11 College Square North

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced four-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1830, as part of a terrace of five similar houses with front railed area. Rectangular on plan facing south onto College Square North. Restored from dereliction by Hearth Housing c.1999.

Pitched roof, not visible from the street with profiled rendered chimneystack to the west party wall with clay pots. Roof set behind parapet wall with moulded eaves cornice. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with moulded plinth course, channel-rusticated to the ground floor with moulded string course at first floor sill level. Cement rendered walling to the rear elevation. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to red brick eaves course at rear elevation with cast-iron downpipes. Square-headed window openings with sandstone sills and replacement timber sash windows without horns.

South front elevation is three windows wide with an entrance to the right and a railed front area. Architrave surrounds to ground, first and second floors having hood cornices to the ground and first floors only. Square-headed door opening has a replacement flat-panelled timber door with a lugged architrave surround and a rectangular overlight having interlacing glazing bars. Door opening flanked by slender panelled pilasters and foliate console brackets supporting a dentilled cornice and shallow pediment having acroteria and a wreath to the tympanum. Door opens onto replacement paved platform and five replacement nosed stone steps enclosed by replacement iron railings returning to enclose front area.

West side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.12 (HB26/50/102F).

North rear elevation is two windows wide with two round-headed window openings to the half-landings and a single-storey lean-to extension.

East side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.10 (HB26/50/102D).

Setting

Part of a terrace of five similar houses lining the north side of College Square North, facing the former Municipal Technical Institute (HB26/50/222). Common parking area to the rear enclosed by rendered walls and opening onto College Place.

Roof : Slate
RWG : cast-iron
Walling: Rendered
Windows: timber

Historical information

No. 11 College Square North, a four-storey three-bay Georgian townhouse, was constructed between 1822 and 1832-33; the terrace of College Square North was not depicted on the 1822 map included in George Benn’s ‘The History of Town of Belfast’ which recorded that the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023) lay to the western limit of the town and was still not surrounded by many building. The terrace, which included the adjoining nos 9-10 &12 College Square North (HB26/50/102 C, D & F), the Old Museum (HB26/50/102B) and 1-6 College Square North (5-6 College Sq N- HB26/50/102A), had been completed by the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1832-33.

The Townland Valuation (c. 1830) noted that the newly completed No. 11 College Square North was valued at £52 and was occupied by a Mr. John Sloan; the Belfast Street Directories note that Sloan was employed as a Banker (the fashionable College Square area was popular with medical doctors and members of the professional classes. Sloan continued to reside at No. 11 College Square North until at least 1843 when he was recorded in the Belfast Street Directories, however he had presumably died by 1852 as his widow was recorded as occupant in that year.

Griffith’s Valuation noted that by 1860 No. 11 College Square North had passed from the Sloan family to Bernard Hughes, a local baker and liberal politician (the 1861 Belfast Street Directory notes that his bakery business was known as the ‘Railway and Model Bakeries’). The valuer noted that Hughes leased the property from the Ulster Banking Co. And that the house had been increased in value to £60 since the 1830s. Bernard Hughes continued to reside at No. 11 College Square North until at least 1868 when he was recorded as occupant in that year’s Belfast Street Directory, however by 1877 Hughes had vacated the site when he was residing at a dwelling in Holywood. The Annual Revisions continued to record Bernard Hughes as occupant of the property until 1886 when he was replaced as occupant by his relative (son?) Edward Hughes; it is likely that the Hughes family purchased the townhouse outright in the late-19th century as Edward Hughes was recorded as lessor from c. 1900 until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

In 1877 No. 11 College Square North was occupied by a Dr. John Fagan (a family friend of Bernard Hughes, Fagan was recorded as an executor of Hughes Will after his death in 1878 – PRONI Wills); Fagan resided at the property until c. 1900 and during his tenancy the value of No. 11 was slightly increased to £61 in 1886. By the Belfast Revaluation of 1900 No. 11 College Square North had passed to a Dr. James Moore (a ‘Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’) who resided at the site until at least 1910. In 1900 the building was revalued at £66; the valuer noted that No. 11 consisted of 11 rooms (including sitting rooms and bedrooms but excluding kitchens) and was installed with gas and electrical lighting.

The 1901 Census records that James Moore (29, Unitarian) resided at No. 11 College Square North with his sister Robertina (24); the census building return described their property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 inhabited rooms and possessed a coach house as its sole outbuilding. Dr. James Moore vacated No. 11 by 1911 when a Mr. John Tully was recorded as occupant; the census of that year noted that Tully (40, Roman Catholic) was employed as a hotel commissionaire and resided at College Square North with his wife Annie Kate (36). Tully had vacated the property by 1912 at which time the former public dwelling was converted into office space by the Ulster Arts Club (established in 1903), resulting in the lowering of the value of the property to £55. The Annual Revisions noted that the one of the upper offices of No. 11 was occupied by the Ulster Literary Society. The Ulster Arts Club had vacated the site by at least 1935 when the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland noted that the offices of No. 11 College Square North had been occupied by A. J. Hurst Ltd., an electrical and lighting firm; in that year the value of No. 11 was greatly increased to £111 15s.

