6 Joy St., Belfast

6 Joy Street, Belfast

This is a mid-terrace, three-storey rendered house built around 1840, forming part of a terrace of four similar houses on the east side of Joy Street in Belfast city centre. It represents a fine example of late Georgian domestic architecture and has been sensitively restored by the Hearth Housing Association around 1985, with much of its historic architectural fabric surviving intact.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing west onto Joy Street. The roof is covered in natural slate with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and three rendered, profiled chimneystacks fitted with octagonal clay pots; the stacks at either end are shared with the adjoining houses. Cast-iron guttering runs along a moulded eaves cornice, with a cast-iron downpipe below. The external walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined render with a moulded plinth course at the base.

Window openings are square-headed with architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills, and replacement 6-over-6 timber sash windows. The front elevation is three windows wide and incorporates a further doorcase in the south bay, which was formerly a rear access passage through the terrace. A continuous sill course runs across the ground and first floors. At each end bay there is a round-headed door opening with a moulded architrave surround and scrolled console brackets, supported by scored render pilasters, and fitted with replacement timber doorcases. The main entrance has a replacement flat-panelled timber door with a fanlight above, while the former passageway opening has a vertically-sheeted timber door with an overpanel.

The north side elevation abuts the adjoining No. 4 Joy Street, and the south side elevation abuts No. 10 Joy Street. The rear elevation is abutted by a gable-ended single-storey return and features asymmetrically placed square-headed window openings fitted with 6-over-6 timber sash windows. Although the interior has been modified, the layout and features of interest have largely remained unaltered.

The terrace first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, though it was certainly built earlier. The first edition Ordnance Survey map shows that construction of neighbouring buildings in the area — including Nos 36–46 Hamilton Street — had begun by 1832–33, and the Belfast Street Directories confirm the terrace was in existence by 1843, when Joy Street was numbered differently to today.

The first confirmed occupant of No. 6, recorded in 1852, was Alexander Grant, a draper. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records that the house had briefly fallen vacant before being reoccupied by a Thomas Austin, who rented it from a Robert Beggs, who owned the entire terrace. The valuer classified it as a three-storey B+ Class dwelling — meaning it was not new but in sound repair — measuring 6½ by 9 yards and valued at £18. The neighbouring address, No. 8 Joy Street, has never been used as a dwelling; at that time it was the site of a two-storey stable and loft valued at £2, and its current front door is a dummy entrance that leads only to the rear yards of the adjoining houses.

No. 6 fell vacant again around 1861 and was not reoccupied until 1884, when William Black took possession. Black resided there until around 1900, followed by Francis O'Neill, a shoemaker. The 1901 Census records Black himself — a 48-year-old Roman Catholic — living at the address with his wife Agnes, aged 44, and their five children. The house was then classified as a second-class dwelling with six rooms, though by 1911 it had been upgraded to a first-class dwelling with nine rooms. Like many occupants on Joy Street and Hamilton Street at the time, Black let rooms to lodgers; in 1901, two English boarders described as being of the "theatrical profession" were staying at the house, most likely performing at nearby music halls or theatres.

In 1906 the entire terrace passed from Robert Beggs to a Miss Ann Kelly and was revalued; No. 6 was reduced from £17 to £16 in that same year. Between 1915 and 1918, John Benton — described in records as a soldier — briefly occupied the house, followed by Walter Ainley, a mechanic, who came into possession around 1920 and continued to occupy the house until around 1940. Under the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935, the house was valued at £23; a second revaluation in 1956 raised this to £26, where it remained until 1972.

After Ainley vacated sometime in the 1940s, the next recorded occupant was Robert McMullan, a foreman, who was in residence by 1950. Upon his death in the 1970s, his widow or daughter Mary McMullan took over the house.

Joy Street takes its name from a former paper mill in the area owned by Henry Joy, a relative of Henry Joy McCracken, the United Irishman. The mill formerly stood at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street, and the construction of its mill dam led to the reclamation of several acres of land to the south-east of Belfast's town centre at the turn of the 19th century. Joy Street and the surrounding Markets area were laid out during the late Georgian period, developing gradually southwards from May Street on this reclaimed land. The substantial redbrick terraces erected around 1830–40 were originally occupied by well-respected merchants. However, following the mass influx of working-class migrants into Belfast in the wake of the Great Famine, the merchant classes had largely abandoned the area by the 1850s in favour of new suburbs in Malone to the south. In their place, Joy Street and Hamilton Street became home to working- and lower-middle-class residents, and a number of the larger houses were converted into lodging and boarding houses. The establishment of Queen's College in 1849 also brought a significant student population to the Markets area in search of cheap lodgings, though this student presence had largely moved closer to the university by around 1850–70. With the gradual student exodus, the lodging houses on Joy Street and Hamilton Street became predominantly used by business lodgers and musical performers appearing at the nearby music halls. The occupational history of No. 6 reflects this wider pattern: the building served at various times as a lodging house accommodating performers, before being used in later years purely as a private dwelling.

The terrace suffered serious damage in the mid-1970s when a bomb destroyed the end-terrace dwelling. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive subsequently sold the terrace to the Hearth Housing Association, who restored Nos 4 and 6, rebuilt No. 10, and erected two flats on the site of the demolished No. 12 Joy Street in 1989–90. No. 6 Joy Street was listed in 1987, remains in residential use, and continues to be owned by the Hearth Housing Association. The property lies within a conservation area.