20 COLLEGE GREEN

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey red brick asymmetrical terraced house, built 1866-1878 (CHECK HISTORY???) and facing south on College Green, NE of the main quad at Queens University, Belfast. Group value with adjoining No. 18 & 22 College Green (HB26 27 032H & J 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, encompassing No.12 -24 (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.18 and the other shared with No.22 College Gardens.

MATERIALS
ROOF: Natural slate. Leaded roof to 1-storey canted bay.
RWGS: Cast metal (replacement): ogee gutter (S), half round gutter (N) & circular RWPs.
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 sliding sash with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described.

South Elevation
The south elevation is the principal façade. Asymmetrical, with entrance to right (E) and single-storey canted bay to left at ground floor; two segmental arched windows at both first and second floors, diminishing in height. Entire ground floor is rendered (smooth) and painted, terminating in square-edged string course that runs between first floor cills. Deep plinth to ground floor with moulded top, painted in contrasting colour.
Timber framed four-panelled (replacement) entrance door with rounded central bead to resemble double doors and plain glass over-light, all set within projecting door case. Stop-chamfered head and jamb reveals to all ground floor openings and to outer edge of door case. Cornice hood above door, embellished with waterleaf and dart moulding; this detail is partially lost due to several layers of paint.
Windows at ground floor canted bay are replacement single glazed double-hung sliding sashes???; all other windows as described above.
Moulded surrounds to first floor windows topped by ornamental decoration. Second floor windows have same surround, with corbel brackets below projecting cill. Heavy overhanging eaves supported on corbelled yellow brick ‘specials’ alternating with three courses angled yellow brick.

West and east elevations abutted by No. 18 and No.22 College Green (HB26 27 032H & J respectively – No.16 is missing). Original return removed. Two-storey extension is fenestrated to E and W, overlooking shared courtyards on both sides. Roughly three bays wide with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render. Polyester powder coated windows and flush timber exit doors. Artificial slate roof.

North Elevation
The rear elevation faces north and is almost entirely obscured by the two-storey gabled extension, which spans full width of the building and also encroaches on much of No.18. Some brick walling remains above the extension with single-course corbelled brick eaves in header bond. One sliding sash window half landing to far left and two further windows shown as blocked up on second floor plans. Window to far left is single glazed with 2/2 panes and with soldier-coursed headers; from interior inspection this window appears to be original, although salvaged brick below the cill suggests that it may have been moved.
The extension stretches the full length of the yard up to the boundary at College Green Mews, where slate cladding is applied near the apex so that it reads as a double pile roof, or two narrower gabled ends.

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 gravelled with large reconstituted stone paving slabs to front path. Modern extension extends full width of property to N boundary with College Green Mews. Rear yards at No.18 & 22 provides shared amenity space for No.12-24 and comprises ramped paths to ground floor entrances 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.20 No.20 dates from either 1876 or 78 (the valuation book is not entirely clear), and appears to have been 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.

David Keay (or Keary), the ‘Manager of Marcus Ward & Co.’s printing department’, is recorded as the immediate lessor in 1876 (or 1878) with Francis O’Flaherty, a ‘linen merchant’, named as the occupant in the 1880 street directory. By 1887 another linen merchant, Thomas Lutton, was in residence, followed by Richard Douglas in c.1894 and K.C. McDowell in c.1899-1901, Rev. K.C. Landers c.1902-c.06. Frederick Albert McCane, the minister of Rugby Avenue Evangelical Union Congregational Church, is noted as resident in 1908 and remained there until c.1924. The building appears to have been left vacant for a few years after this, with a Miss Tripp recorded as the occupant from c.1930 until c.1957, followed by Michael Byrne (‘salesman’). In the late 1960s the property was acquired by Queen’s University and became offices for its Department of Statistics, and later (in the early 1970s) the University’s Data Processing Department. In the late 1970s it was combined with nos.22-24 and became the offices of the Department of Social Studies.

The building was listed in 1979. Along with neighbouring nos.12-18 and 22-24 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.12-14 and 20-24. 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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Three storey 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.18 and No.22 College Green (HB26 27 032H & J 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. A plainer example of a Victorian house, it has retained it's modest decorative façade, including plaster door and windows surrounds. It also retains some original decorative fixtures internally, although reconfiguration during 20th century has diminished the historic character to some 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.