11 College Gardens, Belfast

11 College Gardens is an end-of-terrace, three-storey over basement, double-fronted red brick late Victorian townhouse built in 1877, forming part of a symmetrical block of four properties together with Nos. 12, 13 and 14 College Gardens. The architect is unknown, though the building is similar in style to the adjacent block designed by William Batt. The block is symmetrical at the front elevation, with No. 11 mirrored by No. 14 at the gable ends, and the narrower Nos. 12 and 13 between them; various returns and extensions make the rear less symmetrical. The property sits near the east end of College Gardens, a tree-lined street of similarly scaled townhouses running between Malone Road and Lisburn Road, within the Queens Conservation Area. The buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College. The listing covers the former townhouse, the rear steps, and the yard walling.

A three-storey gabled return is built at half-landing level to the rear (north), abutted by modest single-storey lean-to outhouses. A substantial two-storey over basement later addition, typically Edwardian in character and dating from around 1901, lies to the left (east) of the return and is referred to hereafter as the annex. The annex is of red brick construction with tall segmental arched windows, a natural slate roof hipped at its north and south ends, and a full-height projection to the west with a gable near the return above the eaves level. Fire exits from the north face of the annex and from the gable end of the main building lead onto an external metal stair at the side elevation. The building is currently used as a crèche on the ground and first floors, with student accommodation above connected to No. 12. This arrangement has resulted in some loss of plan form, though a wealth of historic detailing remains intact.

The roof is finished in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. A replacement red brick chimney, centred and set slightly inset from the gable end of the main roof, has a simple corbelled cap and six circular buff clay pots; a similar chimney at the opposite side has multiple pots and is shared with No. 12. Projecting moulded eaves sit on a plain frieze band between projecting moulded string courses, and there is a similar projecting moulded timber verge detail. Rainwater goods are cast iron to the south elevation and uPVC to the north, return, and annex. Brickwork is in Flemish bond to the south and east elevations, and English Garden Wall bond to the north, the return, and the annex. Windows are single-glazed double-hung sliding sashes with 1/1 panes unless otherwise noted.

The front (south) elevation is symmetrical, with a central entrance porch flanked by single-storey projecting bays: that to the left (west) is squared and has two windows; that to the right (east) is canted. A painted render base plinth has a moulded and chamfered top with toothed quoins to the south-east corner. The stucco bays and porch make up the remainder of the ground floor, each with a parapet roof, lead flashing above a foliated moulded cornice, and a plain frieze. Above, the predominantly red brick walls are defined by projecting moulded string courses serving as first and second floor sill lines. Window openings are segmental arched: a single window above the entrance at each upper level is flanked by a pair of windows aligned with the ground floor bays. Moulded stucco surrounds are used throughout, with projecting hoods at first floor and lugged surrounds at second floor. The ground floor bay windows have stop-chamfered heads and jambs with heavy bull-nosed cills set within the reveal, and a serrated lower edge to the frieze. The entrance porch has clasping pilasters with the same bull-nosed cill detail to leaded and stained glass fixed lights at the side cheeks. The entrance screen is square-headed, comprising timber-framed double doors with glazed upper panels and moulded lower panels, a plain glass over-light, and side lights. The doors open onto two steps, with modern red quarry tiles between painted and rendered dwarf walls that are curved on plan with matching square end piers, all having painted moulded caps, possibly of terracotta.

The south elevation of the annex is two-storey, with the ground floor largely enclosed by a flat-roofed link. A single segmental arched window to the far right is timber-framed, split into two lights with stained and leaded glass over-lights covered by a Perspex sheet. Three tall segmental arched openings at first floor all have over-lights as described: a flush door to the right exits onto a fire escape stair, and timber-framed casements fill the wider middle and left openings, both probably replaced, with painted timber base panels below the central transom. The projecting eaves are formed in moulded brick specials including corbels and dentils, the segmental arched openings are formed in brick headers, and the cills are concrete.

The rear (north) elevation overlooks Elmwood Mews and is asymmetrical and plainly detailed compared to the main building, with shallower stone cills, red brick soldier courses above windows, and a projecting painted timber eaves board. The three-storey gabled return is off-centred to the right (west). To the right of the return there is one window at each level: a six-paned top-hung casement to the basement, a 6/6-pane timber sliding sash at ground floor, and 2/2-pane sashes at first and second floors. Stone steps to the left of the basement window are as described under the west elevation. The gable end of the return has a matching timber verge board, a single window centred on the ridge at second floor (2/2 panes), a translucent glass sliding sash offset to the left and a centre-pivoted timber casement at first floor, and two modest lean-to structures with slate roofs at ground floor level, each with a single window: that to the left is a sliding sash with 2/2 panes and that to the right is a fixed light with a Georgian wired lower pane. To the left (east) of the return, the annex extends the full length of the yard, and its Elmwood Mews facade is somewhat more formal than the back of the house: a metal roller shutter spans almost the full width of the basement opening, with a steel lintel over and blue brick jambs; and there are three tall segmental arched windows at each of ground and first floor level, with timber-framed windows and intricate leaded glass over-lights. The wider middle windows are split into two lights. Painted metal horizontal rails occupy the lower half of the openings. Cills are concrete. Half-round uPVC guttering on rise-and-fall brackets runs along the roofline, with a timber verge board to the west projection.

