Gilpin's

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building (1) under review is located along the west side of the premises. To place it in its historical and spatial context, the three other buildings which make up this site have also been recorded: (2) a single-storey loading shed in yard, (3) a three-storey building along a side street leading to Boyne Court, and (4) a two-storey shop fronting Sandy Row.

1. Building at west side of yard
This three-storey building dates to the construction of the original brewery in 1866-68, although its south-west corner may have been partly rebuilt in the mid-1900s (probably simultaneously with 3B).
Half-hipped roof, with south end covered with natural slates (some missing) and the remainder with replacement profiled metal sheets. There appears to be a raised firewall between the two sections. A concrete-roofed brick motor room atop an internal goods lift projects from the south end of the roof’s yard elevation. Plastic rainwater goods.
The principal elevation faces east into the yard. It has a chamfered masonry base course and shallow brick pilasters which delineate seven full-height recesses. The latter have semicircular heads of which are trimmed with polychromatic brickwork (alternating cream and black) and dentilated cream brick extradoses. The arches spring off dressed ashlar sandstone cornices atop the pilasters. A punctuated yellow brick platband runs across the pilasters below their cornices, and a second one continuously at eaves level, just below a moulded brick top course. Dressed sandstone string courses also run between the pilasters; they also as cill courses to the infilled window panels.
Most of the openings are blocked with brick or concrete blockwork. No attempt has been made in this report to differential original and later brick infill.
Bays 4 and 5 (as viewed from the yard and counting from left) are abutted to the ground floor by Building 2. The 1876 letterhead shows bay 5 (ie the middle one) to have had a doorway; this now connects the two buildings internally. There is also a ground floor doorway to bay 1; although it has a flat concrete head, there may have been a segmental-arched doorway here originally, similar to the one in bay 7 (which also has a small sidelight).
There are fire-escape doorways to the first floor of bay 3 and bay 2 of the second floor (a metal ladder ran down the outside of the building). The former doorway is probably original, but the latter is a later insert judging by its flat concrete head. There are semicircular-headed blind recesses in four of the semicircular brick panels across the top floor. The middle one has an infilled roundel trimmed with dressed sandstone and surmounted by a crown.
The south gable is abutted at right by Building 3B. On the exposed section, the brickwork is now evidently only on the top floor, the floors below having been cement-rendered. A flat concrete head over an infilled window is evident on the first floor.
The walls of the west elevation are detailed as the south gable. The segmental brick heads of nine window opes are just visible above the render across the first floor. There are also nine opes to the top floor, all now infilled with brick. The two at left have semicircular brick heads, the four middle ones have segmental brick heads, and the three at right have flat concrete heads. All but the three at right are doubtless original.
The north gable formerly abutted the end of a block along the north side of the yard. After the latter was demolished, the exposed gable was rendered with cement.

2. Loading shed in yard
This single-storey single-bay was erected as a loading shed sometime between 1938 and 1967 (probably mid-1900s). It is aligned north-south and abuts the middle of the yard elevation of Building 1.
Pitched corrugated asbestos-cement which continues over loading dock along east elevation. Plastic rainwater goods. Brick walls. The ground floor is raised over external ground level to facilitate the loading of lorries.
East elevation has pair of sliding tongue-and-groove doors. North gable has an opening to the space under the raised ground floor; flat concrete head, but now infilled.

3. Building on side street
A three-storey building aligned east-west along a side street leading to Boyne Court, Although a single space inside and probably a later 1800s’ rebuild of the original brewery malt house, most of the west end is a 20th century rebuild and will therefore be differentiated for the purposes of this description (as 3B).

