Anderson and McCauley

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached corner-sited multi-bay five-storey pilastered sandstone purpose-built department store, dated 1899, to the designs of Young & Mackenzie with polished granite shopfront inserted to the ground floor. Rectangular on plan facing onto Donegall Place with a secondary elevation facing north onto Castle Street and a further five-storey red brick block abutting the rear fronting onto Castle Street and Fountain Street. Interior largely lost c.2000.

Roof hidden behind parapet wall having decoratively carved Arabesque panels to the east elevation, lozenge shaped balustrade parapet to the north elevation, all punctuated by squat panelled piers with segmental pediments and surmounted by blocks. The curved corner is surmounted by a glazed iron clock set in decorative sandstone surround and raised digits ‘1899’, surmounted by a crown and flanked by a pair of panels with cartouches. Sandstone ashlar walling to the upper floors surmounted by a frieze embellished with rosettes and fluting, topped by a dentilled crown cornice with egg-and-dart moulding (plain frieze to the side elevation). Channel-rusticated walling to the fourth floor. Red brick walling to the rear block laid in Flemish bond with continuous moulded sandstone sill courses at each level and surmounted by a dentilled crown cornice. Square-headed window openings to first, second and third floors having architrave surrounds, keystones and moulded sills with replacement steel windows. Round-headed window openings to the fourth floor with keystones and moulded sills. Square-headed window openings to the rear block with architrave surrounds, keystones and replacement steel windows.

Principal east elevation is articulated as four bays wide, in addition to the curved corner, each bay having a shallow bow with three window openings and flanked by pilasters punctuating a continuous cornice to each level. To the central bow the parapet has carved lettering stating; ‘ANDERSON & McCAULEY’. The pilasters to the fourth floor are channel-rusticated while those to the third floor have guilloche embellished panels. The second floor windows have scrolled keystones, fluted friezes and dentilled cornices with a central waved pediment, all flanked by panelled pilasters adorned with foliate carvings. The first floor windows are flanked by part-fluted pilasters supporting a bowed entablature punctuated by ancons and surmounted by a decorative frieze embellished with Arabesque carvings and amorini, all framed by panelled pilasters having cartouches over with the monogram ‘AM’. Large display windows to the ground floor are flanked by polished granite Doric pilasters with fluted necks supporting polished granite fascia and surmounted by a sandstone cornice with egg-and-dart moulding serving as the sill course to the first floor.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.6-9 Donegall Place.

Rear elevation abutted by five-storey red brick block, detailed as per above and having polished granite shopfronts to the ground floor as per principal elevation.

Secondary north side elevation is fifteen windows wide arranged in groups of three flanked by pilasters punctuating continuous moulded cornices at each level. The pilasters are unadorned to second, third and fourth floors while those to the first floor are detailed as per principal elevation with plain frieze over. Polished granite shopfronts continue across the north elevation with splayed polished granite stall risers having applied brass lettering stating; ‘ANDERSON & McCAULEY’.

Setting:
Fronting onto Donegall Place at the junction with Castle Street and Royal Avenue and spanning an entire city block with the rear block fronting onto Fountain Street to the west.

Roof : Not visible
RWG: Not visible
Walling : Carved sandstone ashlar / red brick
Windows: Replacement metal

Historical information

Anderson & McAuley, a five-storey sandstone department store, was constructed in 1895-99 to designs by Young & Mackenzie; the store was the second on the site and replaced a building that had stood on the same site since c. 1861. Young & Mackenzie, a Belfast-based architectural partnership between Robert Young and his pupil John Mackenzie, was formed in 1867/68; the Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that the firm were responsible for designing ‘some of the most important commercial commissions in the city,’ including the Ocean Buildings (HB26/50/016) and Robinson & Cleavers (HB26/50/014) on Donegall Square. Young & Mackenzie’s plan for Anderson & McAuley’s department store was constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey who executed the design utilising beige sandstone (Irish Builder, p. 509; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Anderson & McAuley’s previous property on the site at the corner of Donegall Place and Castle Street, (recorded simply as a shop and warerooms in the Annual Revisions) was constructed in c. 1861 and was valued at £470 at the time of its demolition. The current department store took five years to construct and upon its completion in 1899 the Annual Revisions valued the new edifice at £1,885. In the year after its completion, Anderson & McAuley was revalued at £2,085 under the Belfast Revaluation; the valuer noted that the lessors, Robert Anderson and John B. McAuley, paid rent of £1,650 per annum and that an original luxury marble staircase located within the store was valued at £342 (now removed).

The Belfast Street Directories note that Anderson & McAuley Ltd. operated as silk merchants and general drapers; in 1912 their business was so successful that a large extension was added to the rear of the building (which was valued at £425). In 1923 the value of the department store was greatly increased to £4,000, however the owners deemed this too high and appealed against the rating; the appeal was successful and in the same year the value of Anderson & McAuley (excluding the extension) was settled at £2,450, at which it remained by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930.

