Belfast Education and Library Board, 40-62 Academy Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 2LS

Belfast Education and Library Board, 40-62 Academy Street, Belfast

A three-storey red brick former warehouse built by Samuel Stevenson between 1899 and 1901, situated on the north side of Academy Street. The building is Grade B2 listed.

The roof is of mixed materials: the pavilion tower roofs are clad in Westmoreland slates and surmounted by a lead-roofed timber lantern with wrought iron finial; the pitched sections between the towers are natural slate with two hipped dormers topped with wrought iron finials; the remaining roof is flat, covered by aggregate-faced insulation slabs. Rainwater pipes are square uPVC.

The walls are constructed of red brick laid in English garden wall bond with a black brick plinth. Shallow brick piers rise the full height of the building, with open arched balustrades to the parapet. A moulded brick cornice with dentilled machicolations and ball-flower decoration sits beneath. Moulded brick strings sit over the ground and first floor window arches, while a moulded stone and brick string with ball-flower detail marks the first floor cill level. Sandstone corbels and copings crown the octagonal corner tower turrets. A corbel supports an oriel window. A sandstone Dutch gable with flattened arch frames the oriel, flanked by octagonal piers with foliate carved corbels. Arched machicolations and moulded strings ornament the gable, which is inscribed '1901' beneath a shell carved in the pediment.

The windows vary by floor. Those to the attic have round arches with bullnosed surrounds and exaggerated sandstone keystones connected by moulded brick strings. Second-floor windows are round-arched with bullnosed surrounds and sandstone cills. First-floor windows have segmental arches with moulded brick strings over, bullnosed surrounds, and moulded brick string cills. Ground-floor windows feature segmental arches with connecting brick strings over, stepped bullnosed surrounds, exaggerated sandstone keystones, and splayed grey granite cills. All windows are now uPVC. Secondary doorways replicate the window openings with segmental arches. The entrance door is framed by polished and carved stone detailing and is now replacement plate glass; secondary doors are replacement timber.

The front southeast elevation is symmetrical and 23 windows wide. The central entrance lies beneath the oriel window and Dutch gable, flanked by bays of three windows on upper floors with a secondary door and one ground-floor window. Adjacent is a bay of two windows with a tower above and vehicular access doors at ground level. Towards each corner are three bays of two upper-floor windows and one ground-floor window. The entrance is framed by polished red granite columns with Ionic capitals and polished grey granite plinths. A blocked moulded sandstone archivolt with a carved monogram occupies the keystone, now partially obscured by a modern sign. The canted oriel has a curved copper roof and dentilled cornice, sitting on a stone corbel.

The southwest elevation is 18 windows wide, with bays matching those of the southeast elevation: two windows to upper floors and one to ground floor in each bay. The second opening from the right on the ground floor is a doorway.

The rear northwest elevation has three brick piers to each corner; the wall between is flat brick. Second-floor windows have flat lintels, while first-floor windows feature segmental arches. Ground-floor windows have segmental arches infilled with concrete lintels. A light well with painted brick walls is fitted with four modern infill towers of corrugated metal sheeting.

The northeast elevation is 18 windows wide in bays matching the southwest elevation. The second floor has four arched windows to the south; the remainder are square-headed. The first floor matches the southwest elevation. The ground floor matches the northwest elevation except for a segmental-arched window at the south corner.

The building occupies the block bounded by Academy Street to the east, Great Patrick Street to the north, Curtis Street to the south, and Coar's Lane to the west. It faces 81–87 Academy Street across the street, south of which an open car park provides a clear view of St. Ann's Cathedral. To the west across the narrow Coar's Lane stands The Calvary Christian Centre, with the modern University of Ulster further south across Curtis Street.