3A Main section
The main part of the building has a shallow pitched replacement roof of profiled metal cladding. Row of skylights along both pitches, but missing towards front of building, where the cladding has been renewed. East gable has been raised and stepped, and is now surmounted by flag pole behind which is a large ‘Gilpins’ sign. Profiled-metal lift motor room projects upwards on yard pitch towards front of building. Plastic rainwater goods.
East gable (to Sandy Row) has been clad to its ground floor with polished stone veneer, and its upper floors and gable apex with white tiles (with black margins). Central door flanked by shop windows to ground floor, all with roller shutters and above which is ‘Gilpins’ sign. Four floor-to-ceiling windows to first floor, all now sheeted over. Ditto to second floor, with two 3x2-paned windows in evidence. Brickwork at E end of N elevation of this building indicates that the gable façade is a remodelling of the existing building, rather than a complete rebuild.
South elevation (to side street) is of brick, the lower half and right-hand end of which is cement rendered. The right-hand end is also partly covered with billboards and has a rendered chimney (probably original) at eaves level. Twelve window opes, all with shallow segmental brick heads to first and second floors; doubtless there were similar opes to ground floor, all of which are obscured with rendered. The first floor opes are infilled with rendered concrete blocks. The top floor opes retain their original rounded brick cills, but have replacement timber frames with vestiges of louvred glazing.
North elevation (to yard) is abutted at left end of ground and first floors by Building 4. Chamfered granite base course runs along exposed section of elevation. Segmental-headed tops of basement window arches evident along now-raised yard level. The ground floor originally had nine openings, but two (at middle) have been broken out to form a wide doorway with steel beam head; this opening has been infilled and a smaller now-infilled doorway inserted. The remaining openings are for segmental-headed window, all of which have sandstone cills and are now infilled with concrete blocks. The first floor has nine similarly-detailed window opes, all sheeted over. The top floor has 11 window opes (two are over Building 4), all with stone cills and with replacement window frames as top floor of east elevation.

3B Section at west end
As noted above, this section was originally a two-storey kiln, but seems to have been rebuilt and, as will become clear from its description, substantially rebuilt once again in the mid-1900s.
Pitched corrugated asbestos-cement roof and plastic rainwater goods, with vestiges of natural slate in places. Roofline is higher than that of 3A. The walls are of brick, but there is a clear colour contrast with the brickwork of Building 3A on their north and south elevations. As with building 3A, the lower half of the walls of 3B have been cement rendered.
South elevation (to side street) has infilled/rendered opes to ground floor. Four large window openings to first floor, all with flat reinforced-concrete heads, but no cills; all now infilled and rendered over. Four window openings to top floor, also with flat concrete heads and with brick cills; now infilled with bricks and smaller metal-framed casements inserted. The fact that the walls appear to have been rebuilt indicates that these windows were not merely modifications of earlier windows, but new ones in new walls.
West gable (to Boyne Court) is detailed as south elevation (including concrete heads), but with only three windows to first and second floors. The top floor windows are infilled except at right where a metal-framed casement has been inserted.
North elevation (to yard) is abutted at right by Building 1 such that only two openings at left are visible; all have concrete heads. Infilled doorway with overlight and window to right on ground floor, two large infilled window to first floor, and two metal-framed casements to second floor.

4. Shop
A modern two-storey, single-bay shop on the site of a demolished three-storey brewery-related dwelling and the ornate gateway into the yard. Shallow pitch profiled-metal roof with metal box gutters. Street elevation is of concrete blockwork finished with polished stone veneer; remaining exposed elevations are of brick.
East elevation (to Sandy Row) has three roller shutter shop windows to ground floor, three bay windows to first floor (all now sheeted over), remnants of ‘Gilpins’ sign, and raised eaves clad in profiled metal. North gable is blank, and west (yard) elevation is blank save for fire escape doors at left end to both floors. South end abuts building 3A.

Yard
The ornate gateway into the brewery yard originally stood on the site of the present modern gated entrance. Built into the modern brick wall at the entrance to the adjoining Sandy Row Community Centre, at the corner of Rowland St, is a carved sandstone coat of arms under a crown and shamrock; it was salvaged from the original gateway into the yard during its demolition.
Inside, the yard is bounded along its west side by a brick wall, the west half of which is the south wall of an original brewery building. Although its brickwork is now largely rendered with cement, vestiges of a chamfered granite base course are evident at ground level, as well as infilled window opes above.

Setting
The premises are situated in a densely populated commercial and residential area on W side of Sandy Row. Bounded to E by Sandy Row, to S by a side street off Sandy Row leading to Boyne Court, to W by street alongside Boyne Court, and to N by yard wall behind houses on Rowland Way.
Building 1 is at the back of the yard, with Building 4 abutting its yard elevation. Building 3 is aligned along the side street leading to Boyne Court, and Building 4 fronts Sandy Row.

Historical information

History
To fully understand the significance of the buildings under review, it is first necessary to examine the site’s general development. This can be divided into three main phases, each of which will be reviewed before dealing with the specific buildings which now stand on the site.

