69 UNIVERSITY ROAD

The Department's description

Historical information

Prior to the early 19th century, the present University Road was the main route south from the small but growing town of Belfast to Dublin, climbing along the Malone Ridge and twisting south-west towards Lisburn. Stretching westwards from this road and sloping down to the lower ground of the Bog Meadows were long, narrow strip farms. In the mid 1700s many of these farms were leased by the Donegall estate to Belfast merchants and farmed by undertenants, whose (largely) humble farmhouses were scattered along the road itself. In 1816-19 the present Lisburn Road was laid out, slicing through the farms, and by 1839 the Ulster Railway had been cut out through their lower fields. From 1823 onwards leases ‘in perpetuity’ began to be granted by the cash-strapped Donegall estate in relation to land to the south of Belfast; thus with the unity of the Malone farms destroyed the area became open to developers.

John Alexander was one such developer. His family had held a lease 31 acres in the townland of Lower Malone since the early 1700s, and in 1823 acquired it outright from Lord Donegall for £480. It was on this land that Alexander built the three storey portions ‘Botanic View’ terrace (the present nos.53-65 University Road), in 1840-43, whilst parcelling out adjacent portions of the holding to other developers which in turn lead to the construction of Fitzwilliam Place (nos.71-75) in 1846-48, and dwellings along the newly laid out Fitzwilliam Street (nos.2-8) in c.1849-50. Camden Terrace appeared along the newly laid out Camden Street in 1849-52, with the two story southern portion of Botanic View (nos.67-69 and no.1 Fitzwilliam Street) in place by the latter year also. All of these new dwellings, along with others just to the north such as Fountainville Terrace, Upper and Lower Crescent, Prospect and Claremont Terraces, and University Square to the east, marked the beginning of the suburbanisation of South Belfast and the drift of the town’s professional and commercial classes away from its centre.

No.69 - As stated above, this property and its immediate neighbours to the north and south (present no.67 University Road and no.1 Fitzwilliam Street) were built in 1852, probably by William Sherrie, who is recorded as the immediate lessor in the valuation of c.1862 and is probably the 'brush, card and bellows manufacturer' of the same name listed in North Street noted in the Belfast directories of the 1850s and 1860s. The property is listed as 'vacant' in the street directory of 1858 (the first in which it appears), with James Craig living there by c.1860. He was followed in 1862 by James Stewart Shearer (‘traveller’) who in turn was succeeded c.1864 by John Kelly, a brush manufacturer of Bridge Street, and then Miss Mary Pollock, who lived there from at least 1870 to c.1898. Mrs. Anna Adams was the next occupant, and in the 1901 census she is noted as a 72yr-old widow residing at no.69 with a domestic servant, with the house itself described as a '2nd class' dwelling with nine rooms in use. Before 1907 the property was being used as a surgery by H.H.B. Cunningham, 'ear, nose and throat specialist', returning to domestic use by 1911 when Mrs. Mary Armstrong and her two children were residing there. By at least 1918 it was home to James McCartney, a merchant tailor, passing to Augustus Campbell ('manager') sometime around 1937. Miss M.F. Johnson became the householder at some point in the mid to late-1940s and retained the property into the 1960s. It was converted to a dental surgery before 1967 (originally run by George Blair) remaining so until 2008, when it was given over to office use. The ground floor was converted to a café in 2015.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.835/1/3 Plans of Lord Donegall’s estates, surveyed by James Crow, 1767-70
2 PRONI D509/905 Donegall estate documents- Lease of land in Lower Malone, Lord Donegall to John Alexander, 20 Apr 1795
3 PRONI D509/1176 Donegall estate documents- Lease of land in Lower Malone, Lord Donegall to John Alexander, 16 Jan 1799
4 PRONI D509/1623 Donegall estate documents- Lease of lands in Lower Malone, Lord Donegall to John Alexander, 1 June 1808
5 PRONI D509/1794 Donegall estate documents- Lease of lands in Lower Malone, Lord Donegall to John Alexander, 21 Nov 1811
6 PRONI D509/905 Donegall estate documents- Lease (‘in perpetuity’) of lands in Lower Malone, Lord Donegall to John Alexander, 1 Nov 1823
7 PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 OS map [6in], Co Antrim sh 61, 1832
8 ‘Martin’s Belfast directory’ (Belfast 1839, 40-41, 1841-42)
9 ‘Henderson’s Belfast directory’ (Belfast, occasional issues in the period 1843-52)
10 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster directory’ (Belfast 1852, 1854, 1856, 1858, 1860- )
11 PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 OS map [6in], Co Antrim sh 61, 1858
12 PRONI OS/8/30/1/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1858, sh 49
13 PRONI VAL/2B/1/2a Second valuation, Shankill parish, 1860
14 PRONI VAL12B/43/D/7 Annual valuation revision book, 1862-82
15 PRONI OS/8/30/2/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1871-3, sh 49
16 PRONI OS/8/30/3/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1883-4, sh 49
17 PRONI OS/8/30/4/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1894-5, sh 49

Secondary sources
1 S.T. Carleton ‘The growth of South Belfast’ (QUB MA thesis 1967)
2 C.E.B. Brett ‘Buildings of Belfast (London 1967, reprinted by Friar’s Bush Press 1985)
3 David Evans ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the vicinity of Queen’s University of Belfast’ revised edition (Belfast,1980), p.26 etc.
4 J.C. Beckett ‘Queen’s- A short history of Queen’s College Belfast and Queen’s University of Belfast (QUB 1984)
5 ‘Queen’s conservation area’ (DOENI 1987)
6 David Evans and Paul Larmour ‘Queens- An architectural legacy’ (QUB Inst. Of Irish Studies 1995)
7 Brian Walker and Alf McCreary ‘Degrees of excellence- The story of Queen’s, Belfast 1845-1995 (QUB Inst. Of Irish Studies 1995)