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

A four storey end-of-terrace commercial building, built in two stages 1890 and 1896, in Victorian Italianate style. It curves around the southwest corner of the junction of Royal Avenue and North Street. The original roof has been removed, the existing unseen behind cornice. Red brick walls in stretcher bond with full height pilasters; red sandstone moulded cornice, strings, lintels and voussoirs to window openings; terracotta machicolated moulded eaves frieze, moulded panels to third floor aprons and first floor spandrels (north of Haymarket Arcade spandrels are sandstone). Window openings to third floor have brick voussoirs to segmental arches or flat sandstone lintels; second floor segmental arches; first floor round arched; all windows 2 pane 1/1 original timber sashes. Ground floor has deep modern fascia and shop fronts below cornice. The main, east elevation, first and second floors, is 13 window wide (2:1:1:1:3:1:1:1:2) with 3 to curved corner; attic level has 2 windows to single bays, 3 to double bays. An entrance through to Haymarket Arcade is positioned to the north of the central tripartite bay. The south elevation is abutted and obscured by HB26/50/183. The north elevation, first and second floors, is 5 windows wide with curved windows to each corner. The attic floor, with 6 windows, steps down to three storeys on west corner. The north elevation curves round by one bay to Gresham Street. The rear, west elevation is a solid, rendered wall with the Haymarket Arcade throughway and a door to first floor to the north. Wrapped around ground floor are modern shop units. Setting 74-88 sits directly on the west side pavement of the major commercial street of Royal Avenue at its junction with North Street forming a dominant corner of this major intersection. The rear elevation is accessed directly from Haymarket Arcade. The terraced building is bounded by listed building HB26/50/182 to the south. On the two facing corners of the junction are by listed buildings HB26/50/186 and Bank of Ireland (HB26/50/187) Roof: Natural slate Walling: brick Windows: Timber RWG: Hidden