9 Wellington Place, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 6GB

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Four-storey three-bay late Georgian terrace house built of painted brick, converted to commercial use, having central full-height bow likely added in the early 20thC.

Roof concealed by cornice and blocking course; chimneystacks to either side. Metal rainwater goods. Flemish bonded painted brick walling over shopped ground floor. Replacement timber casement windows throughout, with decorative surrounds.

Front elevation: Ground floor partly shopped, but retaining separate entrance to upper floors. Windows in outer bays at each floor converted to mullioned casements, with plastered reveals and painted cills, shallow entablatures fo 2nd and 3rd floor windows, and intervening panels between first and second floor windows decorated with wreaths and swags. Central bays converted to deep bow windows with transomes and leaded upper lights. Painted cornice below parapet. Rendered brick chimney.

Rear Elevation: not visible.

Setting:
Part of a terrace of three contemporary houses (HB26/50/029 A-C), the oldest surviving part of Wellington Place.

Schedule of materials:
Walls: Red brick, painted
Roof: Not visible
RWG: Square metal rainwater goods
Windows: Appear to be metal

Historical information

No. 9 Wellington Place, a four-storey redbrick Georgian townhouse, was constructed in c. 1830 along with the adjoining nos 7 and 11 (HB26/50/029A-B); the terrace, which originally contained six dwellings was designed by Adam McClean. McClean (1765/66-1849) was an amateur architect and linen draper, based in Belfast who constructed nos 7-11 Wellington Place, but also erected a terrace of nine houses on Donegall Square (only one of which still survives at the corner of Donegall Square East and May Street) and warehouses at 19-23 Franklin Street; McClean also owned a large number of properties in Belfast’s town centre although Brett states that ‘he was genuinely interested in architecture and not merely in property speculation’ (Bret, pp 13-20; Dictionary of Irish Architects). The Hodges & Smith Belfast Street maps (c. 1850) states that Adam McClean’s lease commenced on 17th August 1829 suggested that the terrace was constructed in that year; the contemporary Townland Valuation (c. 1830) records that No. 9 Wellington Place was valued at £62 and was occupied by a Mr. David McCance.

McCance was employed as a local linen merchant and, along with his brother John, worked at the White Linen Hall in Donegall Square. David McCance continued to reside at No. 9 Wellington Place in 1843; however he had vacated the site by 1852 when John Herdman, a flax spinner of J & J. Herdman & Co. (who possessed offices on Winetavern Street) was recorded as occupant in that year’s Belfast Street Directory. Griffith’s Valuation noted that David McCance’s brother John owned No. 7 Wellington Place in 1860, but No. 9 had been purchased outright from David by Richard Davison and James Torrens who were recorded as occupants in that year. Davison and Torrens were solicitors who established an office at No. 9 Wellington Place but also possessed a branch at 65 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin (1861 Belfast Street Directory); Griffith’s Valuation recorded that the value of No. 9 had increased to £70 since the 1830s.

Davison and Torrens continued to operate from their Wellington Place offices until the 1920s. The 1900 Belfast Revaluation increased the value of the property to £170 and established the solicitor’s rent at over £100 per annum. Davison & Torrens also operated as estate agents and principally administered the estate of the Earl of Shaftesbury; in 1910 Thomas H. Torrens was recorded as the Earl’s agent in the Belfast Street Directories, however despite the conversion of No. 9 Wellington Place into offices in c. 1860, the building continued to be utilised as a private dwelling. In 1911 the property was occupied by a Mr. John Frederick Bowman (31, Church of Ireland) who resided at the site with his wife Mary (30) and was employed as the estate office’s caretaker; the census building return of that year described No. 9 Wellington Place as 1st class offices that consisted of five inhabited rooms.

