156-164 North Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A four storey sandstone commercial building on the south side of North Street. Built in a Baroque style in 1899.

The roof is pitched natural slate,four tall central freestanding red brick chimneys with stepped brick cornices and one red brick chimney to each of the E and W gables. Gutters are concealed behind pierced parapet, rainwater downpipes are square metal. The walls are ashlar red sandstone; balustraded, machicolated parapet, moulded coping continuous over pediment dormers; staged semi fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals; moulded strings to window cills and heads; moulded roundels with shields to dormer apexes and panels with swags and initialed shields (McB) under; foliage decorated friezes run over first and second floor window heads; moulded cornice to ground floor. Side windows to the third floor are paired square headed with moulded architraves; central windows diminishing as they rise on each floor are arched with moulded archivolt and exaggerated keystone; the main windows are set in timber canted oriel bays to the first and second floors with decorative carving matching that of adjacent stone friezes. The paired windows to the third floor are single paned timber; the central windows are replacement 2 and 3 paned; the bay windows are replacement single paned timber fixed lights and casements within original heavy timber mullions and transoms. The ground floor has a modern fascia and shopfronts.

The front north elevation is symmetrical: a central diminutive triangular pedimented dormer over windows framed by pilasters are flanked by truncated, shouldered pediment dormers over double-height paired canted oriel bays divided by a pilaster; pilasters are positioned at corners.

The side east elevation is abutted by a lower building no. 150 - 152 North Street (HB26/50/335).

The rear door of each shop unit opens into a shared yard, now a car park, where the vestiges of a wall and gable in red brick remain. Two 6 over 6 multi –pane timber sliding sash windows remain in situ at what was first floor level.

The rear south elevation has an off-centre full height pitch roofed projection of brick and corrugated metal. The rear south wall is brick in English garden wall bond, rendered below second floor cill level. Flat linteled windows to second and third floor level, no windows to first and ground. Three doors to ground floor. Windows are replacement 2 pane with toplights. Doors are timber sheeting over steel.

The side west elevation is abutted by a building no 166 - 174 North Street (HB26/50/334).

Setting:
The building sits hard in the middle of a terrace on the south side of North Street. To the rear is a car park.

Schedule:
Roof: natural slate
Walls: ashlar sandstone
Windows: replacement aluminium in timbr sub-frame
RWGs: square metal.

Historical information

‘Windsor Buildings’ was completed in 1899 for Robert McBride, manufacturer of Snowflake Soap, and comprised shops on the ground floor and offices to let on the upper floors. A monogram on the front elevation reads ‘McB’. The signature of the architect on the drawings found in the Belfast City Council Building Control archive reads 'Thomas Pentland'; the Dictionary of Irish Architects records Pentland as working for J.J. Philips at this time. The contractor was Courtney and Co and the cost £2,500. The building is first shown on the fourth edition OS map of 1901-2.

In May 1899 the Belfast Newsletter began to advertise ‘excellent shops and offices’ in the newly-completed Windsor Buildings which availed of ‘lofty ceilings’ and ‘good light’. Robert McBride, soap and candle manufacturer, had occupied premises in North Street since at least 1877. In the late 1890s McBride built a substantial soap factory on a plot to the rear of his shop and rebuilt his property facing onto North Street to give four shops at ground level and a central gateway which provided access to the factory behind. The Belfast Revaluation of 1900 values the factory at £230 and the ground floor of the present building at £80. The upper three floors of the building were divided into 23 offices whose valuations ranged from £4 to £25. A caretaker, William Logan, lived on the third floor and is listed in the 1901 census as resident in the building. As well as performing the duties of caretaker, Logan worked as a bookkeeper for the soap business and occupied rooms with his wife, two children, his sister-in-law and her two children (1911 census).

Alterations have been made to the building throughout its life (as shown on the Belfast City Council Building Control archive drawings): alterations to buildings at rear in 1918 & 1921; 1961 alterations to shopfronts; 1963 alterations to shopfronts by Young & Mackenzie Architects; 1974 alterations to shopfronts by William Mitchell Shop, Office & Bank Fitters.

The building has provided accommodation for a variety of companies and organisations over the years including the British Order of Ancient Free Gardeners and the Irish Cyclists’ Association (Street Directories). The building continues in use as a commercial premises.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
3. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/19 Belfast Revaluation 1900
4. Street Directories 1900-1995
5. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993
2. www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This four storey sandstone commercial building on the south side of North Street prbbably by Thomas Pentland is of local historical interest. It is of impressive scale in the wider setting of North Street, contributing to the short terrace of buildings with reflected roofline and rhythm of bays. Built c.1899 it has a bold symmetry and exuberant stone detailing. The timber bays, with their fine carving, are an unusual feature. Despite the loss of the original historic shopfronts, as well as the addition of a modern escape stair to the rear, sufficient historic fabric remains in the highly ornamented façade and intact plan form to meet the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural and historic interest.