72-74 ROYAL AVENUE, BELFAST, (aka Gresham Chambers)

A four storey terraced commercial building with attic, in a decorative Queen Anne Revival style, originally Gresham Life Offices (1887). It was designed by William J. Gilliland, and sits on the west side of Royal Avenue. Natural slate roof pitched behind parapet and gabled dormer to front (east) elevation, lead ridge; pitched dormer to rear elevation; tall deep brick chimneys with stepped cornices, to each gable. Concealed parapet gutter. Walls are red terracotta with ornate mouldings: roundel frieze, trefoiled gablets with finials and diamond infill to dormer apex slightly advancing over a machicolated cornice with animal gargoyles to each end; string courses between floors; "GRESHAM LIFE OFFICE" inscribed in floral decorated panels over first floor arches; geometric decoration and foliate capitals to columns of moulded window architraves. Gauged bricks running full height divide paired windows with varying openings to upper floors: to attic and third floor shallow segmental arches; to second floor, bi-partite, square-headed, recessed within segmental arched architrave; to first floor, bi-partite, round headed, in round arched architraves with cinquefoil tracery. Windows are generally 2 pane 1/1 timber sashes with horns, to first floor they are replacement timber casements, additional 2 single pane timber windows flanking dormer. The front east elevation is symmetrical, 3 pairs of window wide. The dormer windows are framed by pilasters sitting over the projecting cornice of the central bay. Modern ground floor shop front, including door. The south elevation is completely abutted by HB26/50/182. The rear (west) elevation, is plainly detailed with cement render. Right dormer window centred over two windows to the fourth floor under which there is a lean-to extension. The left side has a canted, full-height, monopitch roofed projection. At ground floor level is a modern light-weight constructed shop unit. The north elevation is completely abutted by HB26/50/184. Setting: 72-74 fronts directly on to the pavement on the west side of the major commercial street of Royal Avenue in Belfast’s commercial heart. The rear elevation is accessed directly from Haymarket Arcade. The terraced building is bounded on each side by listed buildings (N: HB26/50/184 and S: HB26/50/182), faced by HB26/50/185 and HB26/50/186. Schedule: Roof: Natural slate Walling: Terracotta Windows: Timber sash and replacement casements RWG: Terracotta - hidden within construction.