57 University Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT7

57 University Road is a substantial three-storey terraced house built between 1840 and 1843 in the late Georgian style. It stands on the west side of University Road in Belfast, forming part of a terrace originally named 'Botanic View', situated between Camden Street to the north and Fitzwilliam Street to the south. The property is one of a matching group of four identical houses, all of which were extensively renovated around 1984 and converted into flats with stairwell returns added to the rear.

The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrical in composition. On the ground floor to the left sits the original entrance doorway, which is no longer in use as the flats are now accessed via the rear stairwell. The doorway features a traditional panelled and glazed door that now functions as a window, with panelled pilaster jambs and a plain rectangular fanlight above. The whole ensemble is enclosed by plain pilasters with decorative console brackets supporting a cornice hood with a tympanum-like blocking course. Steps and a path lead to the entrance. To the right of the doorway are two flat arch windows with Georgian-paned sash frames of 6/6 configuration. The first floor repeats this pattern with two similar windows directly above, while the second floor has two shorter windows of the same type aligned with those below. The ground floor is finished in square channelled rusticated render painted in a darker shade, while the first and second floors are rendered plainly with simple moulded surrounds to the window openings. It is likely that the upper floors were originally in brick.

The rear elevation faces west. A large full-height stairwell return, erected around 1984 and shared with number 59, dominates the right-hand side. This return has sash windows at first and second half-landing levels on its west face. On the north face of the return at ground floor level is a doorway with a recent security door providing access to the ground floor flat of number 57 and number 59. Immediately to the right is a single-storey flat-roofed brick projection housing dustbins for all three flats. The south face of the return mirrors the north face arrangement, with small sash windows at first and second floor levels featuring 4/2 Georgian panes. The rear façade of the main building to the left of the return has two windows on each floor, with the left-hand window on each floor larger than the right, and second-floor windows shorter overall. Ground floor windows are covered with security grilles, while upper floor windows retain Georgian-paned sash frames (first floor 6/6 and 4/2, second floor 6/3 and 4/2). The entire rear elevation is rendered, painted to match the upper floors of the front with darker 'quoins'. The main roof is slated with a mono-pitched lean-to-style slated roof covering the return. A tall rendered chimneystack stands to the north with a string course and decorative matching pots. Both front and rear elevations feature bracketed verge courses, the rear being plainer, with recent-looking moulded guttering and modern square downspouts. The small front garden is enclosed by low rendered walls and planted with shrubbery.