Arthur Chambers, 4-14 Arthur Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 4GD

Arthur Chambers is a four-storey commercial building on the east side of Arthur Street, Belfast, constructed around 1905–1906 and designed in an Edwardian style. It was originally built as a block of ground-floor retail units with office space occupying the three upper storeys. The building is H-shaped in plan and sits directly on the pavement of the pedestrian street, forming part of a continuous terrace of red brick buildings. Although alterations have resulted in the loss of some historic fabric and detailing, much of the interior survives, and the building represents a modest but interesting example of Edwardian commercial architecture and the continuing development of Belfast's city centre in the early twentieth century.

The building is constructed mainly in brick laid in Flemish bond, with raised string courses and pebbledash rendered panels to the upper floors. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, set behind a solid parapet that is stone-coped and framed by volutes; at the centre rises a shallow segmental gable bearing a panel of brown stucco lettering reading "ARTHUR CHAMBERS". Modern rooflights have been introduced behind the parapet. Rainwater pipes are square metal to the front and uPVC to the rear.

All window openings feature exaggeratedly tall keystones in red sandstone and moulded stone cills. On the third floor the windows are round-arched, except for the central pair which have segmental arched heads. On the second floor all windows are segmental arches. On the first floor the windows are also segmental arches, except for the central window which has a round arch. The windows themselves are timber casements with overlights. The main west elevation is symmetrical around the central gable, nine windows wide on the first and second floors; on the third floor the windows are doubled within the brick panels, with two in the central gabled section, giving twelve windows in total. The doors are positioned between the shops beneath the second and sixth windows. The door to number 6 Arthur Street is an original four-panelled door with a single-pane overlight bearing gold lettering; the door to number 10 is a replacement three-panelled door with two overlights. The shop fronts are modern.

The rear east elevation is obscured at ground level by extended shops. The upper floors have two projecting wings. Window openings here are generally flat-arched, featuring three-pane 1-over-1 and 2-over-1 timber sash windows, with some first and second floor openings having segmental arches. The north elevation abuts a four-storey listed building, and the south elevation abuts a five-storey listed building, together creating a continuous terrace of red brick buildings along Arthur Street.

Writing in 1993, architectural historian Marcus Patton described the building as having a ground-floor cornice and entablature with deep-plinthed pilasters of dark grey polished granite and free capitals incorporating masks and Ionic horns, with every sixth course of brickwork set slightly forward. At the time of the most recent field inspection the ground-floor units remained in retail use, while the upper office floors were vacant and in varying states of repair.

The site on which Arthur Chambers stands was previously occupied by a varied mix of two- and three-storey dwellings, shops and warerooms, all leased by Lieutenant Colonel Edward May, which are recorded in the Annual Revisions and in a photograph from around the turn of the twentieth century. These earlier buildings along numbers 4 to 14 Arthur Street included a piano warehouse, a land agency and auctioneers office, and the premises of W. B. Todd, a shellfish merchant, as recorded in the Belfast Street Directory of 1901. The Irish Builder records that in 1902 the commercial architects Young and Mackenzie submitted a tender for the erection of a block of shops and offices along Arthur Street, and they are the likely designers of Arthur Chambers, though this has not been confirmed with certainty. Arthur Chambers first appeared in the Annual Revisions in 1906, suggesting it was completed by that year, with a total rateable value set at £755 10s.

When first completed, the ground-floor units were occupied by Hugh Renton and Co. (accountants and auctioneers), Scott and Evans Ltd. (piano and musical instrument merchants), A. Bell and Sons Ltd. (a launderette), and J. Alfred McAuley (a land and estate agent). The upper floors were used by solicitors firms, estate agents, and a wholesale merchant association, among others. Some original tenants remained at the building well into the mid-twentieth century — J. Alfred McAuley and A. Bell and Sons continued operating from the premises as late as the 1970s. By 1918 two of the ground-floor units had been taken over by William Dickson's Umbrella and Stick shop and a dress shop run by a Ms. Reid. During the Second World War the whiskey and spirit merchants Dunville and Co., whose headquarters were opposite at numbers 25 to 39 Arthur Street, held offices in Arthur Chambers. By the end of the second general revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1972, the total rateable value of the building stood at £2,424.

Arthur Street takes its name from one of the Earls of Donegall and was known in the early nineteenth century for its fine residences. During the general commercial redevelopment of Belfast's city centre in the Victorian period the street took on its current character, with domestic dwellings replaced by retail shops and office buildings. Arthur Chambers was listed in 1988 and lies within a conservation area.