18 Donegall Square East

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced three-storey over basement with attic sandstone former townhouse, built c.1830, as one of a pair. Rectangular on plan facing west onto Donegall Square with a single-storey rear extension occupying the entire rear site.

Single-span mansard type roof with natural slate to the front pitch having a box dormer window. Profiled red brick chimneystack rising from a slightly raised north gable wall with masonry coping. Roof set behind lead-lined parapet wall having sandstone drip cornice and square-profile cast-iron downpipes breaking through. Sandstone ashlar walling, channel-rusticated to the ground floor below a continuous sill course at first floor and a further pair of string courses to the second floor. Red brick walling to the rear elevation laid in Flemish bond. Square-headed window openings with replacement single-pane timber sash windows.

West front elevation is three windows wide with entrance to the right. Recessed square-headed door opening with flat-panelled timber door flanked by simple pilasters supporting a lintel cornice with rectangular overlight. Architrave surround flanked by scrolled brackets supporting hood cornice. Door opens onto platform and four steps with replacement tiling, bridging the basement area all enclosed by original spear-headed iron railings with later iron lamp standards and steel gates.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining infill building.

Rear elevation largely obscured by fire escape, plant machinery and accretions. Generally gauged brick flat-arched window openings with sandstone sills and single-pane timber sash windows. Later enlarged window openings and fire escapes to the upper levels.

South side elevation abutted by neighbouring building No.19 (HB26/50/172B).

Setting

Forming part of a pair at the junction of Donegall Square East and May Street.

Roof : Slate
RWG : Cast-iron
Walling: Sandstone ashlar
Windows: timber

Historical information

No. 18 Donegall Square East, a three-storey Georgian townhouse in Ashlar stone, was constructed in c. 1830 and (along with the adjoining No. 19 & 2 May Street – HB26/50/172B) is one of the sole survivors of the original residential character of Donegall Square which now mostly consists of commercial premises. The building is first seen on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map for Belfast in 1832-33 which depicts a terrace stretching along the eastern side of Donegall Square; the contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1830) note that No. 18 was valued at £80 and was occupied by John Workman Esq., a ship-owner and proprietor of Messers. J. and R. Workman, local manufacturers (Belfast Street Directory – 1843-1852).

Brett’s Georgian Belfast: 1750-1850 records that Workman acquired the lease for No. 18 Donegall Square East in September 1831. Workman vacated the property by at least 1859 when a Mr. William Girdwood, a printer who operated the Oldpark Printworks in Donegall Place, was recorded as occupant. In that year Griffith’s Valuation noted that Girdwood leased the site from John Workman and that the house had been reduced in value to £56 since the 1830s. The occupants of No. 18 Donegall Square East changed with some frequency over the following three decades; by 1868 Girdwood had vacated the dwelling when a Mr. W. A. Robinson was recorded as occupant; however by 1877 the former residential dwelling, as with much of Donegall Square, had been converted into commercial premises. In that year the Jaffe Bros., local linen and yarn merchants who had a thriving business in the 19th century in Belfast, occupied office space on the ground floor whilst Alex Patterson & Co., another textile firm that traded in muslin, occupied offices on the upper floors (Belfast Street Directories – 1868-1877). By 1893 Alexander Patterson & Co. occupied the entire building; the value of No. 18 Donegall Square East in that year had been reduced to £35, due to the conversion of the building into commercial space in c. 1870.

In 1893 Alexander Patterson & Co. vacated No. 18 when the site was acquired by the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) who converted the former dwelling and linen offices into a meeting hall ‘used principally for religious purposes [and] occasionally for lectures’ (Annual Revisions valuers note). In 1900 No. 18 Donegall Square East was revalued at £67 under the Belfast Revaluation of property; the valuer included a ground plan of the site which depicted the building as a rectangular-shaped structure that possessed the current large rear return (the return was a recent addition installed by the YWCA and included a restaurant for members). The valuer also recorded that the main meeting hall of the YWCA was located on the first floor and could accommodate 300 people.

