14 College Square East

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced four-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1830, with replacement shopfront to the ground floor extending into the ground floor of the adjoining building (HB26/50/319B). Built as one of a terrace of several similar houses at the junction of College Square East and Wellington Place. Rectangular on plan facing west opposite the Royal Academical Institution (HB26/50/023).

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, lead junctions with adjoining houses to either side. Rebuilt red brick chimneystacks to either end with angled clay pots to the south stack, clay pots to the north stack. Roof set behind lead-lined blocking course and eaves cornice. Painted ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling with rusticated rendered quoins, red brick laid in English garden wall bond to the rear elevation and return. Square-headed window openings with masonry sills, moulded architrave surrounds and replacement timber sash windows. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings to the rear elevation with masonry sills and replacement timber casement windows.

West front elevation is two windows wide with a replacement glazed shopfront and fascia extending across the adjoining house to the north (HB26.50/319B).

North side elevation partially abutted by adjoining building No.12 (HB26/50/319B) with a blank red brick wall having steel reinforcements.

Rear elevation is two windows wide and abutted by a two-storey red brick return, built c.1900.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.15 (HB26/50/319D).

Setting

Forming part of a terrace of former houses lining the east side of Great Victoria Street and returning onto Wellington Place.

Roof: Natural slate
RWG : UPVC
Walling: render / red brick
Windows: timber

Historical information

No. 14 College Square East, a four storey late-Georgian townhouse, is one of a terrace of similar buildings which include nos 58-64 Wellington Place (HB26/50/022AB) and nos 14-16 College Square East (HB26/50/022C-E). The row is a rare surviving Georgian terrace of a type once commonly found throughout the centre of Belfast but now quite rare; similar examples include a four-storey terrace on Chichester Street and two three-storey terraces on Joy and Hamilton Street. The terrace on Wellington Place and College Square East was constructed between 1822 and 1832-33 as the row does not appear on a map of Belfast included in George Benn’s ‘The History of the Town of Belfast’ which recorded that the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023) lay to the western limit of the town and was still not surrounded by many buildings; the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1832-33) depicted both the Wellington Place and College Square East terraces. Contemporary to the first edition map, the Townland Valuation of Belfast recorded that No. 14 College Square East was occupied by a Mr. John Clarke, the property was valued at £11 7s. 11d.

John Clarke continued to reside at the site by Griffith’s Valuation in 1860; the valuer noted that No. 14 College Square East, like the majority of the terrace was leased by the representatives of the estate of a Mr. James Blair, and that the value of No. 14 had increased to £35 since the 1830s. The Belfast Street Directories note that John Clarke was a local magistrate and a Justice of the Peace; however by 1868 Clarke had vacated the site when a Dr. A. Gardiner took possession (the first of a number of medical professionals to occupy the site). The occupant of No. 14 College Square East continued to change over the next two decades; in 1877 a Mr. William H. Braddell was recorded as tenant (Bradell operated an ‘armourers’ business from 21 Castle Place under the company name Braddell & Son), whilst in 1880 a dressmaker named Mrs. N. Wood had taken possession (Belfast Street Directories).

The Belfast Revaluation recorded that by 1900 ownership of the terrace had passed to a Ms. Sarah White, who thereafter was noted as lessor. The valuer noted that No. 14 College Square East consisted of eight rooms (including sitting rooms and bedrooms but excluding the kitchen) and was installed with gas; in 1897 the ground floor of the building was converted into a shop when the property was taken over by Matthew Crymble Ltd; Crymble’s music shop was located at No. 58 Wellington Place whilst the property at No. 14 College Square East was utilised as a warehouse. Under the revaluation the property was increased in value to £115 whilst Crymble was required to pay annual rent of over £90.

From 1896 No. 14 College Square East was no longer utilised as a private dwelling and was solely used as commercial premises; as a result the building lay uninhabited and was not included in wither the 1901 or 1911 census although the 1911 census noted that the ground floor shop was utilised as a piano showroom. Matthew Crymble Ltd. continued to occupy No. 14 College Square East until the 1970s; in c. 1928 nos 14-16 College Square East were purchased by a Mr. Frederick H. Stringer and by 1935 the value of the building had been increased to £184 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland.

The terrace survived the destruction of the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War was included in the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. By the 1950s ownership of No. 14 College Square East had passed to the Evangelical Bookshop which occupied the adjoining nos 15-16 and utilised the upper floors as storage; the value of No. 14 had increased to £332 by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

Patton states that College Square was laid out in the early-19th century and was originally intended as a residential area, a Georgian square surrounded by handsome townhouses. No. 14 College Square East was constructed in c. 1830 and was originally a redbrick structure, the red-brick has been hidden under a stucco render; Patton states that, although much of the original façade of the terrace has been altered, ‘early pots survive on the chimneys, some [possessing] beaded or dropped bead type, [and some with] dragon’s teeth type’ (Patton, p. 72).

Beckett states that the terrace was constructed in the early-19th century and was originally intended as new housing for Belfast’s professional classes. A photograph of College Square North dated c. 1880 contained in J. C. Beckett’s 'Belfast: The Making of the City' depicts the terrace prior to its conversion into commercial premises; the ground floor of the row lacking shopfronts possessed ornate doorcases with fanlights above. The commercialisation of the terrace took place in the early 20th century when the construction of Municipal Technical Building undermined the aesthetic quality of the square and resulted in the exodus of the professional classes to South Belfast and the newly formed terraces on University Square beside Queen’s University Patton (Beckett, p. 155; Patton, p. 74).
No. 14 College Square East, along with the rest of the terrace, was listed in 1976 and since that time has continued to be utilised as commercial premises; the First Survey Image records that the Scout Shop, that has since taken over nos 12 and 13, had occupied No. 14 College Square East by 1978. It is not known when the quoins framing No. 14 were added as Patton states that ‘the only quoins originally were on the corner with Wellington Place,’ however it could possibly have been in c. 1897 when Crymble took over the site as Crymble favoured embellishment and added a distinctive Art Nouveau shop front to his main property at No. 58 Wellington Place. No. 14 College Square East continues to be utilsied as commercial premises and is currently occupied by Discover Outdoors, a hiking equipment store that also occupies to adjoining No. 13 College Square East.

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/1/B/75A+B – Townland Valuation c. 1837
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/4B – Griffith’s Valuation 1860
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/1-18 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930
10. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/49 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
11. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
13. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1918)
16. First Survey Record – HB26/50/022 (1971)
17. First Survey Image – HB26/50/022 (1975-78)
18. Ordnance Survey map – 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources
1. Beckett, J. C., ‘Belfast: The making of the city’ Belfast: The Appletree Press, 1983.
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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced four-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1830, as one of a terrace of houses at the junction of Great Victoria Street and Wellington Place. Although compromised by modern alterations, much historic fabric and detailing survive. The building and its neighbours represent a rare building typology in the heart of the City. The row is a rare surviving Georgian terrace of a type once commonly found throughout the centre of Belfast; similar examples include a four-storey terrace on Chichester Street and two three-storey terraces on Joy and Hamilton Street.

General comments

Renumbered to rationalise group. Previously HB26/50/022G.