24 COLLEGE GREEN

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey with attic red brick double-fronted 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.26 College Green (HB26 27 032L), the two houses interlock in plan, both originally ‘L’ shaped with 2-storey returns. The pair read as a bookend to 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 and comprised of three stacks with chamfered edges and shared corbelled brick cap. One chimney rises from gable end adjoining No.22 and the other is shared with No.26; each has six square-based yellow clay pots with pointed arched tops.
Corbelled brick eaves to front (S), comprised of one row header, one row stretcher and one row alternating angled bricks; latter interrupted by full-height gabled bay (described below). Simpler projecting brick eaves to rear that appear to be either altered or replaced. Eaves to front and back terminate in moulded kneeler stones that support raised coping stones to W side; that to front (S) is embellished with club motif.
Small duo-pitched dormer with slated cheeks to front pitch and two conservation roof-lights to rear. Whilst dormer matches that to No. 26, it replaces a modern flat roofed dormer shown on the first survey slide, taken April 1977.

MATERIALS
ROOF: Natural slate, including dormer. Roof to canted bay not seen, but probably lead.
RWGS: Cast metal ogee profile gutters and circular section RWP
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond (S) and English Garden Wall bond (N)
WINDOWS: Single glazed timber framed (replacement) sliding sash with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described.

South Elevation
The south elevation is the principal façade. Double-fronted with central entrance flanked by projecting bays. Two-storey canted bay to left (W) and full height gabled bay to right side.
Entrance raised three steps above pavement level. Square headed four-panelled timber framed entrance door (replacement) with central bead to resemble double doors and gothic arched over-light and surround. Latter decorated with moulded leaf band set within archivolt, supported on impost blocks and grey marble colonnettes having Corinthian-style capital and simple moulded base; all on substantial plinth. Apart from colonnettes, surround is set flush with brick walling and entirely painted – as other painted dressings, probably combined stucco and dressed stone below paint.
Continuous projecting brick plinth either side of entrance, with chamfered cap and continuous string course between first floor window heads, both painted. All openings (bar attic) have stop chamfered head and jamb detail and cavetto moulding below cills. Continuous brick string course in headers of alternating depth, topped by terracotta tile between ground and first floor. Similar detail between first floor and attic, where string course consists of alternating straight and angled headers between two rows of terracotta tiles (latter does not extend across full-height gabled bay).
Single window aligned above entrance at first floor, with painted cill and slightly cambered lintel having simple keystone. Relieving arch formed in brick headers above lintel.
Canted bay has three windows each to ground and first floor and continuous painted cills and heads. Duo-pitched dormer centred above canted bay, meticulously detailed with paired sash windows, stop-chamfer detail to timber framing, projecting bargeboard supported on exposed ridge and eaves beams with carved ends, sheeted timber spandrel (diagonal) above windows and exposed soffit. As noted above, this is a later replacement but likely to match original given similarities with dormer at No.26.
Full height gable bay has paired windows at ground floor with shared cill and twin cambered lintels. Colonnette between windows matches those at entrance door, with additional collar mid-shaft. Club motif incised within impost block and diamond motif to plinth of colonnettes. Single window at first floor same as that above entrance. Paired windows to attic with combined lintel – these differ from the wide metal-framed casement window shown in the first survey slide but are more likely to match the original. Above attic windows, stepped brick detail, projecting slighly; raised coping and apex stones (no finial).

North Elevation
The rear elevation faces north and is almost entirely obscured by the two-storey modern extension, which spans full width of the building and extends full length of the yard up to the boundary at College Green Mews. On the original building, the rear is narrower than the front due to the floor plan interlocking with No.26. Some brick walling and a half-landing window remain above the extension. A further former opening is in-filled with salvaged brick, but retains original brick soldier-coursed head.

East and west elevations abutted by No. 26 and No.22 College Green (HB26 27 032L & J respectively). No.24 is taller than No22 and deeper in plan, exposing a small section of walling above and to left (N) side. Within same wall, each floor contains a replacement top-hung double glazed timber framed casement window and brickwork around openings is noticeably different suggesting these openings to be later. Blank gable wall above where No.22 abuts, terminating in raised coping stones with central chimneystack as described above.
Two-storey extension is fenestrated mainly to W, roughly three bays wide with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render. Polyester powder coated windows and flush timber exit door. Artificial slate roof.

Located near to junction of College Green and Rugby Road. Concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings line boundary to S, matching adjacent properties at No.12-22. Small front garden gravelled with large flagstones to central path. Reconstituted stone entrance steps retained by tooled sandstone walling with chamfered top edges. Modern extension extends full width of property along N boundary with College Green Mews. Rear yard at No.22 provides shared amenity space for No.18 & 24 and comprises ramped paths to ground floor entrance 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.24 No.24 dates from 1870-71 and appears to have been built 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.

James Wright, a pork merchant, seems to have been the original occupant, renting the house from William Crawford who leased both this property and neighbouring no.26 from the Corry estate. Wright was succeeded c.1889 by Mrs. A. Philips, with James J. Philips named as resident in 1892. In c.1894 Miss Louisa Neill followed in c.1894 and in the 1901 census she was occupying the house with her sister, elderly aunt and two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with ten rooms in use. Miss J. Walkington is named as the occupant in 1907 and was still there in 1910, with an Annabella Hogg and Annie Barnhill recorded as living there in the following year’s census. Miss Hogg remained until at least 1918, with Col. R.M. Campbell taking up the tenancy by 1924, and S.A Friar by 1932. In the early 1960s the property was acquired by Queen’s University and became a student hall of residence, remaining as such until the early 1970s when it was transferred to the University’s Department of Social Studies, with the department expanding into neighbouring nos.22-24 later in that decade.

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 and 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
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two-storey with attic red-brick double-fronted terraced house, built 1870-71 and facing south on College Green, NE of the main quad at Queens University, Belfast. Group value with adjoining No.26 College Green (HB26 27 032L), the pair interlock in plan and read as a bookend to a longer Victorian terrace, incorporating No.2 – 26. 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.24 remains legible to a certain degree and some historic detailing survives inside. 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.