The east elevation is made up of four parts: the gable end of the main building, the flat-roofed link, the side elevation of the return, and the annex. The gable end has less formal fenestration than the front elevation but is detailed similarly, with deep projecting eaves returning from both front and back elevations where the verge begins. There are two segmental arched windows with moulded surrounds at each of ground and first floor, centrally placed, and two square-headed openings with concrete lintels at second floor: a casement window to the left and a flush metal-plated door to the right that opens onto an external escape stair. The flat-roofed link contains a segmental arched timber-framed door and screen. The east face of the return has one opening at each of first and second floor and is otherwise blank. The east face of the annex is entirely blank.

The west elevation of the main building is abutted by No. 12. The west face of the return is plainly detailed, as at the rear, with informally arranged openings: a door and two windows at ground floor, a single window at first floor (2/2 panes), and two windows at the second floor half-landing level. A metal-framed three-part casement window is to the left at second floor; the ground floor window nearest the gable has 4/1 panes to the upper sash; and the window nearest the door has a central-pivoting timber casement. The door opens onto stone steps with simple metal uprights and a handrail terminating in a volute on the curtail step. The west face of the annex has sliding sash windows (2/2 panes each) at first and second floor to the far left, and three round-arched stained glass fixed lights: one at first floor and two at second floor. A painted timber eaves board carries a uPVC gutter and downpipe, and there is a gabled dormer above, offset to the right, which is blank.

The building is set back from the tree-lined street by timber hit-and-miss fencing and a low brick wall with a hedge behind on the south side of College Gardens. Three semi-mature trees stand in the front garden, which is otherwise surfaced in resin-bonded coloured safety matting; the front is accessed by a path from No. 12. Tarmac surfacing extends to the east side of the house, with steps to the flat-roofed link and the external fire escape stair. To the north, the yard boundary is formed mainly by the annex; the yard is paved mainly with concrete flags. A sheeted painted timber gate with a precast concrete lintel opens onto an alley within a red brick wall; the same brick walling forms the boundary to the yard at No. 12, with some terracotta rounded coping stones remaining.

The historical background to the property is substantial. College Gardens, originally known as College Gardens Avenue, was laid out on land that before the early 19th century had formed one of a series of strip farms running from what are now the Malone and University Roads to the Bog Meadows, probably established in the early 17th century. The integrity of these farms was broken up by the cutting of the Lisburn Road between 1816 and 1819 and the construction of the Ulster Railway between 1837 and 1839. Around the same period, greater security of tenure from the Donegall estate led to the gentrification of what remained of these farms, with the building or upgrading of existing structures to create small country villas and the laying out of small demesnes within the formerly farmed plots. The land immediately north and south of College Gardens belonged to one such villa, Vermont, a pre-1770 house possibly rebuilt or enlarged around 1815 and again in the 1840s, on the latter occasion by John Riddell, a Belfast ironmonger. The building of Queen's College a short distance to the north-east in 1845 sparked the suburbanisation of the area, and in 1865 Vermont itself was sold for the building of Methodist College. The latter was completed in 1868, and a new private avenue was laid out on the lower ground immediately to the north, with building plots on the northern side. Beginning at the eastern end, the present Nos. 1–6 were constructed in 1871, Nos. 7–18 in 1877, Nos. 33 and 34 in 1879, Nos. 19–22 in 1881, Nos. 23–26 in 1882, and Nos. 27–32 in 1883.

No. 11 belongs to a block of four — two double-fronted end properties with two single-fronted ones between — built in 1877. The identity of the architect is not known, but the developer of this block and those westward as far as No. 32 appears to have been the Reverend George Cron, then minister of the Evangelical Union Church in Wellington Place; his monogram appears to be on the entrance keystone of all properties in the block. Reverend Cron himself resided at No. 11 until 1898, when he was succeeded by Hugh MacDowell Pollock, a corn merchant originally from Bangor, who served as a Unionist MP in the Northern Ireland parliament from 1921. In the 1901 census, Mr Pollock is recorded as living there with his American-born wife Annie, their four children, Annie's mother Mrs Eliza Marshall, an American house guest Edith Goldberg, and three domestic servants. The house itself was recorded as a first-class dwelling with 19 rooms in occupation. These rooms probably included those within the large addition to the return, which the contemporary valuation book indicates was completed either in 1901 or the previous year, raising the rateable value from £85 to £104 in the process. The Pollocks, along with one of their sons, Mrs Marshall, and three servants were still living there at the time of the 1911 census, and appear to have remained until Mr Pollock's death in 1937. By 1943 the street directory records G.R.B. Purce, a surgeon, as the occupant. The property was noted as vacant in 1951, and at some point later in that decade both No. 11 and No. 12 were acquired by nearby Methodist College to house their preparatory school, Fullerton House. It remained as such until the later 1970s, when it was converted to a crèche run by Queen's University, with No. 12 becoming student accommodation. No. 11 College Gardens was listed in September 1979. Historic Environment Division files record that a major scheme of works to Nos. 11 and 12 was undertaken by Queen's University in 2012. The main chimney was reconstructed and works to the roofs were undertaken in 1989. Permission was also granted in 2006 for replacement roof coverings, replacement windows, and repointing.