11 Chichester Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 4JA

No. 11 Chichester Street is a Grade B+ terraced four-storey brick Georgian townhouse built around 1804, forming one of three similar buildings (HB26/50/281A & B) on the south side of Chichester Street in Belfast. The building exemplifies rare surviving late Georgian domestic architecture in the city and represents a significant part of what remains of Belfast's Georgian heritage.

The Structure

The house is constructed of dark redbrick laid in Flemish bond to both front and rear elevations. The pitched slate roof is hidden behind a rendered blocking course and cornice. A rendered chimneystack rises against the west party wall. The front elevation is three windows wide, with square-headed window openings formed in gauged brick featuring rendered reveals and painted masonry sills. The original multi-pane timber sash windows survive throughout, without horns. The upper floors retain their period sashes: 3/6 panes to the third floor and 6/6 panes to both the second and first floors. The rear elevation is two windows wide, though these have been largely replaced with 6/6 timber sash windows. The east and west side elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings Nos. 13 and 9 respectively.

Ground Floor and Commercial Adaptation

The ground floor has been dropped to street level and now houses a commercial unit with a symmetrical timber shopfront inserted around 1980. This shopfront comprises multi-pane double-leaf doors flanking a central multi-pane glazed door, all framed by slender panelled pilasters and a full-span timber fascia with lead-lined cornice. The original ground floor window and door openings remain visible as gauged brick arches behind the shopfront. The rear elevation is partially abutted by a single-storey rendered structure forming part of the ground floor commercial unit.

Access and Plan Form

Upper floors are accessed via a staircase to the adjoining building No. 13, opening onto the first half-landing. Despite commercial conversion, much of the original plan form survives, including former basement areas now subsumed into the commercial ground floor unit.

Historical Development

No. 11 was built as a private residence in 1804 to the designs of an unknown architect. The terrace first appears on a map of Belfast Town dated around 1818, having been built on a previously undeveloped site shown on a map from 1791. The building stood close to the White Linen Hall, which formerly occupied the site where City Hall now stands.

In the 1830s Townland Valuation, the house, offices and yard were valued at £34 and occupied by Richard Barnett. During the mid-19th century, Samuel Vance, a merchant who became Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, occupied the building. Griffith's Valuation of 1859–60 shows that Edward McDowall owned the entire terrace, with No. 11 valued at £55. At this time, the building contained two parlours, two dining rooms, six bedrooms, two basements, a scullery, pantries, a water closet, stable and yard.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the building was subdivided and let to separate occupiers. By 1887, the ground floor housed W. J. Jury's Whiskey business (Jury notably owned the Imperial Hotel in Donegall Place), while the upper floors were let to A. Stannus, an artist; William Fennell, an architect; and George Armstrong, a pensioner. The combined valuation of the premises stood at £93 between 1863 and 1881. By the turn of the 20th century, Charles H. Brett of the solicitors firm L'Estrange & Brett, located in No. 9, had purchased the building. The 1900 Belfast Revaluation valued the premises at £122 10s, rising significantly to £320 10s by 1911 due to expansion into the neighbouring three-storey corner unit and creation of commercial space on the ground floor. In the early 20th century, Chambers Motors occupied the shop, office and garage, extending into No. 9 Patterson Place at the rear of the terrace.

The First General Revaluation of 1935 saw the value increase again to £597 10s. Throughout the 20th century, the building was occupied by various office-based businesses on the upper floors, with the ground floor serving both office and commercial purposes, resulting in modifications to the ground floor layout.

Bomb Damage and Restoration

In the late 20th century, the entire terrace was severely damaged by two explosions in the alley to the rear, causing substantial damage to the rear elements. The buildings were subsequently rebuilt and the frontages restored in the following years. A new shopfront was installed by Robert McKinstry around 1979, later replaced in 1998. The building is now occupied by a café. Despite these alterations, much historic fabric, detailing and the original plan form survive.

Setting and Significance

No. 11 forms part of a uniform terrace of three similar buildings with a small enclosed yard to the rear fronting onto Pattersons Place. The terrace is located within a conservation area and constitutes a rare example of late Georgian domestic architecture in Belfast, built in the typical Dublin-style characteristic of the period. It forms an elegant composition among largely late Victorian commercial buildings and contributes significantly to the remaining fragments of the Georgian city, notably those also visible in Wellington Place.