Phase 1: Glue & starch works (c.1820 – 1866)

The 1843 OS large-scale map shows a glue factory at this location. The same buildings are also shown on the 1833 OS six-inch map and are noted in the 1837 valuation book as a glue works owned by Edward Tucker. A Samuel Tucker is recorded as a glue manufacturer in Sandy Row in Bradshaw’s 1819 street directory. The works were probably established in the early 1800s.
The 1859 OS map captions the premises as ‘Belfast Glue & Starch Works’ and shows many new buildings which were not present in 1843. The 1860 second valuation book records the site as comprising a glue & starch works, stores, offices and yard and gives details of all the buildings. They had a combined rating of £180 (indicating a sizeable enterprise), and belonged to Edward Tucker and Edward Alworthy. Tucker continues to be cited as the owner of the glue and starch works in the street directories of 1859 and 1864, although it is Alworthy who is given as the owner in the 1862 valuation revision.
The terrace of houses fronting the glue and starch works along Sandy Row disappear from the valuation books in 1863, indicating that they had probably been demolished. The following year, the main site was sub-divided for valuation purposes into the starch works and glue works. The former was vacant, whilst the latter was owned by Samuel Murray, who continues as the owner of the Belfast Glue Works in the 1865 and 1866 street directories.
Both the starch and glue works disappear from the valuation books in 1866

Phase 2: Brewery (1866 – 1884)

In July 1866, the Belfast & Ulster Brewing Company (BUBC) took over the now-vacant premises. According to the Belfast Newsletter, this company had been established in February of that year. A feature of the Sandy Row premises which doubtless attracted the new company was the presence of wells which had been sunk by Mr Tucker, presumably for process water for his glue and starch production. Having acquired the site, the BUBC set about demolishing most of the old buildings.
A prospectus issued by the new company noted that Bernard Hughes (of bakery fame) was its chairman and that wine and spirit merchants predominated on its board of directors. Capital of £60,000 was being sought, in the form of 6000 £10 shares.
In March 1867, BUBC entered into an agreement with Fitzpatrick Brothers (Thomas, William and Michael) of Great Victoria St, Belfast “to erect brew houses, malt houses, kiln, two dwelling houses, offices, yards and other buildings” for the sum of £17,702. Alexander McAllister of Chichester St, Belfast was the architect; he was to go on to design St Matthew’s Church, Belfast in 1882-83. The steam engine to power the machinery was supplied by Victor Coats’ Lagan Foundry, and the structural cast-ironwork was manufactured at Henry Grey’s Foundry in Townsend St.
The foundation stone for the new brewery was laid in 1867 and work appears to have proceeded apace. Although various publications give 1869 as the year of the brewery’s opening, it may have been operational by late 1868. This is reflected in the site’s rateable valuation increasing five-fold in that year, from £155 in 1866 to £800 in 1868. Moreover, Owen, writing in 1921, noted that it was "on the verge of completion" in 1867.
A site plan by McAllister dated November 1868 describes the site as comprising a four-storey malt house, two-storey kiln, three-storey brew house, fermentation house, hop stores, engine and boiler rooms, chimney, offices and two three-storey dwellings.
Whilst the actual construction work may have proceeded smoothly, final settlement with the contractor was all but straightforward. In February 1869, Fitzpatrick Brothers instigated legal proceedings against BUBC over the payment of what they (but not BUBC) considered to be extras. This was the subject of much legal correspondence during the remainder of that year and was eventually settled by arbitration.
An advertisement placed by John McKibben, managing director of BUBC in the Belfast Newsletter on 25 March 1870 thanked the customers and shareholders of the ‘October and March Brewings’ for their support and noted that the brewery was producing “X, XX and XXX-strength porters” and also “tonic, mild, pale and extra-strong ales”.
Operations were short-lived however as it was announced in February 1873 that BUBC was going into receivership. The premises were subsequently bought by the liquidators on 29 May of that year. An advertisement placed on behalf of the new owners in the Belfast Newsletter on 30 June of that year noted that the “newly-erected, extensive and complete establishment known as the Belfast & Ulster Brewery” was to be sold without reserve by public auction on 18 July. The premises are described in the newspaper notice as “most substantially built and fitted with all the improvements that experience and scientific knowledge could suggest to make one of the most complete breweries in the United Kingdom. The building comprise extensive cellarage, cooperage, stores, maltings and kiln; offices, brewer’s and manager’s dwelling houses. The steam engine, boilers, fixed machinery and plant … will be sold with the premises. … Immediately after the sale of the brewery premises there will be sold … about 1500 casks; also the office furniture etc.”
In September or October of 1873, the premises were transferred by the liquidators to the Belfast Brewing Company (BBC) for £15,000. The precise relationship, if any, between BUBC and BBC, in terms of their Board members, must await future research.
The brewery continued in operation, the BBC being noted as its owner in a letterhead of 1876 and in the 1877 street directory. The letterhead includes a drawing of the premises. This shows an extremely impressive classical façade and gateway along Sandy Row. Some of the old glue/starch factory buildings appear in the background and also to its Lisburn Road side.
Like the BUBC, the BBC’s operations were short-lived. In 1878, the brewery is cited in the valuation books as being “at rest” and its rateable value drops from £658 to £370. In the same year the distillers William Dunville & Co are recorded as having taken over the malt house, stores and kiln.
Although Dunville’s presence suggests that the brewery had ceased ale and porter production, the 1880 street directory continues to record the Ulster Brewing Company (UBC) on the site. However, the Dublin Gazetteer of March 1881 notes the appointment of a liquidator to the BCC. That it was no longer working is also implied by a notice on the Belfast Newsletter of 22 January 1881 in which the Belfast Board of Guardians was considering the “old” brewery for its own reuse.
An advert in the Belfast Newsletter of 19 April 1882 notes the sale of the brewery premises by public auction the following month. There seem to have been no talkers as it was re-advertised in July 1883.
The 1883-84 OS large-scale map is identical to the 1876 letterhead drawing in terms of the buildings’ footprints. However, it also explicitly captions the site as ‘brewery’ rather than ‘brewery disused’. By contrast, the 1884 street directory notes the site as vacant.
Whilst it is not impossible that the assets of the BBC were taken over by the UBC and that brewing continued until 1884, the balance of documentary evidence indicates that production stopped once the BBC went into receivership and that the premises were in the hands of the liquidator thereafter.

