Garage / Shop ('Europcar'), 159-161 University Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT7 1HR

This is a relatively small, single-storey garage and shop, likely dating from around 1930. It is situated on the southern side of University Street, near its junction with Ormeau Road, nestled between two taller, earlier buildings that are now offices. The building is rectangular, measuring approximately 16.7 metres by 11.2 metres.

The front elevation, facing north, features two large vehicle doorways with roller shutters positioned centrally to the right and left. A squat window with a modern frame is situated to the right of the entrance. Above the shop front, the roughcast façade rises into a stepped parapet, reminiscent of Art Deco style, finished with plain coping. A recent, internally illuminated shop sign is located just below the parapet, with a laminated sign positioned beneath it, above the central doorway.

The roof, while employing Belfast Trusses – a structural system developed in the mid-19th century – is unexpectedly pitched and gabled, rather than flat. Internal inspection reveals a corrugated metal covering and two parallel rooflights with corrugated Perspex glazing. The back elevation was not accessible for inspection.

The building does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1921 and is believed to have been constructed around 1930. Belfast Trusses were initially developed to create efficient, lightweight, and long-span roofs to meet the demands of the industrial revolution. The first reference to a curved wooden roof structure supported by bowstring girders came from a 1866 advertisement by the Belfast firm McTear & Co. Their truss construction ceased in 1908. Anderson & Co. began producing trusses in 1886, followed by their improved Mk II design in 1896, which was subsequently adopted by others. This Mk II version is commonly referred to as the Belfast truss, though the term now encompasses similar timber bowstring trusses where the bracing members meet on the top curved member. The property was surveyed as part of a wider Belfast Roof Truss survey.