76-88 Royal Avenue And, 104 North St., Belfast

Albert Chambers, 76–88 Royal Avenue and 104 North Street, Belfast

Albert Chambers is a four-storey Italianate red brick commercial building constructed in two stages between 1890 and 1896. It curves around the south-west corner of the junction of Royal Avenue and North Street, forming a dominant landmark at one of Belfast city centre's most important intersections. The building is one of the last to have been erected along the west side of Royal Avenue following the major street redevelopment of 1880–81, and was built for Edward Rice, a local grain and flour merchant, though its architect remains unknown.

Architectural Description

The walls are of red brick in stretcher bond, articulated by full-height pilasters. Decorative elements are provided by red sandstone moulded cornices, string courses, lintels and voussoirs to window openings. A terracotta machicolated moulded eaves frieze runs along the roofline, with moulded panels to the third-floor aprons and first-floor spandrels; north of the Haymarket Arcade entrance these spandrels are sandstone rather than terracotta. Window openings at third-floor level have brick voussoirs to segmental arches or flat sandstone lintels; second-floor openings have segmental arches; first-floor openings are round-arched. Throughout, the windows are two-pane, one-over-one original timber sash units. The ground floor is fitted with a deep modern fascia and modern shop fronts below the cornice level.

The main east elevation, facing Royal Avenue, is thirteen windows wide at first- and second-floor level, arranged in a rhythm of 2:1:1:1:3:1:1:1:2, with three windows to the curved corner section. At attic level, bays are arranged with two windows to single bays and three to double bays. An entrance to the Haymarket Arcade throughway is positioned to the north of the central tripartite bay.

The north elevation, facing North Street, is five windows wide at first- and second-floor level, with curved windows to each corner. The attic floor has six windows and steps down to three storeys at the west corner. The north elevation curves round by one further bay to Gresham Street. The rear west elevation is a solid rendered wall incorporating the Haymarket Arcade throughway and a first-floor door to the north. Modern shop units wrap around the entire ground floor.

The south elevation is abutted and largely obscured by the adjoining listed building to the south. The original roof has been removed; the replacement roof is concealed behind the cornice and is not visible from street level. Natural slate is recorded as the roof covering. Rainwater goods are hidden.

Historical Context

Albert Chambers was among the earliest buildings erected on the newly created boulevard of Royal Avenue, which was laid out between 1880 and 1881 by the surveyor J. C. Bretland. This major redevelopment involved the demolition of Hercules Place and Hercules Street and the relocation of approximately 4,000 people, creating the long open boulevard that now extends from Donegall Square to York Street. Almost all buildings pre-dating the 1880s were demolished in the process; the only survivor was the former Provisional Bank of Ireland, which still occupies the original line of Hercules Place and sits further back from the street than its neighbours as a result. Nos 76–88, together with the adjoining nos 58–74, were among the last buildings completed on the western side of the new boulevard.

The building was constructed in two main stages. The four original ground-floor retail units were in place by 1890, but the upper floors were not completed until 1894–96. By the time the block was finished in 1896, its total rateable value stood at £1,262. The upper floors were used as office space from the outset. By 1901, the four ground-floor shops were occupied by M. Black & Co. (merchant tailors), Mrs Greenfield's ladies' and children's clothes shop, Rudge Whitworth's bicycle store, and the New Rossleigh Cycle and Motor Co. Ltd. The upper floors housed insurance societies, solicitors' offices, the office of local architect N. Fitzsimons, and the Civil Service Academy, which occupied the entire top floor.

The building's rateable value was reassessed to £1,729 10s. under the 1900 Belfast Revaluation. Occupancy changed frequently over the following decades. By 1910 the Donegall Tweed Co. and James Cross's fruit store had taken two ground-floor units; by 1918 a jewellery store had moved in at ground level while the upper floors continued to be occupied by accountants, solicitors, mutual assurance firms and the Civil Service Academy. By 1930, despite a reduction in total rateable value to £1,080, the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland subsequently raised the figure again to £1,977 10s.

Royal Avenue suffered bomb damage during the Belfast Blitz of 1941, though it is not known whether nos 76–88 were among the buildings directly affected. By the 1950s the building had been purchased from the estate of Edward Rice by a Mr S. Johnston. In 1963, three of the ground-floor retail units were merged into a single store occupied by Jackson's Tailors. The total rateable value had reached £4,028 15s. by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

In the 1970s the building fell vacant following serious fire damage. It was subsequently converted into small retail units between 1978 and 1981. Architectural historian Marcus Patton described the building as a "long four-storey red brick building with red sandstone moulding and obtuse-angled corner onto North Street," noting that the round-headed windows at the north end of the first floor have carved spandrels, with flowers as bosses to the eyebrows over the windows and swags in panels below the third-floor openings. Patton also records that the building originally had a more interesting roofline of gables, which have since been removed, leaving the current flat profile — a detraction from the building's original character.

Setting

The building sits directly on the west-side pavement of Royal Avenue at its junction with North Street. The rear elevation is accessed from Haymarket Arcade. It is bounded to the south by a listed neighbour, and on the two facing corners of the junction stand further listed buildings. The building is located within a conservation area.

The building was listed in 1989. At the time of listing, a number of ground-floor retail units remained in use, but the upper floors were vacant.