Phase 3: Industrial and commercial units (1884 – 2013)

The valuation books and directories after 1884 indicate that the premises were used for a wide range of industrial and commercial purposes. However, decipherment of the valuation revision books is virtually impossible given the multiple changes in ownership and reuse of the various buildings within the complex, some of which are subdivided into individual floors. Interpretation is further complicated by the fact that the buildings have both ‘valuation map’ and ‘street’ numbers, and have been renumbered more than once. For these reasons, attention has focused on the surviving buildings which are the subject of this survey rather than the complex as a whole (see below).
By 1890 the premises were being referred to as the ‘Belfast Brewery Buildings’ in the street directories, and are marked as such on the 1901-03, 1920, 1931 and 1938 OS maps. Virtually the same footprint is shown on the 1967 OS map (with minor additions to the yard).
The South Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1908 in opposition to Home Rule, trained in the premises, as did the 36th Ulster Division during the first world war.
Sometime during the mid-1900s (probably post-war), part of the south-west corner of the block around the main yard was rebuilt.
The entire northern half of the brewery premises were demolished in the later 1900s to make way for new housing along Rowland Way (formerly Rowland St, and Tea Lane before that), and also for a Community Centre at its junction with Sandy Row. The latter opened in 1983-83 and is on the site of the Sandro Cinema which ran in one of the brewery buildings from 1919 to 1961. Built into the modern brick wall at the entrance to the community centre is a carved stone panel from the original entrance to the brewery yard (see McCutcheon, plate 114.2 for a photograph before demolition).
The terrace of houses along Boyne Square and remnants of the old glue/starch factory were also cleared to make way for an access road to new housing developments behind the premises - Boyne Court and Renfrew House.
Gilpins were the last occupants of the site, closing in 2007. The site is now vacant.

The histories of the individual buildings which are the primary focus of this report are as follows.

