6 & 7 DONEGALL QUAY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-storey rendered former house, built c.1855. Rectangular on plan facing east onto Donegall Quay overlooking the Lagan.

Pitched concrete tiled roof set behind parapet wall with concrete coping and a cast-iron hopper and downpipe breaking through to the north end. Painted rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with applied architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills and replacement 2/2 timber sash windows.

Front elevation is three windows wide with a large square-headed opening to the ground floor providing vehicular access. Vehicular opening is flanked by a pair of rendered pilasters, suggesting a former shopfront, having folding steel gate. Pair of square-headed door openings to the left with replacement panelled timber doors and overlights and a further panelled pilaster to the left.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.5 (HB26/50/295).

Rear elevation abutted by single-storey extension having a pitched felt roof. Cement rendered first floor to the rear having square-headed window openings and replacement timber casement windows.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.9 (HB26/50/297).

Setting:
Located on the west side of the Lagan overlooking the river as part of three remaining original structures on Donegall Quay. Fronting onto a slip road called Oxford Street running parallel but at a lower level to Donegall Quay.

Roof Concrete tile
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Replacement timber sash / casement

Historical information

Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay, a two-storey three-bay workshop possessing a large vehicle entryway, was refronted in 1855 along with the adjoining No. 5 Donegall Quay (HB26/50/295) and the three-storey (but same height) warehouse to its north gable (Nos. 8 and 9 - HB26/50/297). It is not known exactly when nos 6-9 Donegall Quay were constructed, due to the refronting of their facades (Nos. 6 and 7’s Victorian façade has been partially removed); however Patton suggests that they date from the mid-to-late-18th century, likely between 1760 and 1790.

Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay can first be identified with certainty on Griffith’s Valuation in 1860 which recorded that the building was occupied by Samuel Boyd and James Tedford (of the adjoining No. 5); the building was leased to Tedford and Boyd by a Mr. William Lewers. Samuel Boyd and his wife Sarah occupied the first two storey’s of the building, operating a licenced spirit’s shop from the ground floor and residing in rooms on the first storey; Tedford occupied the half-height attic floor which he utilised as a sail loft where he sewed and laid out sails prior to trading them. Griffith’s Valuation noted that the total value of No. 7 Donegall Quay was £19; £10 allocated to the ground floor shop, £5 for the first floor residence and £4 to Tedford’s sail loft.

In 1866 the ground and first floor of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay passed to a Mr. Thomas Reid who established a public house, the London Tavern, at the site for offloading or disembarking seamen. Reid only briefly resided at the site and by 1877 a Mr. Patrick McKee had taken over the running of the public house; by 1882 the occupant had changed again when a Mr. Joseph Russell was recorded as tenant of the public house. The value of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay (excluding the sail loft) was increased to £30 in 1887 due to unknown reasons; however it may have had some connection to the reopening of Donegall Quay in 1885 (closed for trade due to the widening of the Queen’s Bridge). The Annual Revisions note that by 1882 the building, along with the adjoining Nos. 8 and 9, had come into the possession of the Victorian architect Sir. Charles Lanyon (1813-1889) whose estate included many of the properties along the Lagan.

After Lanyon’s death in 1889 ownership of nos 5-9 Donegall Quay passed to a Mr. Frederick Kinahan (a local magistrate who was a partner in Lyle & Kinahan, local wine and spirit merchants – 1901 Belfast Street Directory). In 1900 the Belfast Revaluation noted that the public house was being administered by a Mr. Patrick Mullaghan; in that year the value of the public house was increased to £100 and Mullaghan’s rent was set at £47 12s. 6d. per annum. The valuer hints at the possible 18th century origin of the building when he noted that the building possessed a very ‘old lease’ also writing that the building itself was ‘old’ (an ‘old’ rating generally denotes a Georgian build date in the Belfast Revaluation). At this time the upper rooms of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay were not utilised as a private dwelling but were occupied by the offices of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (a union organisation) (1901 Belfast Street Directory).

By 1911 the top floor of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay were no longer used as a sail loft but were merely utilised as attic space occupied by Patrick Mullaghan; the first floor of the building was once more utilised as a dwelling, although by 1913 a Mr. John McGaherty took over the public house and the upper dwelling. By 1910 Tedford had come into possession of the adjoining Nos. 8 and 9 Donegall Quay, a larger warehouse, which he utilised as his sail stores. Upon McGaherty coming into possession of Nos. 6 and 7 the value of the property was increased to £70, however there was no further alteration to either the value or the occupant of the building by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930.

