Gardens. Wall-head dormer with hipped roof to front (S) pitch and smaller wall-head dormer to rear pitch above modern extension.

MATERIALS
ROOF: Natural slate, including dormer. Leaded roof to 1-storey canted bay.
RWGS: Parapet gutter (S), not seen but probably lead-lined; cast metal RWP (S)
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond (S) with painted masonry dressings; red brick in English Garden Wall bond above N extension
WINDOWS: Single glazed timber framed double hung sliding sash with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described.

South Elevation
The south elevation is the principal façade. Asymmetrical, with entrance to left (W) and single-storey canted bay to right at ground floor; two equal–sized square-headed windows at first floor with moulded string course forming cill; and wall head dormer to attic - latter interrupts heavy eaves supported on scrolled brackets above deep plain frieze and moulded string course, all painted. Ground floor canted bay and entrance door both have painted surrounds – as other painted dressings, these are probably combined stucco and dressed stone below paint. Deep, continuous base plinth with sub-floor vents and moulded top. Bay windows have stop-chamfered detail to head and jambs; jambs extend to plinth with deep bull-nosed stone cills recessed between. Decorative round and diamond shaped incisions featuring abstract cross, thistle and clover motifs above bay windows. Square headed timber framed four-panelled replacement entrance door with plain glass fanlight in round-arched opening with roll-edge detail; all set within projecting surround with moulded cornice hood and decorative recessed roundels, similar to bay. First floor windows have moulded surrounds with cornice hood, enriched with diamond-head moulding projecting over row of dentils. Paired windows within attic dormer have canted heads with stop-chamfered lintels to match, shared projecting cill and 2/2 panes.

West and east elevations abutted by No. 10 and No.14 College Green (HB26 27 032E & G respectively). Two-storey extension is fenestrated mainly to E, roughly three bays wide with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render; latter culminate in flat-roofed dormers. Polyester powder coated windows within first floor dormers and full-height glazed doors at ground floor. Artificial slate roof with modern roof-lights set along slope to west face.

North Elevation
The rear elevation faces north and is almost entirely obscured by the two-storey modern extension, which extends the full length of yard to College Green Mews. On the original building, some brick walling, a sliding sash window to right and a round-arched timber framed sliding sash window with 2/2 panes within a wall-head dormer to left remain above the extension. Walling is red brick in English Garden Wall bond with soldier coursed headers. Round arched window is likely to be original and has projecting stone cill, painted.

Set midway along College Green, which runs between Botanic Avenue (W) and Rugby Road (E). Concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings line boundary to S, matching adjacent properties. Small front garden paved with precast concrete slabs; ditto entrance step. Modern extension extends full width of property to N boundary with College Green Mews. Rear yard at No.14 provides shared amenity space for both properties and comprises ramped paths to ground floor terrace and planted beds with red brick retaining walls topped by modern metal handrail and uprights, painted.

Historical information

College Green was laid out in 1866 on what was then the semi-rural ‘Plains’ of Malone, the land east of the recently-established Queen’s College (completed 1849) and around and beyond the Union Theological College (completed 1853). The foundation of Queen’s prompted several decades of development in the vicinity, with regularly-planned streets filled with mainly High Victorian terraced housing for the professional and merchant classes moving southwards beyond the confines of a rapidly commercialising and industrialising centre of Belfast. The present nos.6-8 were the first to be built along the new thoroughfare in 1866, with nos.2-4, College Green House, (originally ‘Culfeightrin House’, rebuilt c.1882), and nos.24-26 next in 1870-71, 10-12 and 20-22 in 1876 and 14-18 in 1878. The street was originally conceived as part of Fitzroy Avenue (which stretches off eastwards beyond the intersection of what is now Rugby Road) and was considered as such for the first few decades of its existence, with the name ‘College Green’ applied only to Culfeightrin House and nos.2-8 on the 1871-73 OS map.

No.12 Nos.10-12 were built in 1876 by the estate of the late Robert Corry, the Belfast timber merchant who had developed part of College Green in the mid-1860s, and previous to this in the 1840s and 1850s, Upper and Lower Crescent. The identity of the architect is uncertain. The lease of both was obtained by James Watkins (referred to in contemporary directories simply as a ‘merchant’), who initially lived at no.12, subletting no.10. Mr. Watkins remained there until c.1879, with the property recorded as vacant in 1880. By 1884 George B. Coulter, ‘secretary [of the] Life Association of Scotland’ is recorded as the tenant, with James White there by 1887, a Mrs Adams by 1890, and James Gardener, ‘Northern Bank inspector of branches’ by 1895. Miss Anne Gardener (who appears to have been the former’s sister) is noted as householder in 1899 and recorded in the 1901 census as occupying the house with two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 10 rooms in use. After a period of vacancy around 1906-08, S.G. Crymble, a solicitor, became resident and, according to the directories, remained until the later 1940s (although in the 1911 census Frank and Gladys Plunkett and their daughter, Doris, and a nurse named Katherine Miller are noted as the occupants). By 1951 an Arthur M. Hamilton had moved in, with Bertram Arundel succeeding him c.1972.

The building was listed in 1979. In the late 1970s it was acquired by Queen’s University and used as offices for ‘Social Studies and Post Qualifying Studies’, and c.1991 the Department of Politics. Along with neighbouring nos.14-24 it was the subject of a major renovation by Queen’s in c.2004, with a large extension added to the rear and the interior integrated with that of nos.14-24. It is now used as Queen’s University’s School of Social Science, Education and Social Work (formerly School of Life Long Learning).

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43/A/4, 14, 27, 42, 45 (1864-1930)
4 Belfast Street Directories (various dates, 1870-1996)
5 OS town plans of Belfast, 1871-73, 1884
8 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/]

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’ MA Thesis (QUB, 1967)

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
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey with attic red brick asymmetrical terraced house, built 1876 and facing south on College Green, NE of the main quad at Queens University, Belfast. Group value with adjoining No.10 and No.14 College Green (HB26 27 032E & G respectively), the three houses form part of a longer Victorian terrace, incorporating No.2 – 26 inclusive. Now used as Queen’s University’s School of Social Science, Education and Social Work, encompassing No.12 -24 inclusive (No.16 is missing), the former houses are connected internally with long gabled two-storey extensions added c.2004, in place of original returns. Despite loss of historic fabric to the rear and internal reconfiguration, the plan form of No.12 remains legible to a certain degree and some historic detailing, including the original stair, survives. It could also be separated from the adjoining buildings. The significance of this building lies primarily in its group value and in the integrity of the overall composition of College Green, which is amongst the most striking terraces in Queens Conservation Area.