4 JOY ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace three-storey rendered house, built c.1840. Rectangular on plan facing west lining the east side of Joy Street forming part of a terrace of four similar houses. Extensively renovated by Hearth Housing Association c.1985.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and two rendered profiled chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Cast-iron guttering to moulded eaves cornice and cast-iron downpipe. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling with moulded plinth course and rusticated quoins to north end. Square-headed window openings with architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows.

Front elevation is two windows wide with continuous sill course to ground and first floors. Round-headed door opening with moulded architrave surround and scrolled console brackets having scribed render pilasters and replacement timber doorcase with replacement flat-panelled timber door and fanlight.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building.

Rear elevation abutted by gable-ended two-storey return. Asymmetrically-placed square-headed window openings to the rear elevation with 6/6 timber sash windows.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.6 (HB26/30/007B).

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of four similar houses lining the east side of Joy Street.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Ruled and lined render
Windows Replacement timber sash

Historical information

No. 4 Joy Street is one of a terrace of four three-storey buildings which first appear on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1858, however the terrace was certainly constructed earlier during the late Georgian period; the first edition Ordnance Survey map shows that construction of contemporary buildings in the area (such as nos 36-46 Hamilton Street HB26/30/009A-F) had commenced by 1832-33. Joy Street had certainly been constructed by 1843 when the Belfast Street Directories first recorded the terrace, although at that time the street was numbered differently than it is now. The 1852 directory recorded that No. 4 Joy Street was occupied by a Miss E. Patterson who was employed as a dressmaker, and also by William Savage, a local cloth lapper (someone who handled and transferred cloth between different manufacturing stages).

By Griffith’s Valuation in 1859 No. 4 Joy Street had passed into the possession of Mary Anne Crothers; Crothers let the house from a Mr. Robert Beggs (who also owned the rest of the terrace) at an annual rent of £20. The valuer described the house as a three-storey B+ class (‘not new but in sound repair’) dwelling which measured 5 ½ by 9 yds and was valued at £18. The Annual Revisions record that Mary Anne Crothers continued to occupy No. 4 Joy Street until 1884 when the house passed to a Mr. Thomas Wright; however the Belfast Street Directories indicate that Henry McBride, a local printer, and a Mr. T. Griffin, a Vetinary Surgeon, occupied the address in 1877 and 1880 respectively. The 1901 Census records that Wright, a 70 year old Methodist Coach Trimmer, lived in No. 4 Joy Street with his wife Elizabeth and their three children. The 1901 Census Building Return described the house as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of nine rooms, but by 1911 the dwelling was recorded as 1st class and possessed nine rooms; this change also occurred for No. 6 Joy Street (HB26/30/007B).

The next major change to the site came in 1906 when the entire terrace passed from Robert Beggs into the ownership of a Miss Ann Kelly and was subsequently revalued; in that year No. 4 Joy Street was reduced in value to £17 and then to £16. Occupation of the house changed once more at sometime between 1915 and 1930 when John McCann, a carpenter, came into possession, although there was no further change to the value of the house by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

In 1935 the government carried out the first general revaluation of property in Northern Ireland which recalculated the value of No. 4 Joy Street at £22; a second revaluation was undertaken in 1956 which further increased the value of the building to £24 (at which it remained until the end of the project in 1972). John McCann continued to occupy the house until it was converted into flats c. 1950, however by 1960 the building was inhabited by a Bus Conductor named Hugh Condit who lived at the address until at least 1980 (Belfast Street Directories).

Jim O’Hagan records that Joy Street gained its name from a former paper mill in the area which was owned by Henry Joy, a relative of Henry Joy McCracken, the United Irishman; the mill formerly stood at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street and due to the construction of the mill’s dam, acres of land to the south-east of Belfast’s town centre was reclaimed at the turn of the 19th century (O’Hagan, p. 13). Joy Street and the surrounding Markets area was laid out during the late Georgian period, gradually developing southwards from May Street on the reclaimed land. The grandiose redbrick terraces that were erected c. 1830-40 were originally occupied by well respected merchants; however, due in part to the mass influx of working class labourers into Belfast in the wake of the Great Famine, by the 1850s the merchant classes abandoned the area, favouring instead the new suburbs in Malone to the south of Belfast.

With the flight of the merchant classes the buildings on Joy Street and Hamilton Street became inhabited by working and lower middle class occupants whilst a number of the large houses were converted into lodging and boarding houses. Further, the establishment of the Queen’s College in 1849 resulted in a large number of student residents choosing the markets area where they sought cheap lodgings; this continued until c. 1850-70 when the student population gradually moved to lodgings in the immediate vicinity of the university. With this second exodus the lodging houses in Joy Street and Hamilton Street became the destination of business lodgers and musical performers that frequented the nearby Music Halls. However, the occupational history of No. 4 Joy Street shows that the building was not used as a lodging house but has continued to be used as a private dwelling (Brett and McKinstry, pp 2-6).

The terrace was badly damaged in the mid-1970s when a bomb exploded destroying the end terrace dwelling; the Northern Ireland Housing Executive later sold the terrace to the Hearth Housing Association who restored nos 4 to 8, rebuilt No. 10 and erected two flats on the site of the destroyed No. 12 Joy Street in 1989-90 (Brett and McKinstry, p. 12; Larmour, p. 8). No. 4 Joy Street was listed in 1987 and continues to be owned by Hearth Housing Association.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1B – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1 - Annual Revisions 1863-1881
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/24 - Annual Revisions 1882-1896
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/35 - Annual Revisions 1897-1905
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/2 - Annual Revisions 1906-1915
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/5 - Annual Revisions 1915-1930
12. Belfast Street Directories (1843; 1852; 1877; 1880; 1901; 1910; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B; McKinstry, TR. J., ‘Survey and recommendations for the Joy Street and Hamilton Street District of Belfast’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971.
2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
3. O’Hagan, J., ‘The streets where we lived’ Belfast: Unknown Publisher, 2006.
4. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
5. First Survey Record – HB26/30/007B (1987).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Mid-terrace three-storey rendered house, built c.1840. Located on the east side of Joy Street in Belfast city centre, forming part of a terrace of four similar houses. The building displays proportions and detailing typical of the late-Georgian period. Restored in recent years in a sensitive manner by Hearth Housing Association c.1985 much of the architectural fabric remains intact. Externally the building has retained much of its historic fabric with appropriate alterations. Although the interior has been modified, the layout and features of interest have largely remained unaltered. Number 4 adds significant value to the group as a whole, retaining the style and proportions of the terrace and contributing positively to its historic character.