47 UNIVERSITY ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey with attic, two bay, red brick, mid terraced former townhouse, recently used as offices. Built in 1865, the terrace faces North onto University Street in South Belfast, which links University Road on the west and Botanic Avenue on the east, within the Queen’s Conservation area. No 47 is flanked by No 45 on the west and No 49 (HB26/27/044B) on the east and is one of a group of three houses built in the same style – Nos 47 & 49 were constructed in 1865 and No 51 in 1867 (HB26/27/044A-C). It is abutted at the rear by a two storey return built at half landing level.

Materials:
Roof: Artificial slate to front & rear slopes / Natural Welsh slate to rear return
Walls: Brick in Flemish bond / Painted pebble dash & render to rear return
Windows: Front (N) - Timber top-hung, single glazed (replacements) / Dormer window – uPVC
Rear (S) - Timber top-hung, single glazed (replacements) / Rooflight – modern velux
RWGs: Front (N) – Cast iron. Rear (S) - PVC

Front Elevation (N):
Two storey with attic, two bay, mid terraced, red brick flat facade built in Flemish bond with the entrance on right side of ground floor. Two window openings to left side of door on ground floor level, and two above on both first floor levels (openings not aligned) beneath plain rendered frieze. Plain painted cornice supporting gutter is supported on small paired painted stone brackets.
Pitched artificial slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, brick chimneys with corbel detailing (rebuilt) to left side, shared with neighbours, with six clay pots. Dormer window to centre with artificial tiled cheeks, painted timber frame and apex, roof covering not seen.
On ground floor level the doorway has an Egyptian style doorcase with a painted rendered advanced surround, with chamfered uprights, topped by a moulded painted plaster cornice with simplified curved elements to centre and edges. Replacement timber panelled front door with plain overlight with No “47” in centre.
Plain painted advanced rendered plinth with decorative cast iron ventilation grilles (painted over).
All windows to front are replacement top-hung timber, single glazed, have painted rendered reveals, splayed brick heads and painted stone cills.
Former front garden now paved with concrete paviers. Replacement low brick wall to street with modern metal railings and same to boundary with No 49.

Side elevation (W):
Fully abutted by No 45 University Street on the west side.

Side elevation (E):
Fully abutted by No 49 (HB26/27/044B) on the east side.

Rear Elevation (S):
Main rear elevation is two storeys high and is abutted on left side by a two storey return built at half landing height.
The exposed section of the rear elevation has a single window opening on ground floor level and same above on first floor level, windows are not aligned vertically. Metal grille to ground floor window. Both windows are replacement top-hung timber, single glazed, on thin painted concrete cills. There is a small window opening with a timber fixed-pane window on the attic half landing level at left side, above the roof of the rear return. Wall is painted pebble dash up to head-height of ground floor window and painted render above.
Rear return has a pitch natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles. Walls are painted pebble dash up to first floor level and painted render above. All rainwater goods to rear are plastic; guttering supported on rise and fall brackets.
Side wall (E) of rear return – on ground floor level from left to right – two window openings and a door opening; on first floor level, from left to right, two window openings. All windows to return are replacement top-hung timber, single glazed, on what appear to be painted concrete cills. First floor windows gave Georgian wired glazing. Metal grilles to ground floor windows. Back door is replacement timber with two glazed panels to top half; door also has a metal grille over opening.
Gable elevation (S) of return is blank. Clipped verge. Painted pebble dash up to first floor level and painted render above.
W elevation of return (overlooking rear yard of No 45) has a single window opening on left side of first floor level; timber fixed-pane with Georgian wired glazing. Elevation not seen at time of survey.
Rear yard in concrete flag stones, five steps leading up to level of University Square Mews on S side. Metal palisade fencing to rear boundary. Tarmac area for car parking.

Historical information

The stretch of University Street between what is now University Road and Botanic Avenue was laid out in 1858 and is recorded in the ‘Belfast Mercury’ of 16 October of that year as one of three new streets that had been created in the town in the previous twelve months. Prior to this, however, several dwellings had been built in the immediate vicinity, notably nos.1-3 to the south-western end in 1848, nos.2-8 (Belvoir Terrace – now demolished) to the north side in 1854-58 and no.19 to the south in 1856-58, with nos.1-3 (which in many respects may be viewed as an adjunct to neighbouring nos.42-48 University Road) out of alignment with the thoroughfare as it emerged in 1858. According to the 1858 'Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory' the street was ‘formerly Lincluden Street’; this contradicts the contemporary newspaper reports and the 1858 OS town plan, all of which refer to the present name.

