25-39 Arthur Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached symmetrical multi-bay two-storey classically-styled granite-fronted former bank, built 1894, to the designs of Vincent Craig. Square on plan arranged around a central glazed dome and facing east onto Arthur Street. Converted for use as a bar and restaurant c.2004.

Hipped natural slate roof on a quadrangular plan with a central glazed dome and roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles. Tall profiled granite ashlar chimneystacks rising from both side elevations with roof set behind balustraded parapet with moulded coping punctuated by squat piers terminated by granite urns. Piers to either side of central pediment rise as a further pair of twin chimneystacks. Granite ashlar walling with moulded granite plinth course. Square-headed window openings generally with moulded architrave surrounds, continuous moulded sill courses and single-pane timber sash windows.

Symmetrical east front elevation is seven windows wide surmounted by an architrave and dentilated modillioned cornice topped by a shallow pediment with a wreath-framed roundel to the tympanum. First floor window openings are framed by scrolled console brackets supporting triangular pediments with a segmental pediment to the central window. Ground floor window openings are recessed within a cavetto moulded frames having bowtel-moulded surrounds. Square-headed door opening to the right bay with surround as per ground floor windows having double-leaf hardwood doors with raised-and-fielded panels and square overlight. Central segmental-headed door opening with bowtel-moulded surround and double-leaf hardwood doors having raised-and-fielded panels with plain glazed overlight. Door opening flanked by Ionic pilasters and supporting lintel cornice and pair of elaborate scrolled brackets and dentilled cornice supporting deep moulded and panelled granite hood. Door opens onto three nosed stone steps to the street.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building.

Rear elevation abutted by commercial building fronting onto Callender Street.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building.

Setting:
Facing east onto Arthur Street abutted by late twentieth-century office buildings to the south of Arthur Square.

Roof: Natural slate
RWG : Not seen
Walling: Granite ashlar
Windows: Single-pane timber sash

Historical information

No's 25-39 Arthur Street, a two-storey classical building in granite stone, was constructed in 1894 as the headquarters for Dunville & Co., a Belfast-based whiskey distillery company. The building was designed by Vincent Craig (1869-1925), the younger brother of James Craig (the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland); Vincent Craig was articled to W. H. Lynn between 1885 and 1889 and established an independent practise in Belfast in 1891. Recognised as one of the key proponents of the aesthetic Art Nouveau movement in Ulster, Craig’s design for Dunville & Co.’s headquarters is uncharacteristically formal and classical in style (Irish Builder, p. 773; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Dunville & Co., who also administered the Royal Irish Distilleries, were described by the Belfast Street Directories as distillers, bonders, wholesale wine and spirit merchants; prior to the construction of the new building on Arthur Street, Dunville & Co. operated from premises located on Calendar Street to the rear of the site (BST – 1901). Upon the completion of their new headquarters no's 25-39 Arthur Street was initially valued at £700 in the Annual Revisions, however, in 1900 this was increased to £800 under the Belfast Revaluation. In that year the valuer noted that the construction of the building had cost £16,175 and a ground plan noted that the central dome was an original feature (the overall layout of the building has not been altered since its construction in 1894.

There was no alteration to Dunville’s headquarters over the following three decades; in 1911 the owners deemed that the rateable value of the building was too high, an appeal resulted in the value of the building being reduced to £725. There was no further alteration to the value of the building by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930. Dunville & Co. continued to occupy no's 25-39 Arthur Street by the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935, which revalued the headquarters at £1,080; however, due to the failing fortunes of the distillery company, Dunville & Co. was forced into liquidation in 1936. In 1938 the former distillery offices were converted into the headquarters of the Belfast Savings Bank by Samuel Stevenson & Sons, a family practise that had formed in 1924 and predominantly carried out commercial contracts (Irish Builder, p. 773; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Due to the disruption of the Second World War there was no general valuation carried out on property in Northern Ireland until the second revaluation commenced in 1956; by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the Belfast Savings Bank continued to occupy the building whose value had risen to £2,840.

Arthur Street was named after one of the Earls of Donegall (a number of whom were given the name) and during the early 19th century the street was known for its fine residences, however during the commercial redevelopment of Belfast’s city centre in the Victorian period, the street took on its current character. Domestic dwellings were replaced by retail shops and office buildings; other surviving examples of this redevelopment period include the Mayfair Building (HB26/50/096) and the State Buildings (HB26/50/100), both of which still stand on Arthur Street.

No's 25-39 Arthur Street was constructed as the headquarters of Dunville & Co., a whiskey distillery firm that originated from the earlier firm of Napier & Co. of Bank Lane. In 1801 John Dunville joined Napier & Co., becoming a full partner in 1807 when the name of the company was changed to Napier & Dunville. In 1825 Dunville took full control of the firm and changed the name to Dunville & Co., it was in that year that the business moved from Bank Lane to its offices on Calender Street. Over the following seven decades Dunville & Co. became a large, thriving business and in 1869 the firm constructed the Royal Irish Distilleries near Great Victoria Street which employed 450 skilled workers. In 1894 the firm’s offices at no's 16-18 Calender Street were extended to the rear with the erection of the current offices on Arthur Street (the original headquarters on Calender Street was connected to the new building on Arthur Street; however the earlier building is no longer standing). Dunville & Co. gained much of its revenue from the export of Irish whiskey to the United States, however with the prohibition of alcohol in the U.S.A. between 1920 and 1933, coupled with the general commercial downturn in the aftermath of the First World War and the subsequent Wall Street Crash depression the company went into decline. By 1936 the company was forced into liquidation and its grand headquarters at Arthur Street were sold to the Belfast Savings Bank (Patton, p. 19; Dunville & Co. history website).

No's 25-39 Arthur Street was occupied by the Trustees Savings Bank from 1938 until c. 1990; in 1994 Patton noted the uncharacteristic nature of Vincent Craig’s design and described the bank offices and former distillery headquarters in the following terms: ‘Classical two-storey building in grey granite, very restrained for Craig. Ground floor dentilated cornice extended out to form hood to doorcase; first floor windows with pediments over; dentilated main cornice topped by balustraded parapet marked by urns, chimneys and a central pediment which has no base.’ Larmour states that the building was designed in an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo style but that the main pediment was inappropriately added, ‘ sitting rather oddly on top seeming to need some breaks in the façade below with which to relate’ (Patton, p. 19; Larmour, p. 57).

No's 25-39 Arthur Street was listed in 1986 at which time it had been vacated by the Trustees Savings Bank; the building lay vacant for a number of years but in 2005 the former distillery and bank headquarters was converted into its current use as a French-themed bar and nightclub called Café Vaudeville.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/8-14 – Annual Revisions 1882-1896
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/17-45 – Annual Revisions 1897-1930
6. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/37 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
9. Irish Builder, Vol. 80 (17 Sept 1938)
10. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1943)
11. First Survey Image – HB26/50/171 (1983)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
2. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Dunville & Co. History website - http://www.dumville.org/whiskey.html#distillery

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical multi-bay two-storey classically-styled granite-fronted former bank, built 1894, to the designs of Vincent Craig. Square on plan arranged around a central glazed dome. Built as the Royal Irish Distilleries head office, the building later became the Trustee Savings Bank. Much historic fabric and detailing survives, including executed in fine granite ashlar work, and the building represents an important aspect of the city's mercantile history, as well as the changing business of the centre. It is s good example of the type by a notable local architect.