John McGaherty was still recorded as occupant of the public house during the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935 which revalued the licenced ground floor at £80 and valued the upper floor (which was occupied by a hairdressing salon and offices at that time) at £29 10s. No. 7 survived the heavy bombardment of the Belfast docklands during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War the building was included in the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. By 1956 McGaherty’s public house had come into the possession of Jamison & Green Ltd., a tool and factory equipment supplier that had their main offices on Anne Street off Donegall Quay; Jamison & Greer ripped out the original shopfront to form the large ground floor vehicle entryway, giving vehicular access to the courtyard at the rear of the Anne Street office; as a result of this conversion the value of No. 7 Donegall Quay was altered to £64 at which it remained by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

The first buildings erected along the river lagan, on what is now Donegall Quay, were constructed in 1715 as part of Isaac Macartney’s reclamation and development of a block of land where High Street (and the Farset River) trailed into the Lagan. The 1715 map of the development recorded that the Donegall Quay was then known as Hanover Quay and consisted of a number of merchant properties (Brett, ‘Georgian Belfast,’ p. 58). Brett states that the facades of nos 5-7 Donegall Quay [sic] were designed by a Mr. Alexander McAlister in 1855 (c. 1821-1897). McAlister was a Belfast-based architect who was originally born in Carlow but received his education in Belfast; the DIA notes that McAlister, along with Timothy Hevey (1846-1878), was one of the leading Catholic architects of the Victorian period in the city, his designs included St. Malachy’s Boys School (HB26/50/024) and the Convent of Mercy in Sussex Place (HB26/30/024) and according to the DIA’s list of confirmed works, Nos 5-9 Donegall Quay were amongst his first known independent commissions (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

James Tedford Snr. was a sea captain who, upon retiring home to Ireland and setting up shop at Donegall Quay, expanded his enterprise into ship owning; upon his death in 1867 Tedford owned a number of merchant ships that traded with South America and the Caribbean and were often seen offloading their exotic cargoes along the wharfs at Donegall Quay (Patton, p. 108; History from Headstones website). As well as owning a number of ships Tedford also occupied a number the building neighbouring his shop. Patton states that Tedford’s sail loft was situated above the adjoining No. 9 Donegall Quay; however the chandler’s first sail loft was situated on the top floor of Nos. 6 and 7 from at least 1860, the adjoining building was acquired by Tedford’s in c. 1910 when the larger warehouse was utilised for the sewing of the chandler’s sails.

Jamison & Green Ltd. Came into possession of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay in c. 1950 and the building, along with the adjoining No. 9, were listed in 1992 following the closure of Tedford’s Chandlers shop in the preceding year. Nos. 6 and 7’s Victorian façade, designed by Alexander McAlister, was removed c. 1980, the First Survey image (1976) shows that the building once possessed a more ornamented roof adorned with rounded finials. Jamison & Green continue to occupy the offices on Ann Street; however they have vacated the upper floors of Nos. 6 and 7 Donegall Quay which are currently utilised as office space. Nos 5-9 Donegall Quay, along with the neighbouring maritime buildings such as the Custom House (HB26/50/062) and Sinclair Seaman’s Church (HB26/50/093), are rare surviving examples of Belfast port’s nautical past and stand as a memorial to a time when the quays along the river Lagan were bustling with mercantile activity (Patton, pp 108-109; ‘Belfast: An illustrated yearbook’).

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/7/2A – Griffith’s Valuation 1860
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/B/1-21 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
8. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/34 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
11. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1943)
12. First Survey Record – HB26/50/026B (1976)
13. First Survey Image – HB26/50/026B (1976; 1981)
14. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959); 130-13NE (1959-60)

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. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
4. Patton, M., ‘Belfast: An illustrated yearbook’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 1990.
5. 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. History from headstones website - http://www.historyfromheadstones.com/index.php?id=754
3. Jamison & Greer website - http://www.jamisonandgreen.co.uk/contact.php

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
R. Age
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced two-storey rendered former house, built c.1855. Although most detailing has been lost, the building forms part of a group of three buildings that relate to the maritime history of Donegall Quay evident in the modest proportions. Although compromised by recent alterations and loss of historic fabric and detailing, as one of only three original structures remaining on this quay, the building represents the maritime history of the quay front and one of the last remaining links to the original Belfast harbour.

General comments

This record has been renumbered. Formerly HB26/50/26B.