Cathedral Buildings, 60-68 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2GT

Cathedral Buildings is an impressive four-storey shop and office block built in 1901–2 for F.R. Lepper, a tea merchant. It stands on the south-west side of Donegall Street, to the north-east of Belfast city centre. The building is constructed in red brick with sandstone bands and features large gables with a vaguely Flemish character, tall chimneystacks, and a steeply pitched slated roof. The authorship is uncertain, though Marcus Patton has suggested it may have been the work of Blackwood and Jury.

The front elevation faces north-east and is symmetrical. At ground floor centre is a large segmental arched entrance recess containing a large panelled timber double door. The door itself sits within a much smaller segmental headed recess with simple moulding around it, while a shallow arched tympanum above carries more decorative floral moulding, with similar decorative moulding to the spandrel areas just above. Above this is a dentilled course, over which sits a large fanlight ensemble comprising three relatively large recessed elliptical arched lights with moulded floral decoration to their spandrels. The entire entrance recess is topped with a large projecting curved tympanum supported on two large decorative brackets, one either side of the recess. Within this tympanum the name "Cathedral Buildings" is spelt out in large moulded sans-serif capitals, and directly below it is a moulded string course with an integral moulded keystone. The tympanum is crowned with a thick verge course bearing floral decoration, including two central floral swirls.

Either side of the central entrance are four shop fronts in total, two to each side. Each shop front has a relatively plain modern appearance with large plate glass windows, recessed glazed doorways, and eclectic modern signage. The fronts are separated from one another by tall rusticated piers, each topped with a large two-pronged bracket with decorative floral mouldings at springing level and a curved tympanum-like cap. Between the prongs of each bracket descends a square metal downspout. Above signboard level are two moulded string courses.

At first floor level there are seven windows of varying size. The two outermost windows are the largest, with sandstone mullions and transoms dividing them into eight plain glazed lights each, and each topped with a small curved sandstone tympanum resembling that above the entrance but with much plainer verge moulding. The second and sixth windows are much smaller, each consisting of two lights separated by a sandstone transom. The third and fifth windows are slightly larger with four lights, mullions, and transoms as before. The central window has six lights with mullions and transoms as before, and is topped with a small plain semicircular tympanum.

The second floor windows follow the same general arrangement as those on the first floor but are marginally smaller. The two outermost windows at second floor level match the form of the central window on the first floor. The second floor central window also matches that of the first floor but is topped with a curved tympanum similar to that over the entrance. The third and fifth windows at first floor level have similarly shaped tympanums but without the moulding.

The elevation culminates in three large gables. Their construction in brick with sandstone courses gives them a Flemish feel, though their relatively angular shape — with simple kneelers — also recalls late medieval Irish tower houses. The central gable is the largest and contains a central six-light window of the same form as that to the centre of the first floor, only smaller, above which are three small arrow-slit recesses. This gable has a stone verge coping with kneelers and a small crow-step-like projection halfway up each side; at the apex is a relatively broad pier-like stone finial with a semicircular tympanum cap. The smaller outer gables repeat the detailing of the central gable but without windows or side projections. Above the central arrow slit of each outer gable is a small quatrefoil-shaped patress plate. Between the gables on the roof are two smallish three-light flat-roofed dormers.

Above ground floor level the front elevation is in red brick interspersed with twelve narrow sandstone bands in the Ruskinian style, distributed unevenly across each floor — three bands to the first floor, four to the second floor, and five to the central gable. Four square cast-iron gutters run the full height of the façade; the outer two are slightly longer as they must also span the additional height of the end parapets. The hoppers are large and square.

The south-east gable is asymmetrical in shape and has no openings. It was formerly concealed by a neighbouring property, but following the demolition of that building the gable has been re-faced entirely in red brick, with stone coping to the parapet. To the north-west, the building is abutted by a taller modern flat-roofed five-storey office block of approximately 1965–70.

The rear of the property originally appears to have had a large projecting single- or one-and-a-half-storey section — possibly Lepper's tea store — but this has been completely cleared away, its footprint now covered by part of a large office block built in approximately the 1990s. Because of the close proximity of this later block, much of the right-hand side of the rear elevation cannot be seen. The visible portion of the rear is finished in relatively recent plain cement render with a moulded eaves course. To the far left are a pair of tall segmental headed windows at first floor level and two slightly shorter ones at second floor level; all appear to have top-hung frames made to resemble sash windows. To the right of these is a large segmental headed window at each floor, both with plain double sash frames. Further right, at the centre of the elevation, are two large semicircular headed windows at the first floor and second floor half-landing levels, with recent-looking four-pane frames and large panels underneath. The gabled roof is covered in what appears to be Westmorland slate and carries two large centrally located brick chimneystacks with shallow pots. The roof overhangs to the front. Interior evidence indicates at least two large skylights to the rear and at least two much smaller ones to the front. The cast-iron gutters to the front have curving projecting iron supports, while the rainwater goods to the rear appear to be metal, with PVC soil drainage pipes.

Originally the property appears to have possessed a large single- or one-and-a-half-storey store section to the rear, most likely Lepper's tea store, which was cleared away — probably in the 1990s — to make way for the present office block behind the building. To the south-east, neighbouring buildings were also cleared to create a large plaza-like public space, exposing the gable that has since been rebuilt in modern brick.