40 Hamilton Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT2 8LP

40 Hamilton Street is a terraced, two-bay, three-storey redbrick late-Georgian townhouse built around 1840, situated on the south side of Hamilton Street in Belfast city centre. It forms part of a terrace of six similar houses and is among the finest surviving examples of late-Georgian terraced housing remaining in the city.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Hamilton Street was laid out in the 1830s on reclaimed land to the south-east of Belfast's town centre, land created by the construction of a paper mill dam along the Blackstaff River at what is now the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street. The street takes its name from the family name of the Dukes of Abercorn, who resided at No. 3 Hamilton Street from 1818 (now demolished). The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33 confirms that Nos. 36–40 were already constructed by that date, with Nos. 42–46 following shortly afterwards. The street originally attracted high-ranking merchant-class residents, many employed in the newspaper and printing trade, but by the 1850s the area had become more distinctly working class as businessmen relocated to grander houses in the Belfast suburbs. Following this shift, the houses on Hamilton Street and neighbouring Joy Street were occupied mainly by working-class traders and by students attending Queen's College, which had been established in 1849.

The Belfast Street Directories record that in 1852, when the terrace was numbered differently as Nos. 24–34, No. 40 was occupied by Misses Elizabeth and Mary Stitt, who ran a day school from the address. The 1859 Griffith's Valuation records Elizabeth Stitt as tenant, leasing from a Mr Elisha Crawford who owned the entire terrace. The valuer graded the property as B+ class — described as "not new but in sound repair" — measuring 7 by 7½ yards and valued at £15. Elizabeth Stitt remained at the address until around 1905, though the directories record a Mr Edward Moran, a lithographic printer, residing there in 1877, with the house lying vacant in 1880. By 1901, the property was occupied by Mrs Elizabeth Hughes, a Roman Catholic housekeeper who operated a boarding house from the address. The 1901 Census Building Return described her establishment as a second-class dwelling consisting of five rooms with no out-offices. Around 1906, during Hughes' occupation, ownership of the entire terrace (with the exception of No. 46) passed to a Captain E. Gibbons, who continued to own the length until at least the 1970s. The house was vacant again in 1911 but was reoccupied by 1918, when a Mrs Mary Burns was recorded in possession. The 1935 first general revaluation of property in Northern Ireland raised the value of No. 40 to £20. During the Second World War, Hamilton Street was badly damaged in the Belfast Blitz, when the Luftwaffe targeted the nearby shipyard industries and many houses along the street were lost. Nos. 36–46 were repaired after the war and included in the second revaluation of property in Northern Ireland, which ran from 1956 to 1972, during which No. 40's value was set at £21. Mary Burns remained at the address until the 1950s, after which a Mrs Kathleen Milling came into possession and resided there until around 1980, when a Post Office engineer named James O'Donnell was recorded as occupant. In 1971, the architectural historian C. E. B. Brett described the houses on Hamilton and Joy Street as "the best example left in the city of late-Georgian Belfast." Many of the remaining houses on Hamilton Street, returning into Catherine Street North and Joy Street, were demolished in 1988, by which point the surviving Nos. 36–46 had also fallen into a state of disrepair.

RESTORATION

Between 1988 and 1990, the Hearth Revolving Fund restored the terrace, retaining only the exterior walls and adding a new running bay at the rear. This restoration, undertaken by Hearth Housing Association, was carried out sensitively in terms of external appearance, though it resulted in the loss of the original interior features and fabric. The building was listed in 1985 along with the rest of the terrace.

EXTERIOR

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. Redbrick chimneystacks are shared at either end of the terrace and are fitted with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering runs to a stepped redbrick eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The external walls are of redbrick laid in Flemish bond with a rendered plinth course.

The three-storey front elevation is two windows wide with a front railed area. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills, rendered reveals, and replacement six-over-six timber sash windows. The principal entrance features an off-centre round-headed door opening with a moulded surround, flanked by flat-panelled pilasters, with a stepped lintel cornice above and a decorative fanlight over the replacement timber panelled door. The door opens onto a concrete platform approached by three nosed steps, flanked by a low rendered plinth wall and replacement iron railings enclosing a small paved front area. Adjacent to the main entrance is a further round-headed door opening fitted with a replacement sheeted timber door and overpanel, providing access to the rear.

The east side elevation abuts the adjoining No. 38. The three-storey rear elevation is two windows wide and is abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension that spans the entire terrace. Camber-headed brick arches serve all rear window openings, irregularly placed to light the rooms to the right and the half-landings to the left. The lean-to contains a bipartite six-over-six timber sash window and a single timber glazed door opening onto a communal rear tarmac parking area. Access to this rear area is via pairs of tall sheeted timber gates at either end of the terrace, supported on pairs of tall redbrick piers with redbrick screen walls and concrete coping. The west side elevation abuts the adjoining No. 42.

SETTING

No. 40 forms part of a terrace of six similar late-Georgian houses lining the south side of Hamilton Street. Its retained style, proportions, and detailing contribute significant group value to the terrace as a whole and to the wider conservation area, helping to ensure the continued survival of this rare example of late-Georgian terraced housing in central Belfast.