24 College Green, Belfast

24 College Green, Belfast

This is a two-storey-with-attic, red-brick, double-fronted terraced house built in 1870–71, facing south on College Green, to the north-east of the main quadrangle at Queen's University, Belfast. It forms a pair with the adjoining No. 26 College Green, the two houses interlocking in plan — both were originally L-shaped with two-storey returns — and together reading as a bookend to the longer Victorian terrace that makes up Nos. 2–26 College Green. This terrace overlooks the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church within the Queen's Conservation Area. The building's significance lies primarily in its group value and in the integrity of the overall composition of College Green, which is among the most striking terraces in the conservation area.

The building is now used as Queen's University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work (formerly the School of Life Long Learning), encompassing Nos. 12–24 inclusive (No. 16 is missing). The former houses are connected internally by two-storey gabled extensions added around 2004, built in place of the original rear returns. Despite the loss of historic fabric to the rear and internal reconfiguration, the plan form of No. 24 remains legible to a certain degree and some historic detailing survives inside. The building could also be separated from the adjoining properties.

Roof and External Materials

The roof is natural slate with a duo-pitched form, finished with black clay ridge tiles. Two rectangular red-brick chimneys sit centred on the ridge, each composed of three stacks with chamfered edges and a shared corbelled brick cap. One chimney rises from the gable end adjoining No. 22; the other is shared with No. 26. Each chimney has six square-based yellow clay pots with pointed arched tops. The rainwater goods consist of cast metal ogee-profile gutters and circular-section downpipes. The walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond to the south elevation and English Garden Wall bond to the north. Windows are single-glazed, timber-framed replacement sliding sashes with 1-over-1 panes, except where otherwise noted.

The corbelled brick eaves to the front (south) elevation are composed of one row of headers, one row of stretchers, and one row of alternating angled bricks, the last of these interrupted by the full-height gabled bay described below. The rear eaves are simpler and projecting, and appear to have been altered or replaced. Both front and rear eaves terminate in moulded kneeler stones that support raised coping stones to the west side; the front kneeler stone is embellished with a club motif.

A small duo-pitched dormer with slated cheeks sits on the front pitch, and two conservation rooflights are set into the rear. The dormer matches that of No. 26 and is a later replacement — a modern flat-roofed dormer was recorded in the first survey photograph taken in April 1977 — but is likely to replicate the original given its close correspondence with the dormer at No. 26. The roof to the canted bay was not inspected but is probably lead.

South (Principal) Elevation

The south elevation is the principal façade. It is double-fronted with a central entrance flanked by projecting bays: a two-storey canted bay to the left (west) and a full-height gabled bay to the right. The entrance is raised three steps above pavement level. The entrance door is a square-headed, four-panelled, timber-framed replacement with a central bead designed to resemble double doors. Above it is a gothic-arched overlight and surround 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 on a substantial plinth. The surround, apart from the colonnettes, is set flush with the brick walling and is entirely painted — as with other painted dressings, this is probably a combination of stucco and dressed stone beneath the paint.

A continuous projecting brick plinth with a chamfered cap runs either side of the entrance, and a continuous string course runs between the first-floor window heads, both painted. All openings except those at attic level have stop-chamfered head and jamb detail and a cavetto moulding below the cills. A continuous brick string course of headers of alternating depth, topped by a terracotta tile, runs between the ground and first floors. A similar detail appears between the first floor and attic, where the string course consists of alternating straight and angled headers between two rows of terracotta tiles; this detail does not extend across the full-height gabled bay.

A single window, aligned above the entrance, sits at first-floor level with a painted cill and a slightly cambered lintel with a simple keystone. A relieving arch is formed in brick headers above the lintel. The canted bay has three windows at each of the ground and first floors, with continuous painted cills and heads. The duo-pitched dormer centred above the canted bay is meticulously detailed, with paired sash windows, stop-chamfer detail to the timber framing, a projecting bargeboard supported on exposed ridge and eaves beams with carved ends, a diagonally-sheeted timber spandrel above the windows, and an exposed soffit.

