69 University St, Belfast, BT7 1HB

Three-storey, High Victorian, mid-terraced brick former townhouse of 1878-79, now in use as offices for the School of Education at Queen's University Belfast. The building is not listed, having been assessed as lacking sufficient architectural or historical interest for designation, primarily due to the loss of the original staircase, the addition of a large modern rear extension, and internal integration with the adjoining No 71.

No 69 is the second building from the right within a terrace of five, originally known as Princess Gardens, and is flanked on the right by Nos 65-67 (Dukes Hotel, a separately listed building) and on the left by No 71, with which it is now internally linked. The terrace is rectangular in plan, faces north, and lines the south side of University Street — a long thoroughfare running between University Road to the west and Ormeau Road to the east — within the Botanic Avenue Area of Townscape Character. A two-storey, flat-roofed extension dating from approximately the 1980s has been added to the rear.

MATERIALS

The roof is finished in natural Welsh slate with black clay ridge tiles. Walls are of red brick in Flemish bond, with header bond to the bowed window bay, painted stone, and painted stucco. Rainwater goods comprise painted metal downpipes and cast iron guttering to the front, with PVC to the rear. Windows are timber sliding sash with horns, single-glazed and possibly replaced.

FRONT ELEVATION (NORTH)

The three-storey brick front façade is built in Flemish bond. The entrance is centrally positioned at the top of a flight of six steps and is flanked on the left by a three-storey bowed bay with a conical slate roof, and on the right by a three-storey shallow square bay with a truncated chateau roof. The pitched natural Welsh slate roof has black clay ridge tiles. Brick chimney stacks are shared with the neighbouring properties to both left and right.

All windows to the front are single-glazed 1/1 timber sliding sash with horns and are possibly replacements.

The bowed bay on the left has, at each storey, a painted stone surround enclosing three large square-headed window openings, with plain engaged painted sandstone capitals at shoulder height and rounded-edge mouldings above those capitals. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across each level, and each level is separated by brick laid in header coursing, including the base below the ground floor window cill. The bow is crowned by a natural slate conical roof with a decorative lead apron and cast iron finial, set above a decorative stuccoed eaves band with a fleur-de-lis motif.

The central doorway has a segmental-headed painted sandstone arch with carved edges above corner colonettes with simplified foliated capitals, each set on tall raised chamfered stone bases. The door appears to be the original raised and fielded panelled timber door, fitted with replacement ironmongery. At first-floor level, aligned with the doorway below, are two narrow window openings within a painted stone surround with Corinthian-type decorative plaster capitals and chamfered stone bases; the column shafts are missing, though the chamfered stone bases remain. At second-floor level there is a centrally located diminutive window opening with a carved stone surround. Between the bowed bay on the left and the square bay on the right, the eaves are decorative, featuring carved stone brackets above a stone string course.

The shallow square bay on the right has two large window openings at each level within a painted stone surround, with painted stone corner colonettes. At ground-floor level these have Doric-type capitals and chamfered stone bases; at first and second-floor levels they have decorative Corinthian-type capitals and chamfered stone bases, but the column shafts are again missing. Below the brickwork a plinth of rough-coursed sandstone is finished with a chamfered painted stone coping. The square bay is topped with a truncated chateau roof with fish-scale bands in natural Welsh slate and a decorative lead apron to the top flat section, beneath a decorative stuccoed eaves band with a curving leaf motif. Continuous painted stone cill courses run across all floors of this bay.

The brick chimney stacks are two-stage, centred on the ridge with corbel detailing and multiple yellow clay pots with triangular tops. The stack on the right side is built in Flemish bond; that on the left is in stretcher bond. Both have been rebuilt. Ogee cast iron guttering to the front discharges from the conical and chateau roofs into the gutter in the central section and then to painted metal downpipes.