The YWCA occupied No. 18 Donegall Square East whilst the associated Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) occupied the adjoining No. 19 & 2 May Street, which they acquired in 1892. The YWCA continued to occupy No. 18 Donegall Square East until the mid-20th century; under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the site was increased to £75, the valuer noting that the building had been purchased outright by the YWCA. There was no further valuation of the site carried out for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the outbreak of the Second World War; in 1943 during the conflict, the YWCA continued to occupy the site, the Street Directory for that year, however noted that the organisation shared the building with A. E. Stevenson, a plumber and electrical engineer (Belfast Street Directory – 1943). By 1956 the YWCA had vacated the site which was then solely occupied by the offices of A. E. Stevenson; the second revaluation noted that Stevenson occupied No. 18 Donegall Square East until the end of the revaluation in 1972 (the value of the building was set at £64 in that year, however this solely referred to the basement of the property and there was no recorded value for the upper floors in the valuation source).

No's 18 and 19 Donegall Square East, two Georgian townhouses dating from c. 1830, are the sole surviving examples of the original residential character of Donegall Square. Patton states that the area was originally part of the Castle Gardens in the 17th to early 18th century and lay outside of the city walls; with the erection of the White Linen Hall in 1783-85 the current square was formed and Donegall Place was laid out to connect the new square with the Belfast’s historic 17th century centre. 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 Square was at the very edge of Belfast in the early-19th century and when building work commenced around the square, the structures erected consisted mainly of private dwelling occupied by the leading citizens of the town, however even by 1819 only the south and east sides of the square had been significantly developed (Patton, p. 110; pp 116-117).

A photograph of Donegall Square East shows that nos 18-19 Donegall Square East were only two of a terrace of similarly designed townhouses. The photograph relates the original residential character of the street, with Donegall Square Methodist Church providing the sole break in an uninterrupted row of three-storey dwellings. Originally designed as residential dwellings, the Georgian terrace was gradually converted into commercial property in the mid-to-late-19th century when the commercial centre of Belfast shifted southwards towards Donegall Place and the linen warehouses of ‘linenopolis’ were established in the streets south of Donegall Square. No. 18 Donegall Square East was utilised as a linen merchant’s office between c. 1870 and 1893 when the YWCA took over the property and converted the site into a religious meeting hall with rooms and offices for leisurely pursuits and lectures.

No. 18 Donegall Square East was listed, along with the adjoining No. 19, in 1986; Patton described both buildings in the following terms: ‘three-storey block with basement and attic, in gingery-brown ashlar which has decayed with an unusual pitted pattern. Painted stone doorcases with slender scrolled volutes supporting entablatures; channelled ground floor; roof set behind stone parapet; some six-pane sashes survive along with cast-iron railings’ (Patton, p. 117). No. 18 Donegall Square East currently lies vacant, however it is an excellent surviving example of a once common type of Georgian townhouse found around Donegall Square; the majority of the residential character of the area has been lost but other early-19th century examples survive on the neighbouring Chichester Street, Joy Street, Hamilton Street and May Street.

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/1/B/720A+B – Townland Valuation c.1830
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1A – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-14 – Annual Revisions 1863-1896
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/17-44 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930
9. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/47 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/39 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
12. Belfast Street Directories (1819-1943)
13. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850: Maps, buildings and trades’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2004.
2. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993.
3. Pollock, V. & Parkhill, T., ‘Britain in old photographs: Belfast’ Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1997.

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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced three-storey over basement with attic sandstone former townhouse, built c.1830 as one of three and part of a longer terrace, of which these are the only survivors. Rectangular on plan facing west onto Donegall Square. Built for the shipowner John Workman, these former townhouses are the only remains of Donegall Square’s former residential fabric. Much historic fabric and detailing survive and they are representative of the early development of the square and of the few remaining examples of Georgian architecture in the City centre.