The full-height gabled bay has paired windows at ground-floor level with a shared cill and twin cambered lintels. A colonnette between the windows matches those at the entrance door but has an additional collar mid-shaft; a club motif is incised within the impost block and a diamond motif appears on the colonnette plinth. At first-floor level there is a single window matching that above the entrance. At attic level there are paired windows with a combined lintel — these differ from the wide metal-framed casement shown in the 1977 survey photograph but are considered more likely to match the original. Above the attic windows is a slightly projecting stepped brick detail, with raised coping and apex stones but no finial.

North (Rear) Elevation

The rear elevation faces north and is almost entirely obscured by the two-storey modern extension, which spans the full width of the building and extends the full length of the yard up to the boundary with College Green Mews. The original rear of the building is narrower than the front due to the interlocking plan with No. 26. Some original brick walling and a half-landing window survive above the extension. A further former opening has been infilled with salvaged brick but retains its original brick soldier-coursed head.

East and West Elevations

The east and west elevations abut 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 north side of No. 22. Within this wall, each floor contains a replacement top-hung, double-glazed, timber-framed casement window; the brickwork around these openings is noticeably different, suggesting they are later insertions. Above the point where No. 22 abuts, the gable wall is blank, terminating in raised coping stones with the central chimneystack as described above.

Modern Extension

The two-storey extension added around 2004 is fenestrated mainly to the west, approximately three bays wide, with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render. It has polyester powder-coated windows, a flush timber exit door, and an artificial slate roof.

Setting

The building is located near the junction of College Green and Rugby Road. A concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings line the boundary to the south, matching the adjacent properties at Nos. 12–22. The small front garden is gravelled with large flagstones forming a central path. The entrance steps are of reconstituted stone, retained by tooled sandstone walling with chamfered top edges. The modern extension extends the full width of the property along the northern boundary with College Green Mews. The rear yard at No. 22 provides shared 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.

History

College Green was laid out in 1866 on what was then the semi-rural "Plains" of Malone, the land to the east of the recently established Queen's College (completed 1849) and around and beyond the Union Theological College (completed 1853). The foundation of Queen's prompted several decades of development in the vicinity, with regularly planned streets filled with mainly High Victorian terraced housing for the professional and merchant classes moving southwards beyond a rapidly commercialising and industrialising Belfast city centre. Nos. 6–8 were the first to be built along the new thoroughfare in 1866, followed by Nos. 2–4 (College Green House, originally Culfeightrin House, rebuilt around 1882) and Nos. 24–26 in 1870–71, Nos. 10–12 and 20–22 in 1876, and Nos. 14–18 in 1878. The street was originally conceived as part of Fitzroy Avenue and was considered as such for the first few decades of its existence; the name College Green was applied only to Culfeightrin House and Nos. 2–8 on the 1871–73 Ordnance Survey map.

No. 24 appears to have been built on the estate of the late Robert Corry, the Belfast timber merchant who had developed part of College Green in the mid-1860s, and previously in the 1840s and 1850s had developed Upper and Lower Crescent. The identity of the architect is uncertain. James Wright, a pork merchant, appears to have been the original occupant, renting the house from William Crawford, who leased both this property and neighbouring No. 26 from the Corry estate. Wright was succeeded around 1889 by Mrs A. Philips, with James J. Philips named as resident in 1892. Miss Louisa Neill followed around 1894, and in the 1901 census she was recorded as occupying the house with her sister, an elderly aunt, and two domestic servants; the building itself was noted as a first-class dwelling with ten rooms in use. Miss J. Walkington is named as occupant in 1907 and was still in residence in 1910; an Annabella Hogg and Annie Barnhill were recorded as living there in the 1911 census. Miss Hogg remained until at least 1918, with Colonel R. M. Campbell taking up the tenancy by 1924 and S. A. Friar by 1932. In the early 1960s the property was acquired by Queen's University and became a student hall of residence, remaining as such until the early 1970s when it was transferred to the University's Department of Social Studies. The department later expanded into the neighbouring Nos. 22–24. The building was listed in 1979. Along with Nos. 12–18 and 22–24, it was the subject of a major renovation by Queen's around 2004, with a large extension added to the rear and the interior integrated with those of the neighbouring properties, Nos. 12–14, 20, and 24. It is now used as Queen's University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work, formerly the School of Life Long Learning.