68 Donegall Pass

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-storey two-bay mid-terrace early Victorian townhouse built c. 1845. Square plan form with large modern two-storey flat-roof extension to the rear. Located on Donegall Pass adjacent to St Mary Magdalene Church (HB26/30/084) south of the city centre, east of Shaftsbury Square.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; overhanging eaves with timber soffits and paired eaves brackets; cast-iron rainwater goods, semi-circular gutters with circular downpipes. Replacement brick chimney with replacement clay-pots. Red-brick walling laid to Flemish bond; ruled-and-lined render to the ground floor; painted rough-cast render to the rear elevation. 6/6 and 6/3 timber sliding sash; with horns; flat arches over with painted masonry cills; continuous cills to first floor. Four raised-and-fielded bolection moulded panelled door with margin-paned over light; flanked by panelled pilaster rising to foliated console brackets supporting moulded canopy surmounted by stuccowork.

The principal elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged. The front entrance is located to the left and accessed by replacement steps. Two windows to the ground, first and second floor.

The left gable is abutted by 66 Donegall Pass (HB26/30/083E).

The rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed extension; light well to original elevation windows openings.

The right gable is abutted by 70 Donegall Pass (HB26/30/083G).

Setting:

The building is flanked either side by the adjoining terrace. Paved area used as a private car park to the front; tarmac yard to the rear enclosed by a palisade gate. The general surroundings are principally two and three-storey residential from various periods. Former School of Music (HB26/30/089) opposite on the south side of the street with St Mary Magdalene Church (HB26/30/084) to the west.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Red brick/render
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current terrace, formerly known as ‘Apsley Place’ was built in 1846 in what was then a sparsely developed area of the growing town of Belfast. Donegall Pass had been laid out by the late eighteenth century across a heavily wooded area that was used as a deerpark by the Donegall family, Belfast’s principal landowners at the time. Brett takes the view that Donegall Pass and the Ormeau Road were laid out as carriage drives through these woodland estates and it was not until the control of the Donegalls over their pleasure grounds began to lessen in the 1820s that permission was given to build in this area. By 1823, the land on the north side of Donegall Pass had become the property of Henry Joy who was proprietor of the Belfast Newsletter and an active participant in the political life of the town. The building of the gas works to the east (1823), probably contributed to the development of the area, but at the time ‘Apsley Place’ was built in the mid-nineteenth century, it was one of a handful of terrace developments along the Pass to the north while the territory to the south of the Pass was largely divided among substantial villas set in spacious grounds. (OS map 1858; Brett; Patton; Dictionary of Irish Biography)

The developer of the terrace itself was Thomas Gaffikin (1809-93), a farmer’s son and butcher who built several other terraces in south Belfast. Gaffikin lived at Number 70 and later number 56 Apsley Place from its construction until he moved into a new terrace he had built at Queen’s Elms where he was to remain for the rest of his life. Gaffikin later became the proprietor of a linen and linen-yarn business and a town councillor for Cromac and then St George’s Ward, and has left an important historical legacy in the form of his 1875 lecture entitled ‘Belfast Fifty Years Ago’ which gives a lively impression of the social life of early nineteenth-century Belfast. (Annual Revisions; Dictionary of National Biography)

The houses were occupied by a succession of tenants through the years, reflecting the range of occupations open to the middle and petty bourgeois classes during Belfast’s period of most rapid expansion. The early residents of the terrace were often wealthy business proprietors or ‘gentlemen’, but as the merchant class gradually moved out of Belfast into the more salubrious surroundings of North Down and elsewhere, there is a perceptible shift in the tenantry of the terrace towards the well-doing petty bourgeoisie. The censuses of 1901 and 1911 reveal that by the beginning of the twentieth century, some tenants were sufficiently wealthy to employ a domestic servant, and others supplemented their income by keeping boarders. However, it is not until the modern era that the houses appear to have been used as commercial premises.

From 1846 to 1850 the tenant of number 68 was G L Miller, landing surveyor. Then followed W Roger in 1852 and W Close, woollen draper of High Street (1858). Griffith’s Valuation (1859) lists the occupiers as William Close and then James Martin. The valuation is £30 and the house is 3 storeys high. Subsequent tenants were Mrs Mary Carter (1863-4). Alfred Wigglesworth of the Bedford Street Weaving Company (1865 – the same year an outbuilding to the rear of the terrace is deleted and the valuation reduced to £27), 1877 John M Greer (1877), Miss Black (1890) and Frances Gibson, draper (1896-7). At the time of the 1901 census, the building was run as a boarding house by Elisabeth Lonsdale, dressmaker. Her young male and female boarders worked in a variety of trades, as a cashier, a clerk in the Income Tax office, an apprentice to the seed trade, a bookkeeper and a dressmaker. The servant to the household was a 50-year-old widow from County Down. Resident in 1911 was John Heaney, retired builder and his wife, children and grandson. Two of his daughters were national school teachers and his son a clerk in a biscuit factory. Mary Poole was the occupier from 1916 to 1935. The house is currently in use as offices.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1/D –Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-45 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930)
7. Belfast Street Directories (1846-1935)

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. McGuire, J and Quinn, J, eds “Dictionary of Irish Biography” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and Royal Irish Academy, 2009
3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-storey two-bay mid-terrace early Victorian townhouse built c. 1845, located on Donegall Pass in close proximity to St Mary
Magdalene Church. Converted for use as an office, interventions have been largely sympathetic. Externally the building has retained much of its historic fabric and late-Victorian detailing, with some architectural interest lost due to a modern extension to the rear. Although the interior has been modified as a response to the changing requirement of the buildings usage, the layout has largely remained unaltered, however some interior detailing has been lost. Number 68 adds significant value to this group of listed buildings (HB26.30.083A - G), retaining the style, proportions and detailing of the terrace and contributing positively to its historic character.