7 Upper Crescent, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT7 1NT

7 Upper Crescent is a relatively large, three-storey rendered town house built in 1846, forming part of a Regency-style crescent of ten similar, though not identical, properties. It has since been converted to offices and flats. This particular house sits at the west end of the row and is among the most ornate of the group, distinguished by large two-storey Corinthian columns to the front.

Upper Crescent is set to the east of University Road and looks northward over a small public park toward Lower Crescent — a similarly styled development of 1852 which, unlike its counterpart, is arranged as a straight terrace rather than a crescent.

The front elevation is asymmetrical and faces roughly north. On the ground floor to the right is the entrance: a recessed timber panelled door with panelled pilaster jambs and a rectangular two-pane fanlight, approached by two stone steps. To the left of the doorway are two tall plain sash windows. At first-floor level, three larger windows sit on a continuous sill course; these have replacement frames made to resemble the original Regency-style sashes. At second-floor level, three pairs of narrow, semicircular-headed sash windows with horizontal glazing bars (1/2 pane configuration) rest on a more pronounced, cornice-like sill course projection with dentillations. The ground floor is finished in rusticated render, while the upper floors are in plain render. Four large, evenly spaced Corinthian three-quarter columns span the ground and first-floor heights, supporting a projecting frieze below the second-floor sill course. The outer columns are square. Corresponding pilasters at second-floor level are panelled and rise to form parapet piers, with a pierced, balustrade-like parapet between them. The front elevation is painted, with different colours used to highlight the columns and the uppermost storey.

The west elevation comprises the gable of the main body of the house and the face of a two-storey return, the whole finished in painted lined render. The rear elevation could not be seen in its entirety. To the left-hand, western side is the two-storey gabled return, which has a sash window with horizontal glazing bars (2/2) at first-floor level. To the right, the return merges with another two-storey projection, which probably has a mono-pitched roof. This projection has a recent broad doorway at ground-floor level and a matching window at first-floor level. Both the gable and the south face of the projection are finished in painted render. Based on internal evidence, the rear façade of the main portion of the building probably has one window to the right at ground-floor level (though this was not confirmed from outside), another to the right at first-floor level, and another to the right at second-floor level. A stairwell window sits between first and second floors to the left; this has a Georgian-paned sash frame, while the remaining windows at the rear have modern frames. The rear façade is finished in plain painted render. The main roof is gabled and slated. There is a tall rendered chimneystack with projecting coping and uniform pots to the east, and a small brick chimneystack to the gable of the return. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

Historical context

Upper Crescent was developed as part of a broader transformation of south Belfast following the selling off of much of Lord Donegall's Belfast estate in the early to mid 19th century. The lands along the Malone Ridge were particularly attractive to developers, and from the mid-1830s onwards a series of fine late Georgian-style terraces was built there — a trend accelerated by the establishment of the prestigious Queen's College in the area in the later 1840s. These grand terraces were taken up by Belfast's professional and business classes, who vacated their older residences in the town centre, which in turn were gradually converted to shops and offices.

Upper Crescent was perhaps the grandest of these southern terrace developments: an elegantly curving row of three-storey dwellings in a late Regency style, built in 1846 by timber and shipping merchant Robert Corry. The authorship of the design is uncertain, though Dr Paul Larmour has suggested that the hand of Charles Lanyon may have been involved. Corry himself undertook the building work and took up residence in the house at the east end; for the first few years the row was known as Corry's Crescent. Immediately to the south of the Crescent, where a church and small park now stand, Corry maintained a large lawn as a garden. Shortly after this garden was laid out, however, he had it ploughed up and used for the cultivation of vegetables to relieve local workers suffering as a result of the Great Famine. To the north of the garden ran an old watercourse flowing northward into the Basin, a reservoir east of the Dublin Road. To the east lay smaller gardens belonging to other residents of the Crescent, and beyond those, to the east and north-east, ran Albion Lane, a narrow semi-rural laneway stretching from the north end of Bradbury Place to the east end of the present University Terrace.

In 1852 Corry built a further terrace to the north of his garden, just south of the old watercourse. This new development — the somewhat erroneously named Lower Crescent — was much in the same style as the row to the south and was occupied by the same mix of professionals and businessmen, though by as early as 1860 the ground floors of some properties were already in office use. In the later 1860s a railway line was cut immediately north of Lower Crescent along the line of the old watercourse. In 1873 a large sandstone building — originally the Ladies Collegiate, later Victoria College — was added to the west end of the terrace. Two further houses were added to the east end by the close of the decade, the most easterly of which, Rivoli House, was designed by William Hastings and originally contained a dance academy run by a Frederick Brouneau. The new railway line cut across Albion Lane and led to the laying out of the new, broader Botanic Avenue.

Upper Crescent also saw further building in the 1860s and 1870s. Two large properties designed by William Hastings were erected at the west end in 1869, one of which — Crescent House, now the Bank of Ireland — also fronted onto University Road. In 1878–79 two further houses were inserted on the ground between those of 1869. Between 1885 and 1887 the large Presbyterian church now known as Crescent Church was erected to plans by Glasgow architect John Bennie Wilson on the west side of Robert Corry's former garden. In 1898 a two-storey terrace, the present Crescent Gardens, was built on the site of smaller garden plots at the east end.

During the first half of the 20th century most properties in Upper and Lower Crescent and Crescent Gardens remained private dwellings, but by 1960 many had been given over to business use or divided into flats, with the former Rivoli House — later renamed Dreenagh House — becoming the Regency Hotel. This trend continued and by the beginning of the 21st century none were occupied as private dwellings. In the mid-1990s three of the 1860s to 1870s houses at the west end of Upper Crescent were demolished and replaced by a modern office block. In 2000 the railway cutting to the south of Lower Crescent was built over in preparation for a new development.

History of No. 7

In 1849 the property was occupied by Robert Workman, described as a manufacturer. Workman remained until the mid-1850s, when he was followed by John Coates, Secretary of the County Antrim Grand Jury. By 1860 the building was in the hands of John P. Corry, a relative of the Crescent's builder Robert Corry; at this stage, according to valuation records, the ground floor was already in use as offices. James P. Corry remained in residence until 1877, when he was succeeded by William Dobbin. A John Morrow of the Ayr Steamship Company is listed as householder in both 1899 and 1910, followed by a P.T. Crymble in 1920. In the later 1920s the property was acquired by a Miss Wallace, who remained there until the 1970s and for part of that period used the premises as a nursing home. The building was subsequently converted to offices. The current occupant acquired it in 1983.