38 Hamilton Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced three-storey redbrick house, built c.1840, built as one of a terrace of six similar houses. Rectangular on plan facing north 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.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and shared redbrick chimneystacks to either end 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.

Three-storey front elevation is two windows wide with front railed area. 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. Adjacent to the front entrance is a further round-headed door opening with replacement sheeted timber door and overpanel giving access to the rear.

East side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.36 (HB26/30/009A).

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.40 (HB26/30/009C).

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 No. 38 Hamilton Street was occupied by a Mr. James Anderson who was employed as portrait painter. By 1859 Griffith’s Valuation notes that the house had passed into the possession of a Miss Elizabeth Bruce who let the house from Elisha Crawford; Crawford also owned the rest of the terrace. The valuer described No. 38 Hamilton Street as a B+ class (‘not new but in sound repair’) dwelling which measured 6 by 7 ½ yds and was valued at £15.

The Annual Revisions indicate that Elizabeth Bruce resided at No. 38 Hamilton Street until c. 1905; however, the Belfast Street Directories record that Bernard McAnulty, a saw sharpener, lived at the address in 1877 and 1880. By 1901 the house was occupied by a Mr. Edward Doherty, a Roman Catholic mechanic, who lived at the address with his wife Mary and their five children; the 1901 Census described No. 38 Hamilton Street as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of five rooms and possessed no out offices. During Doherty’s occupation, around 1906, ownership of the entire terrace (apart from No. 46) passed to a Captain E. Gibbons who continued to own the length until at least the 1970s. By 1911 Doherty’s son Edward was employed as a turbine engine fitter in either an industrial factory or the local shipyards whilst his daughters worked in a clothing factory as machinists, reflecting the working class background of the occupants who lived in the area at that time. Doherty continued to reside at No. 36 Hamilton Street until his death sometime in the 1920s after which his widow Mary Doherty continued possession for a further decade.

In 1935 the value of No. 38 Hamilton Street was increased to £18 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 from 1956; No. 38 Hamilton Street’s value was recalculated at £19 at which it remained by the end of the project in 1972. Mary Doherty had vacated the house sometime after 1935 and by 1940 No. 38 Hamilton Street was occupied by a Mr. John Keenan, a barman; Keenan continued to reside at this address until the 1980s after which time the house fell vacant until is restoration 1988-90 (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. 38 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)

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

Terraced 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 38 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.