16 May Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three storey, mid 19th century Georgian style terraced house, with side entrance, one of a group of four, sitting directly on the N side of May Street.

Pitched, natural slate roof with modern rooflight; moulded metal gutter on bracketted timber gutter tray; round cast iron downpipe. Red Flemish bond brickwork, the ground floor appears to be rebuilt with later brick; rusticated stucco quoins to east corner, stucco eaves fascia, string course to first floor cill and plinth under ground floor cill. Window openings with painted stucco reveals and flat brick arches, 6/6 original sashes with horns, (ground floor window openings covered by steel roll shutters). The entrance doorway, with segmental arch, has a stucco moulded surround with inset Ionic doorcase, plain fanlight over and replacement 6 panelled timber door; it is approached by 2 concrete steps.

S elevation has entrance to the east side with 2 adjacent windows, first and second floors have 2 windows.

W elevation abutted by adjoining terrace (HB26/50/175A).

The rear, north elevation to the original building is unseen from Music Lane. The extended building on the lane is two storeys, 3 windows wide with a door to the west side. Natural slate pitched roof, painted rendered wall with arched openings with block keystones to ground floor. The ground floor openings are shuttered, the first floor 9 pane windows.

E elevation abutted by adjoining, mirrored terrace (HB26/50/175C).

Setting

May Street is part of a busy, central thoroughfare which passes to the rear of the City Hall (HB26/50/001A). No. 16 sits opposite May Street Presbyterian church (HB26/30/031A&B). In the same terrace, adjoining the terraced group of four to the east, is John Ross & Co (HB26/30/017), nearby to the west is B.T. Shields (HB26/50/020).Materials:

Roof: natural slate.
Walling: brick.
Windows: timber
RWG: cast iron

Historical information

No. 16 May Street, a three-storey redbrick townhouse, was constructed in c. 1855 first appearing on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for Belfast in 1858; the map depicted No. 16 as part of the adjoining terrace which consists of the similar nos 14-20 May Street (HB26/50/175A-D); however the terrace had not been constructed by the 1852 Belfast Street Directory which noted that the area between a music hall (on the corner of Upper Arthur Street) and Hugh Morrison’s post office (at the corner of Montgomery Street) lay vacant. When completed, No.16 May Street was valued at £38 in Griffith’s Valuation (1859); the valuer noted that the house also consisted of a stable block to the rear and was leased by Sir. Edward May. In 1859 the occupant was a Mr. William Seeds, a solicitor who had offices on Castle Lane.

Seeds resided at No. 16 May Street until his death in 1886 at which time the property fell vacant. In 1891, No. 16 was purchased from the May family estate by a Mr. Thomas Fisher; Fisher was the proprietor of the Victoria Music Hall and resided at Arthur Street (the music hall was located at the corner of Upper Arthur Street and adjoined No. 14 May Street – demolished in 1983). Shortly after coming into ownership of the property, Fisher leased No. 16 out to a Mr. Thomas Maguire and the value of No. 16 was subsequently increased to £43. The Annual Revisions for May Street during the period 1897-1905 are missing; however the Belfast Revaluation (1900) notes that Maguire was employed as a Surgeon. No. 16 May Street was increased in value to £58 under the revaluation and the valuer noted that the building consisted of eight rooms (including living rooms and bedrooms but excluding kitchens) and was fitted with gas installations and plumbing.

The 1901 Census notes that Maguire (34, Roman Catholic) resided at No. 16 May Street with his wife Mary (24) and their two children; the census building return described his property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 inhabited rooms and possessed the rear stable as its sole outbuilding. Maguire vacated No. 16 May Street by 1907 when the house lay unoccupied, however in the following year the property was occupied as temporary premises for James Lindsay & Co., a warehouse firm that had formerly occupied premises at No. 28 Donegall Place. The firm only briefly utilised No. 16 May Street; a Mr. J. Ewing Johnston had taken possession of the site in 1909 when the value of No. 16 was decreased to £48.

