24 College Green, Belfast

24 College Green, Belfast is a two-storey terraced house with attic, built between 1866 and 1878. It is constructed of red brick and faces south onto College Green, positioned north-east of the main quadrangle at Queens University Belfast. The building has group value with its adjoining neighbour at No.26 College Green; the two houses interlock in plan, both originally 'L' shaped with two-storey returns. Together they form bookends to a longer Victorian terrace running from No.2 to No.26 inclusive, which overlooks the Presbyterian Church Theological College within the Queens Conservation Area. The former houses are now integrated as part of Queens University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work (formerly School of Life Long Learning), encompassing Nos.12–24 inclusive, with No.16 missing. The individual properties have been connected internally with two-storey gabled extensions added around 2004, replacing the original returns.

The roof is natural slate with a duo-pitched profile, fitted with black clay ridge tiles and two rectangular red brick chimneys centred on the ridge. Each chimney comprises three stacks with chamfered edges and a shared corbelled brick cap. Six square-based yellow clay pots with pointed arched tops crown each chimney. The front elevation features corbelled brick eaves composed of one row of headers, one row of stretchers, and one row of alternating angled bricks, interrupted by a full-height gabled bay on the right side. The rear eaves are simpler projecting brick, either altered or replaced. Eaves terminate in moulded kneeler stones supporting raised coping stones to the west side, with the front coping embellished with a club motif. A small duo-pitched dormer with slated cheeks sits on the front pitch, with two conservation roof-lights to the rear. The dormer matches that of No.26 and replaced a modern flat-roofed dormer recorded in an April 1977 survey. The roof covering to the canted bay is not visible but is probably lead. Cast metal ogee-profile gutters and circular section rainwater pipes service the building.

The walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond on the south elevation and English Garden Wall bond on the north elevation. Windows are single-glazed timber-framed replacement sliding sashes with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described.

The south elevation is the principal façade and is double-fronted with a central entrance flanked by projecting bays. A two-storey canted bay projects to the left (west), while a full-height gabled bay occupies the right side. The entrance is raised three steps above pavement level. A square-headed four-panelled timber-framed entrance door (replacement) features a central bead designed to resemble double doors, topped by a gothic-arched over-light and surround. The surround is decorated with a moulded leaf band set within an archivolt, supported on impost blocks and grey marble colonnettes with Corinthian-style capitals and simple moulded bases, all standing on a substantial plinth. Apart from the colonnettes, the surround is set flush with the brick walling and entirely painted, as are other painted dressings, probably combining stucco and dressed stone beneath the paint. Continuous projecting brick plinths flank the entrance, with chamfered caps. A continuous string course runs between the first-floor window heads, also painted. All openings except those at attic level feature stop-chamfered head and jamb details with cavetto moulding below the cills. A continuous brick string course in headers of alternating depth, topped by a terracotta tile, runs between ground and first-floor levels. Similar detailing appears between first floor and attic, where the string course consists of alternating straight and angled headers between two rows of terracotta tiles; the latter does not extend across the full-height gabled bay. A single window is aligned above the entrance at first-floor level, with a painted cill and slightly cambered lintel featuring a simple keystone. A relieving arch formed in brick headers rises above the lintel.

The canted bay contains three windows at ground-floor and three at first-floor level, with continuous painted cills and heads. The duo-pitched dormer centred above the canted bay is meticulously detailed, featuring paired sash windows with stop-chamfer detail to the timber framing, a projecting bargeboard supported on exposed ridge and eaves beams with carved ends, a sheeted timber spandrel with diagonal bracing above the windows, and an exposed soffit. This dormer is a later replacement but likely matches the original, given similarities with the dormer at No.26.

The full-height gable bay features paired windows at ground-floor level with a shared cill and twin cambered lintels. A colonnette matching those at the entrance door stands between the windows and includes an additional collar mid-shaft. A club motif is incised within the impost block, and a diamond motif decorates the plinth of the colonnettes. A single window at first-floor level mirrors that above the entrance. Paired windows at attic level share a combined lintel and differ from the wide metal-framed casement window shown in the 1977 survey slide, though they are more likely to match the original. Above the attic windows, stepped brick detail projects slightly, topped by raised coping and apex stones without a finial.

The north elevation faces the rear and is almost entirely obscured by a two-storey modern extension spanning the full width of the building and extending the full length of the yard to the boundary at College Green Mews. Some original brick walling and a half-landing window remain visible above the extension. A further former opening is infilled with salvaged brick but retains an original brick soldier-coursed head.

The east and west elevations are abutted by Nos.26 and 22 College Green respectively. No.24 is taller than No.22 and deeper in plan, exposing a small section of walling above and to the left (north) side. Each floor of this exposed wall contains a replacement top-hung double-glazed timber-framed casement window, with noticeably different brickwork around the openings suggesting these were later additions. A blank gable wall marks where No.22 abuts, terminating in raised coping stones with the central chimneystack described above.

The two-storey extension is fenestrated mainly to the west in roughly three bays wide, with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render. It features polyester powder-coated windows and a flush timber exit door, with an artificial slate roof.

The building is located near the junction of College Green and Rugby Road. The south boundary is lined with a concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings matching those of adjacent properties at Nos.12–22. A small front garden is gravelled with large flagstones marking a central path. Reconstituted stone entrance steps are retained by tooled sandstone walling with chamfered top edges. The modern extension extends along the north boundary with College Green Mews. A rear yard shared with No.22 provides amenity space for Nos.18 and 24, comprising ramped paths to the ground-floor entrance, with red brick retaining walls topped by modern metal handrails and uprights, painted.