The Morning Star, 17-19 Pottinger's Entry, BELFAST, Co. Antrim, BT1 4DT

The Morning Star is a corner-sited public house in Belfast, built around 1820 and refaced circa 1885. It comprises a two-storey rendered section fronting Pottinger's Entry, interconnected to a three-storey former house to the south. A two-storey extension was added to the rear around 2000.

The building is rectangular on plan facing east onto Pottinger's Entry. Both sections have pitched slate roofs with a profiled red brick chimneystack to the north party wall. Moulded cast-iron guttering sits on rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipes. The north gable features a replacement decorative timber bargeboard with sheeted eaves.

The two-storey section displays painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with rusticated rendered quoins. The three-storey section is painted brick. The two-storey section has square-headed window openings with kneed architrave surrounds, continuous concrete sill course and replacement single-pane hardwood sash windows. The three-storey section has gauged brick segmental-headed window openings with painted stone sills and timber sash windows—replacement single-pane to the first floor and horizontally-glazed 2/2 to the second floor.

The east front elevation of the two-storey section spans four windows wide with apron panels below first floor windows flanked by scrolled console brackets.

The ground floor features a decorative painted stucco pub shopfront spanning across both the front and north gabled elevations, with a recessed angled corner entrance. The shopfront displays square-headed fixed-pane hardwood display windows with etched glazing (replacement uPVC to the north window) and decorative leaded overlights, flanked by Doric pilasters. A continuous moulded sill course spans across all pilasters with bolection moulded stall risers having ceramic roundels and a full-span moulded plinth course. The door opening is surmounted by an overpanel with dentiled cornice and overlight, flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters with swags. The corner pilaster is articulated as a free-standing pier with tiled panels below the sill moulding. All pilasters support a full-span timber fascia with gilt lettering reading 'Morning Star' and a gilt acanthus-embellished cornice. The corner pier supports a gilt winged lion with replacement double-leaf hardwood glazed doors and terrazzo floor. The entrance is surmounted by a replacement glazed brass sign with a brass urn finial, supported on a decorative bowed wrought-iron frame, inserted around 2009.

The three-storey section is three windows wide with a slightly lower painted stucco pub shopfront to the ground floor, detailed similarly with the fascia framed by shields embellished with star motifs. A square-headed door opening to the left has a replacement timber panelled door providing access to the upper floors.

The south side elevation is abutted by an adjoining red brick infill building. The west rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed extension built around 1960, fronting onto a short alley. The north gabled side elevation is four windows wide, detailed as per the front elevation with pub shopfront to the ground floor.

The building is located at the southern end of Pottinger's Entry, between High Street to the north and Ann Street to the south, with a short alley to the north side elevation.