7 Wellington Place, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 6GB

7 Wellington Place, Belfast

This is a four-storey, three-bay late Georgian terrace house of painted red brick, built around 1829–1830 to designs by Adam McClean, an amateur architect and linen draper based in Belfast. Now in commercial use, the building retains many of its original features and forms part of a group of three surviving houses (Nos. 7, 9, and 11 Wellington Place) that represent the oldest remaining structures on Wellington Place. Together they illustrate the early residential development of the area around Donegall Square and the White Linen Hall.

Architectural Description

The roofline is not visible from the street, being concealed behind a painted cornice and blocking course. Rainwater goods are square-section metal. The walls are of painted red brick throughout.

The front elevation retains a particularly fine original portico entrance to the upper floors at ground level. This consists of a flight of four stone steps, fluted Doric columns on stone bases, pilaster responses, and a full entablature with triglyphs and guttae. The front door is probably panelled but is currently covered with flush panels on both sides; it sits beneath a plain fanlight. The remainder of the ground floor has been altered to form a modern shopfront with curved sides, attached columns, and metopes designed in imitation of the original portico. The upper floors present three bays at each of the first, second, and third floors, all fitted with six-over-six double-hung timber sash windows with fine glazing bars and without horns; the floor-to-ceiling height reduces at each successive storey. A painted cornice runs below the parapet. The rear elevation is not visible.

The building is the central surviving portion of what was originally a terrace of six similar four-storey houses running between Fountain Street and Queen Street, constructed by McClean around 1829–1830 as part of the westward expansion of Belfast during the late Georgian period. These houses were intended as superior private residences lining the road towards the newly laid-out College Square and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The architectural historian C. E. B. Brett noted in 1985 that Nos. 7, 9, and 11 Wellington Place illustrate a transitional moment in Belfast's building history: "gradually, good brickwork gave way to sleazy stucco… the meeting-point is exemplified by 7, 9 and 11 Wellington Place, three houses built by Adam McClean in [c. 1830], of which the central one has Regency stucco bows; its neighbours are of brick with formal Ionic porticoes." The ornate doorcase with fluted columns supporting an entablature survives at No. 7 and a similar feature exists at No. 11, suggesting this was a common element across the original terrace, though the doorcase at the central house, No. 9, has been lost.

Historical Background

Adam McClean (1765/66–1849) was no mere property speculator. Brett observed that "he was genuinely interested in architecture and not merely in property speculation." As well as constructing this terrace, McClean built nine houses on Donegall Square (of which only one survives, at the corner of Donegall Square East and May Street) and warehouses at 19–23 Franklin Street. He accumulated his holdings in this area from the Donegall family during the 1820s, and Brett suggests that "it appears he was one of those who sought to benefit from the second marquess's financial difficulty by acquiring good, long leases at low rents which he then built up." The Hodges and Smith Belfast Street map of around 1850 records that McClean's lease commenced on 17 August 1829, suggesting construction began that year.

Wellington Place itself was laid out in the 1790s as a street of superior terraces and named after the Duke of Wellington, who had resided in Belfast during his youth. By 1822 it was the most densely populated residential area of Belfast and was favoured by doctors and other professional people.

Occupancy and Conversion

The earliest recorded occupant of No. 7 is a Miss Montgomery, noted in the Townland Valuation of around 1830, when the property was valued at £62. She remained in residence until at least 1843. By 1852 she had been replaced by Thomas Kennedy, a muslin manufacturer. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1860, ownership had passed to John McCance, a linen merchant who worked at the White Linen Hall in Donegall Square; his brother David McCance had resided at the adjoining No. 9 in 1843. McCance leased No. 7 to Robert Henderson, whose dwelling had risen in value to £70. Henderson vacated in 1865 and was succeeded by Thomas Reade, who in turn was replaced by Dr. Richard Ross, recorded as tenant in the Belfast Street Directories by 1880.

The building remained a private residence until 1896 when T. Shanks and Son, merchant tailors, took it over and partially rebuilt it, causing its assessed value to rise provisionally to approximately £143. The conversion was complete by the Belfast Revaluation of 1900, at which point the total value of the property and its upper-storey offices was set at £353. Ownership at this time had passed to a Ms. Mary Ewing, who charged an annual rent of £175. The 1911 Census described the premises as a first-class commercial property, noting that one room was occupied by Sara Orr, the company's lady clerk.

T. Shanks and Son continued trading from No. 7 until 1922, when Thomas Shanks purchased the building outright and leased the ground floor and upper offices separately. The ground floor offices were occupied by the Norwich Fire Insurance Company from that year. Property values rose to approximately £484 following this change; by 1930, when the Annual Revisions were cancelled, the value stood slightly lower at £469. The First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 set the value at £489. The building survived the Belfast Blitz of 1941 without destruction. The Norwich Fire Insurance Company vacated by 1964, after which the building was subdivided into multiple offices; by the end of the Second General Revaluation in 1972, the total value had risen to £968 10s.

One notable occupant of the upper offices during the commercial period was the Belfast architect Anthony Thomas Jackson (1838–1917), who practised from the building between 1901 and 1906.

No. 7 Wellington Place was listed in 1979 and continues in commercial use, with the upper floors most recently reopened as a vintage arts showroom.

Setting

The building forms part of a terrace of three contemporaneous houses — Nos. 7, 9, and 11 Wellington Place — which are the oldest surviving structures on the street and among the oldest remaining evidence of the early residential development around Donegall Square. The three houses together are a good example of a building type that was largely swept away during the Victorian building boom of the later 19th century. The property lies within a conservation area.