By 1918 the solicitors firm continued to operate from the address, however by that time the firm had changed its name to ‘Torrens & Bristow’ after a Mr. John Bristow took over as partner from Davison; Torrens continued to operate as the Earl of Shaftesbury’s estate agent at this time (Belfast Street Directories). In 1924 nos 7-9 Wellington Place were purchased by Thomas Shanks; T. Shanks & Son were florists who had previously occupied the adjoining No. 7, however upon coming into ownership Shanks ceased trading and instead leased the floors of nos 7-9 Wellington Place to other tenants; Torrens & Bristow had vacated the building by the time this change in owner had taken place. In 1924 a shop was installed to the ground floor whilst the upper floors of the building were occupied by the Ministry of Agriculture; the total value of No. 9 Wellington Place was subsequently increased to approximately £368 as a result of this alteration. There was no further change to the value of the site by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930.

In 1935 the government carried out the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland; at that time No. 9 Wellington Place had been increased in value to £634 10s. The terrace survived the destruction of the 1941 Belfast Blitz and after the completion of the Second World War the value of the building was once again reassessed under the second general revaluation with commenced in 1956. By the 1950s No. 9 Wellington Place was subdivided into a large number of offices and also possessed a cafe on the upper floor as well as the shop on the ground floor; the total value of the building stood at approximately £1246 10s. by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

Patton states that Wellington Place was laid out in the 1790s as ‘superior terraces;’ named after the Duke of Wellington who once resided in Belfast during his youth, Wellington Place was, by 1822, the most densely populated residential area of Belfast and was a popular area frequented by Doctors and others of a professional class (Patton, p. 333). Nos 7-11 Wellington Place are the surviving remnants of a terrace of six similar buildings constructed by Adam McClean in c. 1830; the terrace ran between Fountain Street and Queen Street, the four-storey structures formed part of the western expansion of Belfast in the late-Georgian period and were originally intended as residential private dwellings lining the road towards the newly laid out College Square and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023). Brett stated that Adam McClean, who possessed many plots and leases in this area, accumulated his holdings from the Donegall family in the 1820s and that ‘it appears he was one of those who sought to benefit from the second marquess’s financial difficulty by acquiring good, long leases at low rents which he then built up’ (Brett, Georgian Belfast, p. 60).

In 1985 Brett used nos 7-11 Wellington Place to illustrate how building styles in Belfast altered during the late-Georgian period; he stated that ‘gradually, good brickwork gave way to sleazy stucco … the meeting-point is exemplified by 7, 9 and 11 Wellington Place, three houses built by Adam McClean in [c. 1830], of which the central one has regency stucco bows; its neighbours are of brick with formal ionic porticoes’ (Brett, p. 20).

Originally intended as a private dwelling, No. 9 Wellington Place has been utilised as a commercial property since being occupied by Davison & Torrens in the mid-19th century. Stylistically different to its immediate neighbours which are of brick with formal Ionic porticoes, No. 9 possesses a distinctive regency stucco bow windows which are complimented with stained glass. The building has lost its original Ionic doorcase which would have been similar to those adjoining the property. Upon its conversion to commercial use, the upper offices of No. 9 Wellington Place were used by a variety of companies and individuals including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Development Council of Northern Ireland; the upper floors of the building was also occupied by a cafe, known as the Val d’Or Cafe, between the 1940s and 1970s (Patton, p. 334).

No. 9 Wellington Place was listed in 1979 and continues to be utilised as a commercial premises; the ground floor shop has recently been reopened as a vintage art and exhibition space.

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/1/B/720A+B – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/4B – Griffith’s Valuation 1860
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/1-18 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
10. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/47-48 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
11. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/42 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1918)
15. First Survey Record – HB26/50/029 (1971)
16. First Survey Image – HB26/50/029 (1976)
17. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850: Maps, buildings and trades’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2004.
3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Four-storey three-bay late Georgian terrace house, now commercial premises, to designs by amateur architect and linen draper, Adam McClean. Built of brick with original portico with many features intact, including built of brick, a later bow window to upper floors. Although somewhat compromised by the modern shopfront, it is part of a group(HB26/50/029A-C) that are the oldest remaining structures on Wellington Place representing early development around Donegall Square and the White Linen Hall. Its history as part of the ambitions of an amateur developer is also of interest. The group is a good example of a type that was mostly swept away in the Victorian boom of the later Nineteenth century.