36 Hamilton Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace two-bay three-storey redbrick house, built c.1840. Built as one of a terrace of six similar houses lining the south side of Hamilton Street. After a period of dereliction the terrace was refurbished c.1990 by Hearth Housing Association with only the exterior walls retained.

Natural slate roof, hipped to the east with black clay ridge tiles, lead hip ridges and two redbrick chimneystacks having clay pots. Cast-iron guttering to stepped redbrick eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with rendered plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows.
Two-bay three-storey front elevation with front railed area and rusticated rendered quoins to the outer corner. Off-centre round-headed door opening with moulded surround and replacement timber panelled door flanked by flat-panelled pilasters, stepped lintel cornice and decorative fanlight over. Door opens onto concrete platform and three nosed steps flanked by low rendered plinth wall and replacement iron railings enclosing a small front paved area.

Three-storey east side elevation is two windows wide with rusticated render quoins to either end, three 6/6 timber sash windows to the left and three blind openings to the right.

Three-storey rear elevation is two windows wide and abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension, spanning entire terrace. Camber-headed brick arches to all window openings, irregularly placed to light rooms to the right and half-landings to the left. Bipartite 6/6 timber sash window to the lean-to with a single timber glazed door. Door opens onto communal rear bitmac parking area accessed via pair of tall timber sheeted gates to either end of terrace, supported on pairs of tall redbrick piers and redbrick screen walls with concrete coping.

West side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.38 (HB26/30/009B)

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of six similar houses lining the south side of Hamilton Street.

Roof: Replacement natural slate
RWG: Replacement cast-iron
Walling: Redbrick
Window: Replacement timber sash

Historical information

Hamilton Street is one of a terrace of six three-storey buildings which were mostly developed by 1832-33, the first edition Ordnance Survey map shows that nos. 36-40 were constructed by that year whilst nos. 42-46 were likely constructed soon afterwards. The Belfast Street Directories records that Nos. 36-46 were numbered differently as nos 24-34 in 1852 and in that year the occupant of No. 36 Hamilton Street was a Mrs. Charles Stewart. By the 1859 Griffith’s Valuation the house had passed into the possession of a Mr. George McBain. McBain was employed as a professor of phrenology (a late Georgian and early Victorian pseudoscience based upon measurements of the human skull) and let the house from Mr. Elisha Crawford who also owned the rest of the terrace; the valuer described the house as a B+ class (‘not new but in sound repair’) dwelling which measured 6 by 7 ½ yds and was valued at £14.
The Annual Revisions indicate that George McBain resided at No. 36 Hamilton Street until c. 1905; however, the Belfast Street Directories record that two dressmakers, a Ms. Elizabeth Williamson and a Mrs. Jane Kelly lived at the address in 1877 and 1880 respectively. The census notes that the house was occupied by a Mr. Denis Mulholland, a Roman Catholic Bricklayer; a widower, Mulholland lived with his son, also a bricklayer, and his sister and daughter who were employed as stitchers in a local warehouse. The Census Building Return described the house as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of only three occupied rooms and possessed no out offices. Mulholland continued to reside at No. 36 Hamilton Street until his death in 1908 after which time the house fell vacant for a number of years (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 5 Sept 1908). By 1906 ownership of the entire terrace (apart from No. 46) had passed to a Captain E. Gibbons who continued to own the length until at least the 1970s.

The building was reoccupied by 1918 when a Mr. Joseph Laverty came into possession; Laverty was employed as a Motorman and occupied the house until at least 1935. In that year the value of No. 36 Hamilton Street was increased to £17 under the first general revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. During the Second World War Hamilton Street was badly damaged in the Belfast Blitz, when the Luftwaffe targeted the nearby shipyard industries, and many of the houses along the street were lost (Patton, p. 179). Nos. 36-46 were repaired and after the war were included in the second revaluation of property in Northern Ireland which took place in 1956; No. 36 Hamilton Street’s value was recalculated at £19 at which it remained by the end of the revaluation in 1972. An Insurance Agent by the name John Keenan had occupied the house by 1950 and resided there until his death c. 1956; after Keenan’s death his widow (or daughter) Teresa Keenan continued to occupy the house until the 1980s (Belfast Street Directories).

Hamilton Street was built in the 1830s on reclaimed land to the south-east of Belfast’s town centre; this land was created by the construction of a paper mill dam along the Blackstaff River at the current junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street (O’Hagan, p. 13). Patton records that Hamilton Street drew its title from the family name of the Dukes of Abercorn who resided in No. 3 Hamilton Street from 1818 (now demolished). The street originally attracted high ranking merchant class residents including many who were employed in the newspaper and printing trade, however by the 1850s the area had become more distinctly working class as businessmen moved to grander houses in the Belfast suburbs. With the flight of the merchant classes the buildings on Hamilton Street and the neighboring Joy Street (HB26/30/007A-C; HB26/30/008A-F) became mainly inhabited by working class traders but also by students who frequented Queens College which had been established in 1849. Due to their size and proximity to the town centre a number of the large houses on Joy Street were converted into lodging and boarding houses for the new influx of students; however the majority of the similar houses on Hamilton Street were maintained as private dwellings (Patton, pp 179-180).

In 1971 Brett described the houses on Hamilton and Joy Street as ‘the best example left in the city of late-Georgian Belfast’ (Brett, p. 4). Many of the remaining houses on Hamilton Street, returning into Catherine Street North and Joy Street, were demolished in 1988 by which time the surviving nos. 36-46 had also fallen a state of disrepair. Between 1988 and 1990 the Hearth Revolving Fund restored the terrace with the addition of a new running bay at the rear; (Patton, pp 179-180). No. 36 Hamilton Street was listed in 1985 along with the rest of the terrace and continues to be occupied.

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 – Fourth 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. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/21 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
13. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/50 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
14. Belfast Street Directories (1843; 1852; 1861; 1901; 1910; 1918; 1920-21; 1930; 1940; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980).
15. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
16. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1908)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B; McKinstry, T. R. J., ‘Survey and recommendations for the Joy Street and Hamilton Street District of Belfast’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971.
2. O’Hagan, J., ‘The streets where we lived’ Belfast: Unknown Publisher, 2006.
3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.
4. First Survey Record – HB26/30/009 (1987).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace two-bay three-storey redbrick Georgian townhouse, built c.1840. Located on the south side of Hamilton Street in Belfast city centre, forming part of a terrace of six similar houses. The building displays proportions and detailing typical of the Georgian period.
Restored in recent years following a period of dereliction , the house required a large amount of repair work resulting in some loss of the original architectural fabric. However the terrace has been restored in a sensitive manner by Hearth Housing Association c.1985.
Externally the building has retained much of its historic fabric and late-Georgian detailing. Number 36 adds significant value to the group as a whole, retaining the style and proportions of the terrace thus ensuring the continued survival of this rare example of late Georgian terraced housing in the centre of Belfast.