16 College Square East

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced four-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1830, with replacement shopfront spanning the ground floor. Built as one of a terrace of former townhouses 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 roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, lead junction with adjoining house to the north and a cement verge to the south gable. Original red brick chimneystacks to either end with sandstone course and angled clay pots. Roofs set behind lead-lined blocking course and eaves cornice. Painted cement rendered walling, red brick laid in English garden wall bond to the rear. Square-headed window openings with masonry sills and uPVC windows to the front elevation. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with masonry sills and replacement single-pane timber sash windows to the rear elevation.

West front elevation is two windows wide with a replacement steel-clad shopfront spanning the ground floor.

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

Rear elevation is two windows wide and abutted by a two-storey rendered extension, built c.1970, with a small rear parking area.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining infill office building.

Setting

Terminating a terrace of former townhouses lining the east side of College Square East.

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

Historical information

No. 16 College Square East, a four storey late-Georgian townhouse, is one of a terrace of similar buildings which include nos 58-64 Wellington Place (HB26/50/022A-B) and nos 14-16 College Square East (HB26/50/022C-E). The terrace 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 terrace 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. 16 College Square East was occupied by a Mr. W. P. Henderson and was valued at £13 7s. 6d. in 1837.

In 1843 No. 16 College Square East lay vacant, however by 1852 the property was reoccupied by a Mr. William Booker who was employed as a merchant (Belfast Street Directories). William Booker continued to occupy the townhouse in 1860 when he was recorded as tenant in Griffith’s Valuation; the valuer noted that No. 16 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. 16 had increased to £34. Booker had vacated the property by 1877 when No. 16 lay vacant but by 1880 the site was occupied by the first of a number of doctors to live at the site a Dr. William McMordie. Despite the change in tenant over the years the Annual Revisions continued to list William Booker as occupant of No. 16 College Square East until the 1900 Belfast Revaluation.

The Belfast Revaluation recorded that by 1900 ownership of the terrace had passed to a Ms. Sarah White, who thereafter was noted as lessor; Dr. William McMordie had vacated the terrace by that time when a Dr. Cecil Shaw was recorded as tenant. The valuer noted that No. 16 College Square East consisted of eight rooms (including sitting rooms and bedrooms but excluding the kitchen) and was installed with gas; under the revaluation the value of No. 16 was increased to £54 and Dr. Cecil Shaw was required to pay £55 in annual rent. Dr. Shaw vacated the property in 1901 and as a result No. 16 College Square East was not included in the census of that year as it lay vacant. By 1907 the dwelling was reoccupied by a Ms. Jane Hamilton, a local dressmaker who (at the time of the 1901 census) had formerly resided at an address on College Square East further to the south of the surviving terrace; Hamilton utilised No. 16 as a dwelling and warerooms for her costume and millinery business (Belfast Street Directories).

The 1911 Census noted that Jane Hamilton (48, Presbyterian) was widowed and resided at College Square East alone, apart from a number of servants and assistants for her dressmaking business; the census building return described her property as a 1st class dwelling and shop that consisted of 14 inhabited rooms. Hamilton continued to reside at No. 16 College Square East until at least 1918 and was recorded as occupant of the site until 1928 when a Mr. Frederick H. Stringer purchased the property (and the adjoining nos 14-15) from Sarah White; in that year the upper floors of No. 16 College Square East were converted into a number of offices whilst the ground floor was maintained as a shop by a Mr. J. C. Burkley. The ground floor shop was valued at £46 whilst the many upper offices were valued between £6 15s. and £31; the total value of the building in 1928 had increased to £105 5s and remained at that level by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

No. 16 College Square East was not included in the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935 which listed the property as ‘missing in street’, however the building survived the destruction of Belfast city centre during 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 No. 16 College Square East had been purchased by the adjoining Evangelical Bookshop (which was opened in 1926). The ground floor shop was occupied by L. Carroll & Co. Ltd (an unknown business) and was valued at £104 by 1972; the upper offices were utilised by the adjoining Evangelical Bookshop as storage space, and were valued between £7 10s. and £39 whilst the total value of the building was calculated at approximately £189 10s. by the end of the general revaluation in 1972.

Patton states that the 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; however the construction of the massive Municipal Technical Building on the north-east corner of the square altered the intention of the square and resulted in the loss of its original idyllic Georgian character. No. 16 College Square East was constructed in c. 1830 although Patton believes that the four-storey dwelling is a red-brick building (the brick now hidden under a stucco rendering) and was intended as a ‘filler’ to be located between the terrace nos. 11-15 College Square East and the adjoining nos 17-25 (now demolished) (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 number of doctors recorded amongst the occupants of No. 16 College Square East attest to the class of the past residents of the area and Patton states that in 1890 ‘no less than six surgeons lived in the terrace nos 11-25’ whilst the Mathematical Physicist and Engineer William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, is believed to have been born on the row as early as 1824 (although Kelvin was born at the now demolished terrace 17-25 which was constructed. 1820-25) . 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. 16 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; currently occupied by an electronics showroom.

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

Online Resources
1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography website –
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36507?docPos=1

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, with replacement shopfront spanning the ground floor. Built as one of a terrace of seven similar houses. 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 HB26/50/022I.