1. Building at west side of yard
This building is described by McAllister in 1868 as containing hop stores, malt rooms, malt mill, mash kieves and brewing house. There was a steam engine on the ground floor and copper boilers on the first floor; the latter is noted as being fire-proof. On the roof was a large cast-iron water cistern. The boiler for the engine was in a separate single-storey room abutting the south end of its west elevation; it was probably fed from the roof tank. The chimney from the boiler was at the north end of a building (since demolished) along the west side of the premises.
The 1876 letterhead shows the building in the same three-storey/ seven-ope wide form as it is today, but with a hipped roof and massive cistern over its middle section.
The 1900 valuation gives the building as a brick and slate building measuring 96ft long by 38ft deep by 38ft high. Apart from the ground floor at its south end, which was part of Jamison’s laundry, the building was vacant. It was subsequently reoccupied, but by whom and for what purpose must await future research.
It is evident from features of the surviving building that a section of its south-west corner has been rebuilt, probably in the mid-1900s and almost certainly at the same time as the reconstruction of Building 3B. The brick projection over the goods lift’s motor room, at its south-east corner, probably dates from this mid-20th century phase as well.

2. Loading shed in yard
This shed first appears on the 1967 OS map. Judging by its materials, it was probably built in the mid-1900s.
There was, until its demolition, a single-storey, flat roofed garage to the south of the shed, in the corner between buildings 2B and 3. This is also shown on the 1967 map.

3. Building on side street leading to Boyne Court
3A Main section at middle and east
This appears to be an original 1867-68 brewery building. It is described in McAllister’s plan as a four-storey malt house with a cellar. Its timber floors were covered with cement and there were elevators to all floors. It is illustrated in the 1876 letterhead with at least 14 window bays along its yard elevation. Of particular note is the classical gable fronting Sandy Row, of similar style to the yard frontage of Building 11.
The valuation revision book from 1882 onwards record it being used as a store by Messrs McClintock & McFadden, followed around 1891 by McCaw, Stevenson & Orr who used it as a lithographic printing works. It was taken over by Messrs Edward Sherman & John Featherstone in 1900. They were occupying only the first and second floors, but the ground floor and basement were unoccupied. The building contained a 13hp gas engine and 110 sewing machines, suggesting that it was being used as a clothing factory or hemstitching works.
The 1899 valuation note book and 1900 valuation revision book describe it as a brick building with slate roof. It measured 141 - 146½ ft in length by 49½ ft wide, and stood three storeys/ 38ft high. There was also a 7ft high cellar extending under the entire building.
The confusion of entries in the valuation revision books in the 1900s forces reliance on the street directories. These indicate that Messrs Robert Smith & Sons, apron & pinafore manufacturers were occupying this part of the site and continued to do so in the 1950s.
J. Gilpin’s piano and organ warehouse first appears in the 1924 street directory. By 1940 the firm had also expanded into house furnishings and this was eventually to become their sole focus of activity until their closure in 2007.

3B Section at west end
This section of the building is described by McAllister as a “two storey kiln with iron and tile floor”. It is also depicted on the 1876 letterhead as having a louvred ventilator on the apex of its pyramidal roof. This was one of the buildings taken over by Messrs Dunville in 1878.
The 1900 valuation revision book gives its measurements as 47ft long by 50ft wide. It is noted as a brick and slate building standing 38ft high and having a 6ft high cellar. The original kiln had evidently been heightened or entirely rebuilt sometime between 1878 and 1900.
In 1900 this section, together with an adjoining part of Building 1, was being used as a laundry by Andrew Jamison. Messrs Jamison are noted in the street directories as a boys’ clothing manufacturer, and had a presence on the site into the 1930s.
As will become evident in the site description, part of this building was largely rebuilt in its present form during the mid-1900s.

4. Shop
This shop is on the site of three-storey/ four-ope wide dwelling house cited in McAllister’s 1868 plan and depicted in the 1876 letterhead. It post-dates the demolition of the brewery’s Sandy Row frontage, and was probably erected by Messrs Gilpins in the 1970s.