Anderson & McAuley’s department store was increased in value to £5,000 under the 1935 First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. The department store survived the bombardment of Belfast’s city centre during the 1941 Blitz, receiving only superficial damage, and in the aftermath of the Second World War the store was included in the second revaluation which commenced in 1956. In the aftermath of the conflict Anderson & McAuley’s was greatly increased in value to £19,000, however this was reduced to £16,880 by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

Donegall Place was originally the location of Belfast Castle gardens prior to the buildings destruction in 1708; in the 1780s the current street was laid out providing a link, from the original 17th century centre of the town, to the White Linen Hall which was erected in 1787. Originally known as Linen Hall Street, the avenue was rechristened Donegall Place in c. 1810 when the area around the Linen Hall was renamed Donegall Square in honour of the Second Marquis of Donegall who resided at Donegall House (which formerly stood at the corner of the square and Donegall Place). Donegall Place was at the very edge of Belfast in the early-19th century and then consisted mainly of private dwelling occupied by the leading citizens of the town, however during the 19th century the central location of the street, coupled with the expansion of the town and the granting of city status in 1888, resulted in the commercialisation of Donegall Place. Only one original Georgian building now survives on the street (No. 25 Donegall place – HB26/50/30) (Patton, p. 102; Beckett, pp 28-29).

Dixon states that ‘the spirit of confidence which brought about the erection of the City Hall [was] paralleled in contemporary private projects, especially among those which were built as the City Hall’s immediate neighbours’ (Dixon, p. 172). Anderson & McAuley was established by Sir. Robert Anderson (1837-1921) and John B. McAuley (d. 1888) who established their first property on the site in 1861; this was a more modest three-storey building known as Donegall Place Buildings that Anderson & McAuley shared with a number of other fashion and textile retailers. The Dictionary of Irish Architects states that the firm’s original store was designed by Thomas Jackson (1807-1890), a Belfast-based engineer who was the official architect to the Ulster Bank (1868 Belfast Street Directory; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Over three decades Anderson and McAuley’s success allowed them to replace their original shop with the current opulent department store. The firm employed Young & Mackenzie who had designed the Robinson & Cleaver building, a six-storey linen store also on Donegall Place, in 1886-88 (see HB26/50/014); Brett states that, in designing Anderson & McAuley’s department store, Young & Mackenzie were attempting to repeat their earlier success, however, ‘the result … is comparatively insipid; even the carving is less good’ (Brett, p. 63). Patton was less critical and states that Young & Mackenzie were amongst a small number of architects who ‘at the end of the 19th century set the seal on the phenomenal growth in the wealth of the Donegall Place shops’ (Patton: Belfast: An illustrated yearbook).

Upon the completion of the department store, Anderson & McAuley’s became one of the most fashionable and successful commercial businesses in Ulster, as well as the rest of Ireland. The luxurious design of the interior and exterior drew paying customers and curious window shoppers alike to the store; the design included rich details including 29 carved heads that adorn the first floor windows. In 1927 the department store issued its first catalogue, the Anderley Gazette which claimed that ‘all roads lead to Anderson & McAuley’s, the shopping centre of Ulster.’ In 1956 the store became one of the first in Ulster to have escalators installed (Patton, pp 102-103; Culture Northern Ireland website).

Anderson & McAuley’s department store remained a family owned business until its closure in 1994; the original department store incorporates nos 1-5 Donegall Place, however since the 1920s Anderson & McAuley also leased the adjoining nos 7-9 Donegall Place from the Lindsay Bros (the First Survey Image notes that the ground floor shopfronts of nos 1-9 were linked. The Anderson & McAuley department store was listed in 1979 and a decade later a major expansion of the store took place in 1989 when six new escalators were added and the interior floor space was increased by some 20,000 square feet; however, decreasing sales and financial difficulties resulted in the decline of the family-run store and in 1993 the building was forced to close resulting in the loss of 300 staff and the end of one of the last major department stores in Northern Ireland. Anderson & McAuley’s, now known as McAuley House, continues to be utilised as commercial premises, the once conjoined shopfronts and units are now separated and are occupied by individual clothing and retail companies (Culture Northern Ireland website). Having carried out the original construction of the building in 1895-99, McLaughlin & Harvey were contracted to carry out the redevelopment of the building into separate retail units (Watson, p. 46).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/B/10 – Annual Revisions 1882-1896
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/20-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930
7. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/42 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
10. Irish Builder, Vol. 54 (31 Aug 1912)
11. Belfast Street Directories (1901-1918)
12. First Survey Record – HB26/50/032 (1971)
13. First Survey Image – HB26/50/032 (No Date)
14. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources

1. Beckett, J. C., ‘Belfast: The making of the city’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 1983.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985.
3. Dixon, H., ‘An introduction to Ulster Architecture’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008.
4. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
5. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.
6. Patton, M., ‘Belfast: An illustrated yearbook’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 1987.
7. Watson, F. G., ‘Building over the centuries: A history of McLaughlin & Harvey’ Belfast: Nicholson & Bass, 2010.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Culture Northern Ireland Website –
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/766/famous-belfast-stores-anderson-and-mcauley

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Attached corner-sited multi-bay five-storey pilastered sandstone department store, dated 1899, to the designs of Young & Mackenzie with polished granite shopfronts inserted to the ground floor. One of the largest buildings on Donegall Place, this purpose-built department store exhibits an array of decorative carvings to the façade and a well-detailed series of shopfronts. Much historic fabric and character survives and its corner setting is reflected in the design and detailing. Although compromised by the loss of interior fabric and detailing, the building is significant in both the development of department stores and the commercial life of the city centre. It is s good example of the type in High Victorian style to the designs of a notable local architect.