23 Bedford Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical five-bay, three-storey-with-attic, terraced red-brick office in Lombardic style; formerly a linen warehouse incorporating HB26/30/015 A&C. Built 1871 to designs by John Boyd and located to the west side of Bedford Street in Belfast city centre. Rectangular-on-plan with bowed front façade and modern extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with yellow brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting masonry eaves with arcaded Lombardic frieze eaves course. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with yellow brick dressings; dog-tooth string course to second floor windows at impost level. Windows are segmental and round-headed 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash replacements, in yellow brick chamfered surrounds having ornamented painted masonry keystones and corner stones, and projecting painted masonry sills.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged with two windows to either side of a gabled entrance bay. Double-height recess rising from the first floor sill course, embracing loggia-style window and an oculus above. Tripartite window to attic, oculus with carved head to keystone, and corbelled and dentilled plinth to loggia-style window. Double-leaf raised-and fielded six-panel entrance door with segmental-headed transom light, in a decorative painted masonry lugged surround with moulded architrave.

The south elevation is abutted by adjoining building; HB26/30/015C.

The west (rear) elevation has two windows to left and a modern timber door to right at ground floor; first floor is abutted by a blank cement rendered extension; second floor is concealed.

The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building; HB26/30/015A.

Setting:

Located on an important thoroughfare in the centre of the city, north of the junction with Ormeau Avenue and south of the City Hall. Tarmacadamed alley to rear.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish-bonded red-brick
Windows: Replacement timber-framed sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current building dates from 1871 and was built to designs by John Boyd as warehouses for William Ferguson, linen merchant. (Patton) The warehouses were constructed on what was then a new road called Bedford Street that had been laid out in the 1850s in an area formerly known as McLean’s fields. Adam McLean was a linen draper and property developer who came into possession of the area between 1805 and 1826. It was slow to develop, however, the damp floodplain of the river Blackstaff making the site unattractive. However, spinning and weaving factories had colonised the western side of the street by the second edition OS map of 1858, following drainage of the area. (Brett)

The new warehouses are first shown on the 1871-3 street map of Belfast and appear to have been let by the Ferguson firm to other enterprises. They first enter valuation records between 1863 and 1881 but the initial entry is not dated. (Annual Revisions)

The first occupier to be recorded in number 23 is William Robert Nelson, linen and cambric handkerchief manufacturer and bleacher, who leases the warehouse from William Ferguson. The valuation is £130. The next occupiers are Tillie Dickson & Co, later Alexander Tillie & Co, linen manufacturers who remain in the building until 1924. The building was then let room by room to a number of linen firms, J B McFadzean of Belfast and Manchester, textile company, WM McFadzean, yarn merchants, HJ Brewer, linen manufacturer and E J Elliott & Son Ltd, linen manufacturers. Textile firms moved in and out of the building over the years but in 1932 one of the longest occupants, J A Lowry, linen dress goods, moved into the building and remained there until the early 1960s. However, the 1950s began to see a slow decline in textiles and in that decade Lowrys and Sinton and Graham Ltd, linen merchants were joined by washing machine manufacturer and electrical and engineering reps signifying the beginning of a change in Belfast’s economy towards light engineering and service industries. By the early-1960s the building had been taken over by an electrical wholesaler and nearly a century of association with the linen industry had come to an end. The building is now in use as a solicitor’s office.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/8/30/1/36 – Belfast Street Map (1858)
2. PRONI OS/8/30/2/36 – Belfast Street Map (1871-3)
3. PRONI OS/8/30/3/36 – Belfast Street Map (1883-4)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930)
5. PRONI VAL/12/F/3/14/1 – Annual Revisions (1930-1935)
6. PRONI VAL/7/B/14/B – Belfast Revaluation Fieldbooks (1900-1)
7. Belfast Street Directories (1902-1995)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C.E.B., Gillespie, R. and Maguire W.A. “Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850, Maps Buildings and Trades” Dublin and Belfast: Royal Irish Academy and Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 2004
2. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical five-bay, three-storey-with-attic, terraced red-brick building in Lombardic style; built 1871 to designs by John Boyd and located to the west side of Bedford Street in Belfast city centre. Formerly a linen warehouse, also incorporating numbers 21 and 25 (HB26/30/015 A&C) with an unusual bowed façade. This is one of a number of nineteenth-century linen warehouses that characterise the social and economic development of Belfast during the Victorian era. Externally, proportions and detailing have largely retained much of its original character, with some sympathetic restoration over the years. Although the warehouse has been subdivided into three separate properties, the building retains its architectural integrity. Number 23 adds significant value to the group as a whole, retaining the style and proportions of the terrace and contributing positively to its overall character.