Hendron Brothers 14 Little Patrick Street Belfast BT15 1AD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey terrace corner shop with living quarters over, built in 1873-74, with a large matching store to rear (originally a separate property) of c.1920; the whole appears to have been vacated in the 1980s and is now derelict.

Set at the junction of Little Patrick Street and Little York Street, the building is of plain formal appearance, with the large store to the rear (N) much broader than the shop and house section. The walls are a combination of red brick and render with a dentilled eaves course, and a moulded [?stone] course over the shopfront. The roof is part hipped, part gabled and slated, but now has several significant holes. The window openings are a mixture of segmental and flat headed and all appear to have lost their frames with those to the ground floor blocked up and the rest boarded. Several openings to the long W façade (facing into Little York St.) have had their heads altered, as has the vehicle entrance to this side.

Historical information

Little Patrick Street was laid out c.1805 and appears to have been initially known as Thomas Street. This particular site at the junction of Little York Street, (also created c.1805), was originally leased to local land surveyor / cartographer / architect, James Williamson of 'Lillyput Hill'*, and it is shown developed on Mason's 1815 town plan of Belfast.

The present building is later replacement, however, the main front section (i.e. as far as the vehicle entrance fronting on to Little York Street) having been constructed in 1873-74 as a 'house and shop' for Robert W. Moreland, who is listed in contemporary street directories as a grocer (of 'R. & W. Moreland'). Moreland is noted in the valuation books as leasing the property from Jane Rutledge up until c.1906 when he is recorded as the freeholder. In the same year, or that following, the building and its grocery business was acquired by (or passed to) Robert Knox, who appears to have retained it until c.1922, though it seems to have remained vacant for part of this time.

In 1923 William Noble, a sack and grain merchant with premises at neighbouring no.16a Little Patrick Street, is listed by the valuers as the owner. Several years before this, in or just before 1920, he had built the large attached store to the north along Little York Street (nos.23-33), as an adjunct to no.16a (the latter being to the rear of no.16). By 1947 the business was also occupying neighbouring nos.16-20 to the south, the present Modernist warehouse structure at this address was probably built around this time.

'William Noble & Co. Ltd.' retained nos.14-20 into the 1970s. In 1978 the entire group came into the hands of Henrdon Bros., tool and machine merchants, who remained there until the firm closed in early 1982. By 1987, no.14 was being occupied by car body repair business, though it is possible that this was housed exclusively in part of the store to the rear, with the shop / house section unused.

The current appearance of no.14 would suggest it has remained disused since c.1982, whilst the store to the rear would seem to have been vacated not long after 1987.

(*Probably off present-day North Queen Street.)

References - Primary sources
1 'Plan of the town of Belfast…by P. Mason…1815' (reproduced in ref.9 - see below)
2 'Belfast and Province of Ulster directory' (Belfast, various dates 1852- )
3 PRONI VAL12B/43B/2, 6 Annual valuation revision books, Dock Ward ED - 1862-96
4 OS town plans of Belfast - 1883-84
5 PRONI VAL12B/43C/17, 32, 36, 40 Annual valuation revision books, St Anne's Ward ED - 1897-1930
6 OS maps, County series, Antrim sheet 60 - 1920, 1931, 1938; IG series sheet 130 - 1960, 1970, 1987
7 'Belfast News-Letter' - 10 March 1978, p.8; 23 October 1987, p.305
8 Belfast Telegraph' - 15 January 1982, p.15

Secondary sources
9 Gillespie, Raymond, and Royle, Stephen, 'Irish historic towns atlas, no.12, Belfast, Part I, to 1840', (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2003)
10 Brett, Charles 'Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850 - Maps,buildings and trades', (Royal Irish Academy, Belfast, 2004)
11 Royle, Stephen, 'Irish historic towns atlas, no.17, Belfast, Part II, to 1840-1900', (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2007)
12 Dictionary of Irish architects - https://www.dia.ie/architects/view/5651/williamson-james#tab_biography (accessed 8 November 2023)

General comments

Previous LQ HB26/LQ341