Ten Square Hotel, Yorkshire House, 10 Donegall Square South, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 5JD

Ten Square Hotel (formerly Yorkshire House), 10 Donegall Square South, Belfast

This is a three-storey, multi-bay attached hotel, originally built as a linen warehouse around 1860–1862 and opened in early 1863. It stands on the south side of Donegall Square South, at the corner of Linenhall Street, directly behind Belfast City Hall, and forms part of a group of Victorian commercial buildings that once made up the district known as 'Linenapolis' — the dense cluster of linen warehouses established around Bedford Street and Linenhall Street during the Victorian linen boom. Together with the former Ewart's Factory on Bedford Street, it is one of the few surviving examples of this once-extensive warehouse district, which represented Belfast's largest industry after shipbuilding.

The building was constructed on land belonging to Adam and Andrew Thomas McClean for Daniel Jaffe of Jaffe Brothers Linen Manufacturers and Merchants, who had previously operated from 7 Bedford Street. A contemporary valuer described the front and east flank as "of beautiful ornamented cutstone work — rear struck — very elegant and well fitted up." It was initially valued at £373. Jaffe Brothers occupied the premises until at least the 1930s, though from 1906 to 1915 the second floor was let to a William Robinson as offices and warehouse space, and in 1918 the Redford Linen Co. Ltd. also held offices here. The Yorkshire Insurance Company purchased the property outright by 1930 and let out offices on each floor to various tenants.

In 1929, the exterior was substantially reconstructed into its current form by architect R. H. Gibson, who enlarged the premises for the Yorkshire Insurance Company — a fact recorded in the Irish Builder (Vol. 71, 27 April 1929, p. 378). During this conversion, a false ceiling and decorative arches were installed in the entrance porch. A photograph dated 1911, published by Larmour, shows that the building originally had paired windows in shared arched surrounds, which were likely removed at this time. A further alteration came in 1956, when part of the rear of the building along Linenhall Street was replaced with a tower block, carried out by Gibson and Taylor Architects. The building survived the Belfast Blitz of 1941 intact. By the 1935 general revaluation of Northern Ireland, the building's total assessed value had risen to approximately £918, and by the end of the second general revaluation in 1972, it stood at approximately £2,648. The building was listed in 1982, at which point it still housed offices. Around 2000, it was converted into the Ten Square Hotel, with a restaurant and bar at ground floor, a function suite at first floor, and close to 100 bedrooms on the upper floors. A two-storey block was added to the rear courtyard as part of this conversion, along with a fourth storey added to the return.

The plan is L-shaped, arranged around a central courtyard. The re-entrant angle is filled by a four-storey stairwell, which is itself abutted by a two-storey toilet block built around 2000. A three-storey return abuts the south internal elevation to the west, enclosing the courtyard, with a fourth storey added around 2000.

The roof is hipped natural slate with blue-black ridge tiles over corbelled sandstone eaves, surmounted by a cavetto-moulded cornice with decorative foliated enrichments. The walls are ashlar sandstone with sandstone quoins over a painted sandstone plinth. Courtyard elevations are in red brick. Rainwater goods are cast-iron moulded gutters with square downpipes.

Ground floor windows are round-arched steel-framed casements with margin lights, set within painted carved surrounds. Square pilasters with carved capitals to the reveals support an arched hood-moulding over a decorative bracketed sill. First and second floor windows are timber-framed 2-over-2 sliding sashes within carved architraves: at first floor, the lugged architraves are surmounted by triangular pediments with foliated relief work; at second floor, plain architraves are surmounted by segmental arched pediments with foliated relief work. Third floor windows (dormers) are steel-framed casements. Courtyard windows are timber-framed 2-over-2 sliding sashes with masonry sills.

The principal (north) elevation faces Donegall Square South and is nine windows wide about a central entrance bay. The entrance is set within a round-arched opening with chamfered reveals, flanked by columns with carved capitals supporting an arched hood-moulding. The square-headed double-leaf entrance doors have glazed top panels and a glazed fanlight, and are fronted by a decorative openwork metal screen and fanlight embossed with the words 'YORKSHIRE HOUSE / 10'. Above the entrance, a painted stone string and sill course marks the first floor, where paired round-arched windows are separated by a single column within a shared surround. The eighth opening from the left at ground floor contains a secondary entrance: a replacement square-headed door with a round-arched fanlight, flanked by pilasters with carved capitals supporting an arched hood-moulding.

Separating the ground floor windows on the north elevation are painted stone roundels containing carved heads depicting, from left to right: Michelangelo, Columbus, Washington, Mercury, Minerva, Shakespeare, Schiller and Homer. These heads are attributed by Larmour to the carver Thomas Fitzpatrick, who fashioned similar decorative heads on the now-demolished Theatre Royal on Arthur Street in 1871.

The east elevation, facing Linenhall Street, is also nine windows wide about a central entrance bay. The entrance arrangement mirrors that of the north elevation, surmounted by a painted stone string and sill course to the first floor and paired round-arched windows separated by a column in a shared surround, above which a carved cartouche is immediately surmounted by the second floor window. The leftmost ground floor opening contains a service entrance: replacement square-headed double-leaf doors with a louvred fanlight, flanked by pilasters with block capitals supporting an arched hood-moulding. The ground floor roundels on this elevation contain carved heads depicting, from left to right: Newton, Humboldt, Jacquard, Peace, Flora, Stevenson, Moore and Watt.

The south elevation is abutted by the return to the left and an adjoining building to the right. The exposed central section is abutted at ground floor by a plant room. Above, at second floor, there is a large timber-framed casement window; five window openings appear at third floor, all with concrete heads and sills, surmounted by brackets supporting a high-level plant installation.

The return has its south and east elevations abutted by adjoining buildings. Its west elevation is abutted at ground floor right by a single-storey plant room. The exposed section at ground floor contains two square-headed openings with replacement double-leaf entrance doors (with evidence of an original segmental arched opening remaining). There are six camber-headed window openings at first floor, three of which to the left are now built up, and six window openings at second floor, those to centre and right now built up. The elevation is surmounted at third floor by a metal-clad rooftop extension built around 2000.

The stairwell to the re-entrant angle is abutted to the south by a two-storey block built around 2000. The exposed section above contains steel-framed casement windows with leaded stained glass, concrete heads and flush sills to half-landings and mid-flights. Its west elevation is abutted at ground floor by a plant room, with the exposed section arranged similarly to the south elevation.

The west elevation is abutted by an adjoining building and the stairwell to the left, and by the two-storey block at centre. The exposed central section contains two windows at second floor. The exposed section to the right contains a square-headed opening at ground floor — partially built up — with replacement double-leaf doors, and two windows to each upper floor. At first floor, the right-hand window has been built up and a smaller window inserted. The walling at third floor on this elevation has been rebuilt in modern brickwork.

To the north, the building is set back from Donegall Square South behind modern steel planters and railings enclosing an outdoor seating area; the entrance is accessed via two granite steps through an opening in this boundary. To the east on Linenhall Street, the building fronts directly onto the street, with the entrance again accessed via two granite steps.

Internally, the layout has been largely altered over the years — first converted to offices, then later to hotel, restaurant and bar use — and much of the original interior arrangement no longer survives.