25-33 Donegall Place, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 5FE

25-33 Donegall Place, Belfast (Queen's Arcade Chambers)

Queen's Arcade Chambers is a symmetrical, multi-bay, four-storey commercial building with a stucco-rendered facade, constructed in 1880 to the designs of Belfast-based architect James Francis Mackinnon, who at the time served as official architect to the Belfast Union Board of Guardians. The building was remodelled around 1930 to designs by Percy James Westwood, a London-based architect, and refurbished with new shopfronts inserted around 2000. It is rectangular on plan, fronts east onto Donegall Place, and serves as the Donegall Place entrance building to Queen's Arcade, a long covered commercial arcade extending from Donegall Place through to Fountain Street.

Exterior

The roof is natural slate with roll-moulded ridge tiles and a pair of hipped roofs to the rear projections. Each end bay has a copper-clad pavilion roof with decorative wrought-iron cresting. All external walls are painted stucco render throughout. Window openings are square-headed and fitted with steel casement windows.

The east-facing principal elevation is six windows wide. It is symmetrical, with a central gable rising above the parapet and a further small gablet to each end bay. The central gablet features a corbelled central pier clasped by colonettes, flanked by foliate panels, and supporting a sculpted miniature chateau at the apex, resting on a moulded base — described by the architectural historian Patton as a fanciful reference to the old Belfast Castle. Below the gable is a diamond-shaped plaque bearing the monogram 'AR', which dates from the 1930 remodelling for Austin Reed. A clock face is set into the centre of the facade at second-floor level.

Continuous corbelled sill courses run at each floor level. Pilasters rise from first-floor level to parapet level, becoming squat piers to all bays except the central one, surmounted by ball finials and framing iron railings. The third-floor window openings have corbelled reveals and a decorative cornice supported on console brackets. Second-floor windows have continuous hood mouldings with foliate keystones. First-floor windows are set within stop-chamfered, round-headed surrounds with decorative overpanels, arch mouldings rising from impost mouldings, a continuous string course over, and foliate spandrels above the arches. The ground floor has replacement hardwood shopfronts with a central splayed entrance to the arcade, all framed by replacement timber pilasters with gableted console brackets and a full-span fascia above.

The south side elevation abuts an adjoining late 20th-century building. The rear elevation abuts the arcade itself and a flat-roofed three-storey addition. Rear window openings are square-headed with single-pane timber sash windows. The north side elevation abuts the adjoining building at No. 27 Donegall Place, a surviving Georgian structure that is the sole remaining pre-Victorian building on the street.

Interior

The Art Deco detailing to the staircase is of high quality and, together with the lift, represents a noteworthy survival within the city. Although the ground floor interior has been compromised by modernisation, much historic fabric and detailing survive throughout the building, and the overall character remains significant.

History

The site prior to 1880 was occupied by three separate commercial properties, including William Dickson and Co.'s umbrella and walking stick shop, a warehouse, and a fancy toyshop operated by Henry Wharton. The current building was constructed in 1880 for George Fisher, proprietor of the Castle Restaurant and Bar, which had formerly been located at No. 31 Castle Lane. Queen's Arcade Chambers as originally completed comprised two ground-floor retail units at Nos. 29 and 33, separated by the entrance to Queen's Arcade at No. 31, with the three upper floors used as offices and as the new premises for Fisher's Castle Restaurant and Bar. At completion in 1880, the rateable value of the building (excluding the arcade) was £510, with Fisher recorded as sole occupant. The ground-floor units and upper floors were leased to tenants from 1881. Fisher continued to administer the property until 1895, when it was purchased by Otto Jaffe (1846–1929), one of the largest linen suppliers in Ireland, who also served twice as Mayor of Belfast, in 1899 and 1904. By 1895 the rateable value had risen to £674 10s.

By 1901, No. 29 was still occupied by William Dickson and Co., while No. 33 was occupied by linen merchant Robert Glass and Co. The first floor, formerly the Castle Restaurant and Bar, was operating as Johnson's Luncheon and Tea Rooms. The upper floors housed a Christian meeting room, solicitors' offices, textile merchants, estate agents, engravers, and clothing warehouses. By 1910, No. 33 had passed to Cahoon Bros., local jewellers, watch and clock makers, and opticians. By 1918 the first-floor café had been renamed the Castle Tea Rooms, and No. 29 was occupied by Brand and Co., a fancy clothing company. By the time the Annual Revisions were cancelled in 1930, the total rateable value had risen substantially to £1,260.

In 1930, the Irish Builder records that Queen's Arcade Chambers was remodelled to accommodate Austin Reed Ltd., a clothing store, with alteration work carried out by Westwood, who had also designed a factory for Bryce and Weston in Derry in 1922. The 'AR' monogram on the facade dates from this remodelling. Larmour notes that the redesign resulted in the loss of some of the ornamental detail of the original pavilion-roofed frontage. Under the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935, the rateable value was adjusted to £1,991. Austin Reed and Brand and Co. continued as the principal occupants through the Second World War and into the second revaluation period (1956–72), by the end of which the building's total value stood at £3,452. Between 1987 and 1993 a canopy was added to the arcade entrance, but this had been removed by 1993. The building was first listed in 1979.

At the time of listing, Nos. 29 and 33 Donegall Place continued to be used as retail units, while the upper floors were vacant and used for general storage.

Setting and Context

The building forms part of a terrace of commercial buildings of various dates and heights facing east onto Donegall Place, a street with considerable historical significance. The site was originally within the grounds of Belfast Castle prior to its destruction in 1708. In the 1780s the present street was laid out as a link from the original 17th-century town centre to the White Linen Hall, erected in 1783–85. Originally called Linen Hall Street, it was renamed Donegall Place around 1810 when the surrounding area was renamed Donegall Square in honour of the Second Marquis of Donegall, who resided at Donegall House on the corner of the square and Donegall Place. In the early 19th century Donegall Place was at the very edge of Belfast and consisted mainly of private dwellings occupied by leading citizens. The expansion of the town during the 19th century, combined with the granting of city status in 1888, led to the commercialisation of the street, and most of its buildings date from the mid-to-late Victorian period. The sole surviving Georgian remnant on Donegall Place is Nos. 25–27, which adjoins Queen's Arcade Chambers.