No.47 was built in 1865, along with no.49, by John Stevenson, with Stevenson completing the identical no.51 the following year. The identity of the architect (or architect / builder) is not known; nos.39-41, built in 1869, share identical Egyptian style door cases, are presumably by the same hand.

The earliest resident of no.47 was Mrs. Anne McAdam, who was still living there in 1877. Robert Harvey, a bookkeeper, had moved in by 1880 and remained until 1910. The 1901 census, Mr Harvey (a 58 year-old Methodist ‘book-keeper [in the] linen business’) is recorded as occupying the house with his wife, Anna, their three grown-up children and a domestic servant, with the house itself a ‘1st class’ dwelling with nine rooms occupied by the family. The Harveys were succeeded by Joseph Douglas, an ‘artist designer’ and his wife, Norah. By 1918 Dr. Peter MacArthur is listed as the householder, followed by Mrs. M. Corry sometime between 1924 and 1932. Mrs. Corry was still there in 1951, but by 1960 Miss Norah Corry [probably the latter’s relation] is listed as the occupant. The building appears to have remained a private residence up until c.1978 when it was converted to office accommodation which was occupied by an estate agent (‘P & R Properties’) in 1979, and, in the mid-1990s, by a firm of solicitors (J.M. Hughes & Co.).

The building was listed in June 1986.

References - Primary Resources
1 PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey (1833)
2 'Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory', (1852-1997)
3 PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey (1858)
4 ‘Belfast Mercury’, 16 October 1856
5 PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey (1901-02)
6 PRONI OS/11/147/1 – 25” Irish Grid Series (1958-1959)
7 PRONI VAL/12B/44/1B Annual valuation revision book (1860-70)
8 PRONI VAL/12B/43A/4 Annual valuation revision book (1865-81)
9 PRONI VAL/7/B/3 – Belfast Revaluation Records (1900)
10 Belfast Street Directories (1850-1960)
11 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 20 January 1978, 13 February 1979 p.12
12 ‘Sunday Life’, 9 April 1995, p.82

Secondary Sources
1 Dixon, Hugh, Evans, David “Historic Buildings and Groups of Buildings in the Vicinity of Queen’s University Belfast” UAHS, (1975)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

Two storey with attic, two bay, red brick, mid terraced former townhouse, recently used as offices. Built 1865, the terrace faces north onto University Street in South Belfast. No 47 is flanked by No 45 on the west and No 49 (HB26/27/044B) on the east and is one of a group of three houses built in the same style – Nos 47 & 49 were constructed in 1865 and No 51 in 1867 (HB26/27/044A-C). Nos 47-51 are distinguished from the rest of the terraced buildings in University Street by their unusual Egyptian-style doorcases, a feature not seen anywhere else in this area. Although modest in scale and proportion and with replacement windows throughout, there is interest in the group of three, adding to the rich and diverse architectural heritage of the university area, within the Queen’s Conservation Area.

General comments

File review carried out 05-01-18:
47 University Street was listed on 18th June 1986. In Sept 1994 it was surveyed to ascertain if inappropriate works had been carried out. The following inappropriate works were noted: man-made slates to front & rear slopes of main roof, man-made slates to dormer cheeks, PVC gutter to main rear elevation, PVC rainwater goods to rear return, top-hung timber windows, proportions of front door wrong, all original internal plasterwork gone, modern skirtings installed. The original staircase remained.
In Jan 1989, planning permission was granted for change of use from dwelling house to offices
Dec 1994 – EHS wrote to Divisional Planning Officer (DPO) re Nos 47 & 49 regarding the inappropriate alterations to listed buildings which were carried out without approval. Rectification was requested.
July 1995, Aug 1996, Mar 1997 – EHS wrote to DPO to ask if any enforcement action had been taken.
Mar 1997 – DPO responded stating the planning service was unlikely to investigate these issues in the near future
Aug 2005 – EHS wrote to the Enforcement Section of the Planning Service asking if this case had ever been investigated or was the case closed
Sept 2005 – DPO responded to the above stating that planning service had no record of a breach of planning control having occurred nor was there a record of an enforcement investigation being conducted.
Sept 2005 – D Boyle recommended EHS would not pursue enforcement as it was some 17 years after it took place. In Nov 2005 BMcK supported this decision.
Sept 2016 – full planning application was submitted for a 3 storey rear extension, change of use from offices to 6 apartments, enlargement of front dormer window & new rear dormer window
After amendments to the proposals HED was satisfied with the proposal subject to amendment & condition.