10 Church Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 4QN

10 Church Lane, Belfast is a three-storey, two-bay rendered mid-terraced building dating from around 1780, representing late Georgian urban vernacular architecture. The building is Grade B2 listed and forms part of a small group that comprises the remnants of a once-significant Georgian street, the majority of which has been lost.

The building has a shopped ground floor facing Church Lane with a plate glass window set over a rendered stall riser featuring slender fluted pilasters on bases. The door and window design matches those of the adjacent numbers 6-8. A modern barber's pole is positioned to one side. The upper floors are articulated by 6/6 double-hung timber sash windows with projecting cills. The principal west elevation is single-fronted in appearance. The walling throughout is rendered with ruled and lined finish. The roof is natural slate with blue clay ridge tiles and no chimneys. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

The rear elevation is rendered without windows and includes a small lean-to extension that extends the building to the stone rubble wall of the adjacent St George's Church. Although now obscured by rendering, the building sits within Church Lane where a number of related late Georgian structures survive, including numbers 4-8, which back onto St George's churchyard. This arrangement reflects the densely packed urban character of Georgian Belfast.

Church Lane appears on maps dating from 1715, and it is possible that the present shops retain some early fabric. However, the current appearance is consistent with Georgian and Victorian urban vernacular. Contemporary records indicate that by 1788 Church Lane had been redeveloped with leases requiring shop frontages up to fifteen feet in height. The White Hart Inn, one of Belfast's principal inns of the period, stood in Church Lane, and the street became known for its shoemakers. The celebrated painter Andrew Nicholl, commemorated by an Ulster Historical Foundation blue plaque on this building, was the son of a Church Lane bootmaker.

Street directories from the early nineteenth century and Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) confirm the building's occupancy history. In 1808, Martins & Parks, merchants, occupied number ten, followed by Anne Browne in 1819 and George Brodie, a watch glass manufacturer, in 1843. By Griffith's Valuation the occupier was Robert Brown, boot maker, with a valuation of £14. James Carnduff ran a shoe shop here in 1868. The valuation increased to £25 around 1900, suggesting remodelling or improvements took place at that time. From 1901 the shop operated as a tobacconist, initially run by C Kirk and later by Miss Moran, before changing hands frequently: W F Platt (Raynewear, 1935), A Faith gold buyers (1945), W T Pyper chemist (1950), S Gray leather goods and shoe repairs (1965), Thos McCleary & Son Estate Agents and Valuers (1975), Audio Fare (1980) and Audiotronics (1990). The shopfronts were replaced in traditional style around 1985, and the premises now operates as a barber shop.

Although some historic fabric survives, the building has been compromised by restoration and renewal. The building is located within a conservation area.