Johnston, a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, resided at May Street until 1923 when Thomas Fisher sold No. 16. The former dwelling was acquired by the Antrim Masonic Provincial Lodge who converted the building into its headquarters; as a result of the conversion No. 16 was increased in value to £61 at which it remained by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. The Antrim Masonic Provincial Grand Lodge occupied No. 16 May Street as its headquarters until 1958; under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the Lodge headquarters was increased to £125. Nos 14-20 May Street escaped the heavy bombardment of the Markets area of Belfast during the 1941 Blitz; in the aftermath of the Second World No. 16 was included in the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. The Lodge vacated No. 16 in 1958 when the upper offices were occupied by S. M. [McQuintty] & Co., an unknown firm; the ground floor was subsequently converted into a restaurant in 1959 when a modern shopfront was installed (this can be seen on the First Survey Image (1978) but has since been sympathetically removed). By the end of the second revaluation in 1972 the total value of No. 16 May Street stood at £192.

May Street, a long axial street which runs from Oxford Street to Donegall Street South, was mostly laid out in the early-19th century and was partially constructed over reclaimed land; this land was provided by the construction of Henry Joy’s paper mill over the Blackstaff River which opened up acres of land to the south-east of Belfast’s town centre for development. The eastern section of May Street was the first to be developed, however it was not until the mid-19th century that the western stretch of the street was fully built over. Originally, the short section of May Street between Joy Street and Alfred Street (including nos 14-20) was known as Clarendon Place; this name was retained until c. 1860 when the entire length from the square to Oxford Street was permanently designated May Street. May Street was named after the May family; Edward May, an influential figure in Belfast’s development, pioneered the reclamation of the Blackstaff river and acquired a large number of the newly created leases from the Marquis of Donegall (who married his daughter Anna May).

Nos 14-20 May Street were constructed on the newly reclaimed land in c. 1855. Prior to the stylistical experimentation of the Victorian period, the formal Georgian townhouse was the most recognisable feature of Belfast’s urban fabric. Few examples of pre-Victorian style housing survive in the city centre; the three-storey terraces on neighbouring Joy Street and Hamilton Street (HB26/30/007A-C; 008A-I; 009A-F), as well as the early-19th century townhouses at nos 18-19 Donegall Square East (HB26/50/172), are the last remnants of the original Georgian character of the May Street area. In the Victorian period the availability of cheap building materials resulted in the construction of the redbrick terraces that now greatly characterise Belfast’s city centre and its environs. Nos 14-20 May Street were constructed during this intermediate phase; the redbrick Flemish-bond buildings were constructed utilising materials and construction techniques of the early Victorian period, however the overall design of the terrace is conservative and resembles the formal townhouses of the Georgian period incorporating pillared doorcases with fanlights above and quoins bookending nos 14 and 16. Patton described nos 14-20 May Street in the following terms: ‘Flemish bond redbrick houses with small-pane sashes and arc-headed doorcases with slender edge mouldings and plain fanlights, and recessed Ionic columns supporting plain entablatures; corbelled gutter on rendered wallhead’ (Patton, p. 234).

No. 16 May Street was utilised as a private dwelling from c. 1855 until 1923 when the building was converted into the headquarters for the Co. Antrim Masonic Provincial Grand Lodge. A History of the Hall, the history of Arthur Square’s Masonic Hall, notes that when the Grand Lodge acquired No. 16 May Street a masonic library and a small private museum were also set up at the site. In the 1950s the ground floor of No. 16 was converted into a restaurant whilst the upper floors were retained as office space; however by the First Survey Image in 1978 the ground floor lay vacant and the shopfront was boarded up. In the late-20th century building was utilised as office space for the Girls Brigade (which was also administered from the adjoining Boy’s Brigade Headquarters at No. 14); a sign above the entrance door continues to read ‘Girls Brigade’ despite the organisation having vacated the building. No. 16 May Street was listed in 1988; in recent years the modern shopfront was removed when sympathetic restoration work returned the redbrick façade to its original state. No. 16 May Street is once again lying vacant with shutters currently blocking its entrances and ground floor windows.

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/2/B/7/1A-B - Griffith’s Valuation 1859
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-25 – Annual Revisions 1862-1897
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/18-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930
9. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/41 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/40 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
12. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 Mar 1886)
15. First Survey Image – HB26/50/172 (1978)
16. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources

1. ‘History of the Hall: 1868-1999’ Belfast: Arthur Square Masonic Hall, 1999.
2. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three storey mid 19th century red brick Georgian style terraced house. Although compromised by recent alterations, much historic fabric and detailing survive. This short terrace is as a good example of the type of residence for the professional classes that represents the ongoing growth of Belfast ain the mid 19th century. Its changing history reflects the development of the city centre throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Also of note is the connection of this house with the Girls Brigade movement.