2/6 Bradbury Place, Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, County Antrim, BT7 1RX

A modified asymmetrical three-bay, two-storey with attic gabled semi-detached former Public House, now bank, in the Tudor Revival style; built c.1912 to designs of Blackwood & Jury and located on the east side of Bradbury Place in Belfast city centre.

The building was originally constructed in 1912 as a public house for William Thomas Braithwaite, publican, who had been trading on the site from c.1895. The Irish Builder published a photograph of the completed building on 3rd February 1912, greeting it with considerable fanfare under the headline "An Interesting House in Belfast". The periodical noted that the premises "add a very distinctive architectural feature to that leading thoroughfare into and out of the city". The half-timbered work was executed in oak with intervening spaces finished in roughcast. The roofs were covered with Westmoreland slates. The ground floor originally comprised a bar and two shops; the first floor contained offices and dwelling accommodation; the second floor provided dwelling accommodation only. The bar fittings and decoration were of high quality, including oak fixtures decorated by Messrs George Morrow & Sons of Belfast, vitreous mosaic flooring by Jesse Rust of Battersea, and electric lighting by Mr Stanley Johnston. The lower storey was finished entirely in Burmantofts Marmo, a type of faience produced by the Burmantofts pottery in Leeds from 1908; remnants of this remain around the windows and crenellations. By 1919 the building had been taken over by the Belfast Banking Company Ltd and has remained a bank since that date.

The rectangular plan building features a two-storey curved bay to the north and a full-height red brick return to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof is topped with replacement red brick chimneys, with leaded ridgeline and valleys. Cast iron ogee rainwater goods feature decorative cast iron hoppers and gargoyles. Timber bargeboards finish the decorative half-timbered gables.

The walling consists of painted roughcast render with a string course between floors and corbels to half-jettied gables. The two-storey curved bay features a floriated string course to a masonry castellated parapet. Windows are timber-framed to the attic; two modern dormers occupy the rear elevation. The first floor contains paired metal casements in masonry surrounds with projecting sills; the ground floor now has modern plate-glass windows.

The principal elevation faces west and displays three half-jettied gables to the attic; the gable to the right is wider and contains a quadripartite window, whilst those to the left have bipartite windows matching those on the first floor. The ground floor is spanned by a modern shopfront with synthetic fascia, which has resulted in the loss of the original Burmantofts Marmo finish and half-timbered gabled entrance porch.

The north elevation features a jettied decorative half-timbered gable with windows to left and right at attic level. The first floor is abutted by the two-storey curved bay with a projecting half-timbered jettied gable containing a tripartite window, with two sets of paired windows to the east elevation and a paired window to the west. The east (rear) elevation is enclosed by a red-brick wall and partially concealed. Paired windows occupy the left and right positions at first floor level, with the full-height return at centre containing a fire exit and windows to both attic and first floor levels. The south gable is abutted at first floor by the adjoining building, with the upper section blank. A later addition includes a window to the left gable.

The building is corner-sited at Shaftesbury Square and Bradbury Place with an alley to the rear. It forms part of a largely twentieth-century terrace. Despite alterations to the ground floor and internal layout resulting in some loss of historic detailing and character, the building retains much of its original character and remains a valuable example of the work of renowned local architects Blackwood & Jury. Prominently sited on a major thoroughfare, it makes a significant contribution to the architectural character and variety of the area. The upper floors, currently used as office accommodation, lie vacant.