Bogarts, 57 Ann Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 4EE

Bogarts, 57 Ann Street, Belfast

This is a four-storey Italianate commercial building occupying a prominent corner plot at the junction of Ann Street and Upper Church Lane in central Belfast. The original structure dates from around 1830, though a building appears on this site on George Benn's 1822 map of Belfast and may indicate an earlier origin. The façade was comprehensively refaced around 1885, giving the building its current ornate Victorian character. It sits at the end of a terrace directly on the south side of the now-pedestrianised Ann Street and is one of the very few surviving Georgian townhouses remaining in the historic centre of Belfast. It also survived the 1941 Belfast Blitz, during which many surrounding buildings at the end of Church Lane were destroyed.

Architectural Description

The pitched slate roof is hidden behind a balustraded parapet formed of square urns, set above a deeply projecting moulded cornice with bracketed soffit. The west gable has a rendered chimney with a moulded and bracketed cornice. Rainwater goods to the rear are uPVC. The walls are finished in painted plain render throughout.

The façade treatment is richly layered. Staged pilasters mark the corners at each floor, with fluted shafts and differently detailed capitals at every level. Moulded string courses run at each sill level. All windows have flat lintels with moulded architraves. Those at the third floor carry lugged architraves with exaggerated keystones. The second-floor windows have pediments with floral tympana set on fluted pilasters. The first-floor windows have segmental pediments with floral tympana, carried on console brackets over moulded uprights with volute feet. Windows throughout are two-pane, one-over-one timber sashes.

The ground-floor shopfront is framed by slender pilasters with fluted bases, diamond motifs, and Ionic capitals. The fascia between the original end stops is a modern plastic replacement. The shop windows and entrance door are also replacement timber. The main north elevation facing Ann Street is three windows wide, with the shopfront arranged in three bays and the entrance positioned in the west bay.

The east elevation is abutted by an adjoining four-storey building. The rear south elevation is largely a blank wall, with small windows at the second and third floors. The west elevation, facing Upper Church Lane, has windows to the south corner on each of the upper floors. The corners of this elevation have pilasters to the north and rusticated quoins to the south. The remaining blank wall surface carries a three-storey-high moulded plaster panel — noted by Patton (1993) as featuring delicate moulding. The shopfront on this elevation has a window bay flanked by bays of solid rusticated render, with a shuttered door in the southernmost fourth bay.

Historical Development

The plot at the corner of Ann Street and Upper Church Lane was purchased by a Mr John Radcliffe in 1756, who had nine similar houses built on the site. The current buildings at nos 57–61 Ann Street date from around 1830. Ann Street is considered one of Belfast's earliest streets, likely following a medieval thoroughfare running west from the River Lagan, and was first shown in its current layout on Phillip's 1685 map of the town.

By 1843 the building was occupied by William Charnock and Co., glass, oil, and colour merchants. After a period of vacancy around 1852, the premises and the adjoining No. 59 were taken by John Moffett by the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1860, who operated a soap and candle factory from the site and also resided there. He leased both properties from Martin Harper, a wholesale grocer of No. 35 Victoria Street. The combined valuation of nos 57–59 was set at £65 in 1860. By 1872, Moffett had vacated No. 59 (which became a grocery store) and continued his business at No. 57, which was then revalued at £55.

John Moffett died in 1885, at which point the lease was purchased by John Smyth. By 1890, Smyth had carried out significant alterations to the late-Georgian building, producing the present Italianate façade — a transformation clearly visible when No. 57 is compared with the adjoining No. 59, which retains its earlier character. Following the refacing, the rateable value rose to £75.

By the time of the 1900 Belfast Revaluation, the premises had been taken by the Lennon Brothers, who established a fruit grocer trading as The City Fruit Stores, raising the value to £82. By 1910 the Lennon Brothers had left, and in 1912 the property was taken by George E. Irwin, an outfitter and hatter, who established it as a clothing store — the beginning of a continuous association with menswear that has lasted over a century. By 1930 the rateable value had risen to £100, and under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) it was further raised to £170. By 1935 Irwin had been succeeded by John Rainey, who continued operating an outfitting shop and showroom. Between 1935 and 1943, Albert Gardner took possession of the men's outfitters and continued there through the Second Revaluation period (1956–72), by the end of which the rateable value stood at £256. By 1972 Bogart's Menswear had taken over the site. The building was listed in 1989, by which point Bogart's already occupied both No. 57 and the adjoining No. 59 Ann Street, having expanded into the latter building at some point before the earliest survey photograph of 1989. Bogart's Menswear has occupied the building for over forty years and continues to trade from the premises.

Condition and Alterations

Although the building has been compromised by modern alterations — including the replacement plastic fascia, replacement timber shop windows and door, and uPVC rainwater goods to the rear — a substantial amount of historic fabric and decorative plasterwork survives. The building sits within a conservation area.