150-152 North Street, Belfast, BT1 1QS

Nos 150-152 North Street is a three-storey commercial building with attic, built around 1900 to designs by the architects Graeme, Watt & Tulloch. It stands at the corner of North Street and Smithfield in central Belfast, forming part of a block of late Victorian commercial buildings.

The building is constructed as an asymmetrical three-bay structure in English garden wall bonded red brick, with a pitched slate roof with raised verge. A raised party wall between the left bay and the two right bays breaks through the roof and is crowned by a red brick chimneystack. A timber-framed dormer sits to the left side. The façade is distinguished by detailing in brick and terracotta typical of the period. A gablet spans the central and right bay. Pilasters rise from first floor level, reflecting the internal division of the property into two separate residential units above, with each unit having its own party wall.

The ground floor contains two shops with a panelled red brick parapet spanning the façade above a gauged brick cornice. The shopfronts are divided by polished pink granite pilasters on polished black granite plinths, with panelled timber capitals and cornice over. Original fascia boards have been boxed in, and late twentieth-century windows and doors are now concealed by roller shutters.

Windows to the first floor are 1/1 timber sashes set in projecting reveals with entablature and drip mould over, resting on continuous cills. Those to the second floor have gauged brick reveals with sandstone keyblock and arabesque terracotta panelling over, with projecting stone cills. Some original sashes have been replaced with timber casement windows. The upper floors contain a single window to the left bay and paired windows to the right. Rear elevation windows are plainly detailed with iron grilles and irregularly arranged.

The east gable, formerly abutted, is now exposed with brick over cement render to first floor level. Former fireplaces are visible in exposed chimneybreasts, now infilled. The west gable is fully abutted by the adjacent building at 154-164 North Street. A twentieth-century extension extends to the ground floor rear. The building has a rectangular plan. Rainwater goods are a mix of plastic and metal, with aluminium replacements recorded.

The property retains almost no original internal features. While designed by well-known architects, it is not among the best examples of its type and has been compromised by various alterations and removal of original fabric. Insufficient original fabric remains for the building to be considered of special architectural and historic interest.

Historically, the building was occupied from 1901 until 1927 by Walter Beck of Myrtle Hall, Balmoral, who ran a medical hall in no. 150. No. 152 operated as a public house from 1902 to 1928, with various publicans including A.H. Manderson (1902-1907), J.M. McCafferty (1907-1909), J. Donnelly (1909-1912), P. McMahon (1912-1923), and T.J. Corr (1923-1927). No. 150 became a butcher's shop in 1934, operating as such until 1986. No. 152 was occupied by the Trueform Boot Company from 1930 until 1978. The last recorded occupant was Curtess shoes, which opened in 1987 but closed by 1992. The building has remained vacant since that time.

The property is located at the west end of North Street, with a private car parking lot to the rear bounded by steel security fencing.