71 University St, Belfast, BT7 1HB

71 University Street, Belfast

Number 71 University Street is a three-storey High Victorian mid-terraced townhouse built in 1878-79. It forms the central building of a terrace of five properties and stands on the south side of University Street, a long thoroughfare running between University Road to the west and Ormeau Road to the east. The building lies within the Botanic Avenue Area of Townscape Character. Number 71 is now internally linked to its neighbour No 69 University Street and both are in use as offices for the School of Education at Queen's University. A two-storey flat-roofed building constructed around the 1980s has been added at the rear and is accessed via No 69.

The building is rectangular on plan with a pitched roof featuring a conical roof over a bowed bay to the left and a truncated chateau roof over a square bay to the right. The construction materials include a roof of natural Welsh slate with black clay ridge tiles, walls of red brick laid in Flemish bond with painted stone and stucco details, and painted metal and cast iron rainwater goods to the front with PVC to the rear. Windows throughout are timber sliding sash with horns, single-glazed, and possibly replaced.

The front elevation facing north presents a three-storey Flemish bond brick façade. The centrally located former front entrance, now converted to a window, is flanked by the bowed bay on the left and a shallow square bay on the right. Shared brick chimneys project from both sides of the roof.

The three-storey bowed bay to the left features three large square-headed window openings on each storey, each with painted stone surrounds, plain engaged painted sandstone capitals at shoulder height, and rounded-edge mouldings above. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across each level, with header bond brick separating the storeys. The base comprises rough coursed sandstone with chamfered painted stone coping set above the main brickwork. The bow culminates in a natural slate conical roof topped with a decorative lead apron and cast iron finial, beneath which sits a decorative stuccoed eaves band featuring a fleur-de-lis motif.

The former central doorway has been altered into a window opening with the lower section infilled in Flemish bond brick below a painted round-edged stone cill. The original surround remains substantially intact, comprising a segmental headed painted sandstone arch with carved edges above corner colonettes with simplified foliated capitals, resting on rough rendered and painted quoins above brickwork. On the first floor level, aligned with the former doorway below, are two narrow window openings within a painted stone surround featuring Corinthian-type decorative plaster capitals and chamfered stone bases, though the column shafts are missing. Above on the second floor sits a centrally located diminutive window opening with a carved stone surround. Decorative eaves with carved stone brackets above a stone string course mark the central section between the two bays.

The three-storey shallow square bay to the right features two large window openings on each level within painted stone surrounds with painted stone corner colonettes. The ground floor has Doric-type capitals with chamfered stone bases, whilst the first and second floor levels feature decorative Corinthian-type capitals and chamfered stone bases with the column shafts absent. The plinth comprises rough coursed sandstone with chamfered painted stone coping. The bay is topped with a truncated chateau roof displaying fish scale bands in natural Welsh slate and a decorative lead apron over its flat section, with a decorative stuccoed eaves band featuring a curving leaf motif beneath. Continuous painted stone cill courses run across all floors.

The pitched natural Welsh slate roof features black clay ridge tiles with brick two-stage chimney stacks centred on the ridge, both rebuilt with corbel detailing and topped with multiple yellow clay pots with triangular heads, laid in stretcher bond. Ogee cast iron guttering to the front discharges from both the conical and chateau roofs to the gutter in the central section before flowing to painted metal downpipes.

The property sits behind an original low heavy coursed rough sandstone boundary wall with painted cut stone coping, interrupted by original painted sandstone piers with square bases, diminutive engaged corner colonettes with Corinthian-like capitals, and square chamfered coping. Replacement painted metal railings now run along the frontage. A central path between the piers leads to a disabled ramp access within the former front garden, which features modern paving flanked by heavy coursed pink sandstone walling with cut stone coping. The ramp rises from the front of No 71, curves around the bowed bay of No 69, and leads to the front door of No 69, now the main entrance to both properties.

The west side elevation is fully abutted by No 69 University Street, whilst the east side elevation is fully abutted by No 73 University Street.

The rear elevation facing south shows a three-storey Flemish bond brick façade with a painted render section to the left side of the ground and first floor levels. There is no rear return or extension of the original building. A shared courtyard enclosed by the rear elevation is bordered by a two-storey flat-roofed c.1980s extension on the left, a modern building to the south, and the rear return of No 73 University Street to the right. The courtyard is paved with concrete slabs on both upper and lower levels, with brick retaining walls and large planters containing shrubs and trees forming the boundaries.

A three-storey advanced shallow square bay projects to the right side of the rear elevation with a pitched roof. The bay comprises a wide opening on the ground floor containing double doors with plain overlights, and two window openings above on both the first and second floor levels, with the second floor window openings extending as a wall-head dormer. The left section of the rear elevation features two high-level top-hung windows to the ground floor and a wide opening to the right side containing a door within a glazed screen. The first floor has a single window to the left and narrow paired windows at half-landing height to the right. The second floor contains a single opening to the left within a wall-head dormer and narrow paired windows to the right at second floor half-landing level. Both dormers feature pitched natural Welsh slate roofs, painted timber barge boards with decorative brackets incorporating knopps and cross-tie members, and exposed rafter ends to the sides. All windows to the rear are uPVC. The rear openings have splayed brick heads, whilst the eaves are corbelled and bevelled in brick. The rear roof slope is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods.

The two-storey extension and building to the rear 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 by the rear boundary walls and extensions of the houses along College Green to the south.