4 Fitzwilliam Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT9 6AW

No. 4 Fitzwilliam Street is a three-storey, late Georgian style terraced house of around 1849–50, forming part of a short, uniform block of four matching properties — Nos. 2 to 8 — situated at the eastern end of the south side of Fitzwilliam Street in Belfast. The front façade faces north. Queen's University Belfast's Student's Union lies to the south, and University Road, with Lanyon's original college building, lies to the west. The listing covers the main building and its rear return.

Exterior — Front Façade

The ground floor is finished in rusticated, painted render with a chamfered base and a cill band that runs at first-floor window level across the full terrace. Above this, the façade is in brick, topped with a dentilled cornice. To the left of the ground floor is a four-panel timber door with a rectangular fanlight with margin panes. The doorway has a thin pilaster jamb to the right and a much thicker pilaster to the left, the latter acting as a shared pier with the doorway of No. 2. Above the doorway is a hood on simple metal brackets, which merges with that of No. 2's doorway; the hood has timber cladding to its edge with a simple cornice. There are two steps to the doorway. To the right of the doorway are two windows with sash frames with Georgian panes (six over six) and moulded surrounds. At first-floor level are two similar windows but without surrounds; these are more widely spaced and not directly in line with the ground-floor windows, and like the first-floor windows across the whole terrace they rest on the cill band. At second-floor level are two further windows, similar to those on the first floor and in line with them, but slightly shorter. A few Velux windows have been inserted to the rear, though the front façade is otherwise largely original.

Exterior — Rear and Return

The rear façade of the entire terrace is finished in plain, unpainted cement render. Nos. 2 and 4 share a low, two-storey gabled return, as do Nos. 6 and 8. The west face of No. 4's return has a plain sheeted doorway to the centre at ground-floor level, with two smallish windows to the right and one to the left; these have modern timber frames with security bars. At first-floor level on the far left is a small, plain sash window, also with security bars.

The south-facing gable end of the return has a single canted first-floor oriel window to the left and a single sash window to the right. The oriel belongs to No. 4 and is constructed in timber, with a plain sash window to each cant, security bars, and a lead-sheeted flat roof; the whole window is supported on metal brackets.

The main rear façade of No. 4 has a sash window to the left at each floor, all in line, with the second-floor window slightly shorter. The ground- and first-floor windows have security bars. To the right of these windows, above the return, are two stairwell landing windows; the upper one is much shorter and sited close to the eaves. All rear windows have sash frames with Georgian panes — mainly six over six, except the small upper stairwell window, which has three panes over three — though the upper sash of the second-floor window is plain.

Roof

The main roof of the terrace is gabled and finished in Bangor blue slate, with rendered parapets to each gable end. Each property has a small Velux window to the rear slope. There are chimney stacks serving the full terrace: the eastern stack (belonging to No. 2) is rendered with tall, uniform cream clay pots; the broader central stack (shared by Nos. 4 and 6) is partly rendered with a variety of pots; and the western stack (No. 8) is in brick and has no pots. The return's roof is made up of two gabled sections with a valley between them, concealed behind a single encompassing end gable. Both are covered in Welsh slate, and there is a brick-built stack to the end gable with two 19th-century-looking octagonal pots. The return of No. 4 has a Velux window to its inner side. Cast-iron rainwater goods serve the main building; PVC rainwater goods serve the return.

Historical Background

Fitzwilliam Street was laid out in the 1840s as one of several new thoroughfares connecting what was then the Malone Road (now University Road) to the New Lisburn Road (now Lisburn Road), the latter having been cut in 1817 as a intended replacement for the Malone Road as the main southward route out of Belfast. The land had been leased from the Donegall estate since 1711 to the ancestors of one John Alexander, who obtained a renewal of his title in 1823. In 1849, Alexander leased part of this land to William Magill Collins, a solicitor with offices in Arthur Street; and in 1866, following the break-up of the Donegall Estate, Collins obtained full title. Shortly after securing his initial lease, Collins built the present terrace of Nos. 2–8. Like many terraces springing up around the newly built Queen's College, the block was designed to attract Belfast's middling professional and merchant classes, though the houses were a cut well below the grander dwellings of University Square.

Among Collins's earliest tenants in 1854 were Henry Hugh Boyd, described as an agent and accountant; Robert Leadbetter, a linen manufacturer; James Benn, a wine merchant; and a Mrs. Wardle. Subsequent directories record later tenants of similar character well into the 20th century — wine merchants, accountants, dentists, clergymen, company directors, and academics likely attached to Queen's. William Magill Collins died in 1880 and the properties passed to his daughters and their descendants. In 1932 the terrace was conveyed to Queen's University, who appear to have rented the houses to individuals, probably university staff. By the late 1960s, with Queen's expanding academically, the properties were given over to various departments including Italian, Geography, Extra-Mural Studies, and the QUB Photographic Society. By 1986 the terrace was largely occupied by the Institute of Irish Studies, with the Faculty of Theology in No. 2. That same year, significant internal renovation was carried out across the whole block: doors were inserted at first- and second-floor level to link the former individual dwellings, and certain rooms were amalgamated. The whole group is currently used by the Institute of Irish Studies.

History of No. 4 Specifically

No. 4 appears to have been originally rented by a Mrs. Wardle. In 1858 it was occupied by Andrew Kirke, described in the directories as a gentleman; in 1863 by an M. Gardner; and from 1877 to 1884 by a Mrs. Martha Frackleton. For the following six years it was rented to Edward Bailey, an accountant, then to an artist named T. Bond Walker, and then to a Mrs. George Hughes from around 1895 to approximately 1905. Mrs. Hughes was followed by a succession of short-term tenants including a chemist named Nicholl, a Church of Ireland rector the Reverend L.W. Crooks, and from approximately 1920 to 1930 another rector, the Reverend Alfred B. Green. After the University's acquisition of the terrace in 1932, the house appears to have served as a staff residence, first for a Miss O. Robinson and then, from around 1940, for an H.J. Duffield. The property ceased to function as a dwelling at some point in the late 1960s and by 1970 was occupied by the Department of Extra-Mural Studies and the Department of Italian, both of which also appear to have shared No. 2. By 1986 it had been given over, along with Nos. 6 and 8, to the Institute of Irish Studies, and the internal alterations of that year linked it physically to the rest of the terrace.