College Square North survived the heavy bombardment of Belfast’s city centre during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War the terrace was included in the second revaluation of property in Northern Ireland which commenced in 1956. In that year the building continued to be utilised as offices, however in 1964 the building was occupied by the Down & Connor Marriage Advisory Service who utilised the premises as their main offices; the building was purchased by the Church of Ireland and the value of the building raised to £280 in the same year, although No. 11 College Square North remained exempt from taxation until the end of the revaluation in 1972.

College Square was laid out in the early-19th century as a large open square containing the newly established Royal Belfast Academical Institution; in the mid-to-late-19th century College Square North was one of the most desirable areas in Belfast and attracted many professionals, including doctors and businessmen, however when the massive Belfast Technical College was installed at the corner of the square and cut off the pleasant view of the Academy’s lawns in 1900-07, many of the city’s professionals moved to South Belfast to more idyllic surrounds such as University Square beside Queens University (Patton, p. 74).

No. 11 College Square North was constructed in c. 1830 as part of the redevelopment of College Square; in his Georgian Belfast: 1750-1850, Brett stated that the ‘imposing Regency terrace’ was developed for John McCammond who originally possessed the lease for nos 1-12 whilst the rest of the terrace was erected for Zachariah Leaf Orrett (Brett, p. 60).

Throughout its history No. 11 was occupied by members of Belfast’s professional elite including a number of medical doctors and Bernard Hughes, a significant and influential figure in the history of late-19th century Belfast (Patton). Bernard (Barney) Hughes (c. 1805-1878) was born in Armagh and first found employment as a baker’s assistant in 1820 before moving to Belfast in 1826. Hughes became manager of a bakery in Church Street in 1833 and opened his first company in 1840 on Donegall Street. Over the next decade Hughes opened a further two premises in the centre of Belfast and by 1870 he was the owner of Ireland’s largest baking and milling company, the ‘Railway and Model Bakeries.’ Bernard Hughes entered the world of politics becoming Belfast’s first Roman Catholic elected representative in c. 1850. Throughout his career Hughes remained deeply embedded in the political life of the town; a philanthropist, Hughes donated the land on which St. Peters Cathedral was constructed and also contributed the funds to construct St. Mary’s Hall on Bank Street. The Dictionary of Ulster Biography noted that ‘his roles as municipal politician, industrial reformer and Catholic lay spokesman had won the admiration of all sections of the increasingly divided city [sic]. His political and personal courage was characterised by a deep hatred of sectarianism. His heroic attempts to defuse the bitter sectarian riots in Belfast in 1857 and 1864 brought him into conflict with both the Catholic Church and the Tory hierarchy, gaining him the respect of Orange and Green alike.’ Bernard Hughes died on 22nd September 1878 and is buried in Friars Bush graveyard in South Belfast (Hepburn, pp 31-38; Dictionary of Ulster Biography).

No. 11 College Square North was listed along with the rest of the terrace in 1979. Throughout the turbulent period of the 1970s College Square and the surrounding Smithfield area was targeted in frequent bomb and vandalism attacks; in 1977 the adjoining No. 8 College Square North was demolished by a bomb and over the resulting decades most of the remaining terrace lay vacant and had fallen into a state of disrepair (only No. 12 continued to be occupied). Nos 9-11 College Square North were restored by Hearth Housing Association in 1998-99 and converted into modern flats; the renovation has resulted in the restoration of the terraces original character (Hearth Housing Association website). A replica building, also by Hearth, at No. 8 closes the gap. On 8th June 2007 an Ulster History Circle plaque was unveiled at No. 11 College Square North to commemorate the memory of its most famous inhabitant; the plaque reads: ‘BARNEY HUGHES / 1808-1878 / Master Baker / Philanthropist / lived here’ (Ulster History Circle).
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/720A-B – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/5D – Griffith’s Valuation 1860
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
9. PRONI VAL/7/B/12/20 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/18 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/36 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
12. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823)
13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (22 Sept 1878)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1943)
16. First Survey Record – HB26/50/113 (1970)
17. First Survey Image – HB26/50/113 (1976)

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. Hepburn, A. C., ‘A past apart: Studies in the history of catholic Belfast 1850-1950’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996.
4. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.

Online Resources

1. Hearth Housing Association website - http://freespace.virgin.net/hearth.nireland/CollSqN.html
2. Ulster History Circle website - http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/hughesbarney.htm
3. Dictionary of Ulster Biography - http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced four-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1830, as part of a terrace of five similar houses with front railed area. Rectangular on plan facing south onto College Square North. Described as the best surviving example of an 1830s terrace in Belfast, the group were rescued from dereliction after a period of neglect. Despite the loss of much original fabric, the plain Georgian character of the terrace survives and its historic interest is significant as a surviving part of Georgian Belfast, similar to the houses at 7-11 Wellington Place.

General comments

Record renumbered from HB 26/50/113B to HB 26/50/102E