References – Primary sources:
1. Bradshaw’s 1819 General & Commercial Directory, p.112.
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1. First edition OS six-inch map, Co Antrim sheet 61 (1832-33).
3. PRONI VAL/1/B/79, p.61. First valuation book for Shankill Parish (1837). The glue works’ address is given as Tea Lane rather than Sandy Row in this instance.
4. PRONI OS/9/50/2/2. OS 1:2376 map, Belfast sheet 2 (1843).
5. PRONI OS/9/50/3/43. OS 1:1056 map, Belfast sheet 43 (1858-59).
6. 1858-59 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.396.
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/4G, p.513. Second valuation book for Shankill Parish, Belfast Union (1860). The address is given as 83 Sandy Row.
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/5, p.673. Valuation revision book for St George’s Ward/ Malone Lower Townland (1862-82).
9. 1863-64 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.507.
10. 1865 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.509.
11. 1866 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.83.
12. Belfast Newsletter, 10 Feb 1866.
13. PRONI D1905/1/32/A. Miscellaneous documents, e.g. Indenture between BUBC and land owners, 4 July 1866; Prospectus (undated); Site plan by Alexander McAllister, November 1869; Agreement between BUBC and BBC dated 24 October 1873; Letterhead dated 28 July 1876 etc.
14. PRONI D1905/1/1. Legal agreements and correspondence regarding brewery, 1867-69.
15. 1870 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.731.
16. Belfast Newsletter, 25 March 1870.
17. Belfast Newsletter, 17 Feb 1872.
18. Belfast Newsletter, 9 April 1873.
19. Belfast Newsletter, 30 May 1873.
20. Belfast Newsletter, 30 June 1873.
21. PRONI D1905/1/32/B. Miscellaneous documents, e.g. Receipt for purchase of premises by BBC, 10 Sept 1873; Copy of Dublin Gazetteer dated 22 March 1881 noting appointment of liquidators to BBC.
22. 1877 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.252.
23. 1880 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.267.
24. Belfast Newsletter, 22 Jan 1881.
25. Belfast Newsletter, 19 April 1882.
26. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/8, p.97. Valuation revision book for St George’s Ward/ Malone Lower Townland (1882-96).
27. Belfast Newsletter, 24 July 1883.
28. PRONI OS/8/30/3A/43. OS 1:1056 map, Belfast sheet 43 (1883-84).
29. 1884 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.322.
30. 1890 Belfast & Provincial Street Directory, p.574.
31. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/15, p.117. Valuation revision book for St George’s Ward/ Malone Lower Townland (1897-1905).
32. PRONI VAL/12/A/7M/7. Valuation note book, p.34 (1899).
33. PRONI VAL/7/B/10/5. Valuation book, pp 24-43 (1900).
34. PRONI VAL/12/A/7/M/8. Valuation note book, p.9 (1900).
29. PRONI OS/8/30/5A/78. OS 1:1056 map, Belfast sheet 78 (1901-03).
35. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/19, p.96. Valuation revision book for St George’s Ward/ Malone Lower Townland (1906-15).
36. PRONI OS/10/1/61/9/2. OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 61-09 (1920).
37. PRONI OS/10/1/61/9/3. OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 61-09 (1931).
38. PRONI OS/10/1/61/9/4. OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 61-09 (1938).
39. PRONI OS/11/146/1/1. OS 1:2500 map, Irish Grid sheet 146-01 (1967).
40. Street directories for 1903, 1921-25, 1940, 1950, 1963, 1980-81, 1986, 1990, 1995.
References - Secondary sources:
1. D.J. Owen, History of Belfast, p.282 (Belfast: W & G Baird, 1921).
2. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of Belfast 1700-1914, p.54 (Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1967).
3. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, plate 114.2 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).
4. M. Patton, Central Belfast, pp 294-295 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993).
5. L.F. Pearson, British Breweries: an Architectural History (London: Hambledon Press, 1999).
6. J. Magee, Barney: Bernard Hughes of Belfast 1808-1878: Master Baker, Liberal and Reformer (Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2001).
7. Consarc Conservation, Gilpins Building, Sandy Row, Belfast: Technical Appraisal Document (unpublished report, 5 Dec 2012).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The former brewery buildings at Sandy Row have three main phases of historical development; the site originally operated as a Glue & Starch Works from c.1820–1866, then as a Brewery from 1866–1884 when the Belfast & Ulster Brewing Company (BUBC) took over the vacant premises, and lastly as industrial and commercial units between 1884–2013. The brewery begain construction in 1867, with the site being comprised of a four-storey malt house, two-storey kiln, three-storey brew house, fermentation house, hop stores, engine and boiler rooms, chimney, offices and two three-storey dwellings. While some original historic fabric remains, including the red brick building at the west side of the yard which retains dressed stone and polychromatic brick arches, the other buildings in the complex have been much altered or indeed replaced. The former brewery buildings are of local historical interest as a reminder of 19th century industry and for twentieth century history (The South Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1908 in opposition to Home Rule, trained in the premises, as did the 36th Ulster Division during the first world war), however due to the overall loss of original historic fabric and character, the buildings do not meet the statutory test when assessed against the Criteria for Listing .