14 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 & 12 College Green (HB26 27 032E & F 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) in 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 octagonal yellow clay pots; one shared with No.12 and the other shared with No.18 College Gardens. Wall-head dormer with hipped roof to front (S) pitch and smaller dormer with duo-pitched roof to rear pitch.

MATERIALS
ROOF: Natural slate, including dormer. Leaded roof to 1-storey canted bay.
RWGS: Parapet gutter not seen (probably lead) and cast metal RWP (S); cast metal (N), replaced
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond (S) with painted masonry dressings
Red brick in English Garden Wall bond (N), largely rebuilt
WINDOWS: Single glazed timber framed 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, and other 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. 12 and No.18 College Green (HB26 27 032F & H respectively – No.16 is missing). Original return removed.

North Elevation
The rear elevation faces north and is almost entirely rebuilt following removal of original return c. 2004 when extension shared with No.12 was added. Walling is red brick in English Garden Wall bond with soldier-coursed headers to openings and single-course corbelled brick eaves in header bond. To right side at ground floor, PPC aluminium framed glass door leads from modern stairwell to rear yard; walling above is blank. To left side, at first floor half landing level, replacement 1/1 sliding sash with margin panes, concrete cill and modern steel lintel; bricked up opening immediately above and to attic, a modern timber framed casement window in wall-head dormer. Projecting brick nib corbelled out from first floor and slated over at eaves level – possibly remnant from original return or former chimney.

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. Rear yard bound by replacement red brick wall with brick-on-edge coping to match gable extensions at adjoining properties. Yard provides shared amenity space for No12, 14 & 18 (No.16 missing) 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.14 Despite its near identical appearance to neighbouring nos.10-12 - built in 1876, the valuation book suggests that no.14 may have been completed two years later, in 1878; however, the various annotations within the book are difficult to decipher. It was built 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 was obtained by James Watkins (referred to in contemporary directories simply as a ‘merchant’), who lived there from at least 1879 until c.1882. He was succeeded by William Miller, a ‘linen agent’ who remained until c.1891 and was followed by Mrs. Susanna Hogg, a widow, who in the 1901 census is recorded as living there with her grown-up daughter, an unmarried sister and a domestic servant, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 10 rooms in use. Mrs. Hogg appears to have died c.1909 with her daughter, Annabella Hogg, occupying no.14 up to c.1910, with Mrs. Emily Millar (another widow) named as the occupant in the 1911 census. By 1918 J.M. Bennett, a ‘bank official’, was in residence followed Mrs. Esther Callaghan by 1932, who remained until c.1967. It seems to have remained a private dwelling up until c.1972 when it was acquired by Queen’s University and converted to a ‘language laboratory’ – later renamed the ‘Audio Resources Centre’, a role it retained up until at least 1995.

The building was listed in 1979. Along with neighbouring nos.12, and 18-24 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 its neighbours, nos.12 and 18-24. 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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
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.12 College Green (HB26 27 032E & F 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 (No.16 is missing), the former houses are connected internally with loss of original returns. This, together with internal reconfiguration, means its original historic character is diminished to a certain extent. Nonetheless, 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.