Nos 69-73 sit behind an original low boundary wall of heavy-coursed rough sandstone with a painted cut stone coping, running between original painted sandstone piers with square bases, diminutive engaged corner colonettes with Corinthian-like capitals, and a square chamfered coping. The gates and railings are replacement painted metal. Six replacement reconstituted stone steps lead to a landing paved with concrete slabs, flanked by replacement low heavy-coursed pink sandstone walls with cut stone coping. A disabled access ramp occupies the former front garden area, with modern paving flanked by the same pink sandstone walling. The ramp curves around the bowed bay of No 69 and falls to the entrance of No 71 adjacent.

SIDE ELEVATIONS

The west side elevation is fully abutted by Nos 65-67 University Street (Dukes Hotel). The east side elevation is fully abutted by No 71 University Street.

REAR ELEVATION (SOUTH)

The rear presents a two-and-a-half-storey brick façade in Flemish bond, abutted on the left by the two-storey, flat-roofed c.1980s extension, which extends to the south-east. There is a small single window opening on the first-floor level at the left side, above the flat roof of the extension, with a wall-head dormer above. Paired modern windows light the first-floor half-landing at approximately the centre of the rear elevation. To the right is a three-storey shallow square gabled bay, advanced slightly from the main elevation, comprising modern timber-glazed double doors at ground-floor level and two window openings above on both the first and second floors. Both dormers have a pitched natural Welsh slate roof with painted timber bargeboards, decorative brackets with knopps and cross-tie members, and exposed rafter ends to the sides. All rear windows are uPVC. All rear window openings have stone cills and splayed brick heads. The eaves are corbelled and bevelled brick. The rear roof slope is natural Welsh slate with black clay ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods.

A courtyard is enclosed by the rear walls of Nos 69 and 71, the side walls of the rear return of No 73, and the L-shaped modern extension at the rear of No 69. The courtyard is finished in concrete paving slabs on both upper and lower levels, with brick retaining walls forming edges and large planters for shrubs and trees. The two-storey extension and building to the rear of Nos 69 and 71 backs onto College Green Mews, which runs between Botanic Avenue to the west and Rugby Road to the east. The south side of College Green Mews is backed onto by the rear boundary walls and extensions of the houses along College Green to the south.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

University Street's westernmost stretch was formally laid out in 1858, its western end intersecting with what was then Malone Road (now University Road) and culminating to the east at Albion Lane, a semi-rural track fringing the Plains of Malone. Around 1865, Albion Lane was broadened and extended southwards to become Botanic Avenue, and an extension to University Street was opened off its eastern side, linking via the already existing Irvine Terrace (present Nos 171-73) and crossing a stream to reach Ormeau Road. Over the following two and a half decades the street was developed with rows of mainly red-brick, three-storey terraced housing of various styles.

Nos 65-75, originally known as Princess Gardens, was one of the street's grander terraces. It was constructed in 1878-79 by William Gabbey, a builder and contractor then of Lower University Street, who was responsible for a large number of dwellings in the street during this decade, as well as on Fitzroy Avenue and Sandhurst Road. The identity of the architect is not known. Gabbey collaborated with W.J. Gilliland of Belfast on a building in Church Street, Dungannon in 1879, though whether the two had previously worked together is uncertain.

The original occupant of No 69 — originally No 4 Princess Gardens — was Thomas Alexander, described as a chemical agent, who was succeeded around 1886 by a Mrs Doran. Around 1888 the property was converted to a Ladies School run by Mrs Anna Hunter. The 1901 census records 15 pupils boarding at the property, along with Miss Hunter and two housekeepers, with the house itself recorded as a first-class building with 13 rooms in use. By 1911 there were 11 boarders, 5 teachers, and 2 housekeepers, and the growth in numbers prompted the school to expand into the neighbouring property (present No 71) around 1913. The enlarged institution adopted the name of the terrace to become Princess Gardens School. The school remained there until 1972, when the combined property was acquired by Queen's University for use as its Department of Education, subsequently refurbished as offices for the School of Education with alterations to the original plan form, including the replacement of the original staircase.