14 College Green, Belfast

14 College Green is a two-storey-with-attic red brick terraced house, built in 1876 (though the valuation record suggests it may have been completed as late as 1878) and facing south onto College Green, to the north-east of the main quadrangle of Queen's University Belfast. It forms part of a longer Victorian terrace running from No. 2 to No. 26 College Green, and shares particular group value with its immediate neighbours, Nos. 10 and 12. The terrace as a whole overlooks the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the most architecturally striking terraces in the Queen's Conservation Area.

The building is asymmetrical in plan and elevation. Its roof is natural slate with a duo-pitched form, black clay ridge tiles, and two rectangular red brick chimneys centred on the ridge. Both chimneys have corbelled brick copings and several octagonal yellow clay pots; one chimney is shared with No. 12 and the other with No. 18 College Green. There is a wall-head dormer with a hipped roof to the front (south) pitch and a smaller duo-pitched dormer to the rear. Rainwater goods on the south side include a parapet gutter (not visible, probably lead) and a cast metal rainwater pipe; cast metal goods are also present to the north, though these have been replaced.

The south elevation is the principal façade. It is asymmetrically composed, with the entrance positioned to the left (west) and a single-storey canted bay to the right at ground floor level. At first floor, two equal-sized square-headed windows sit beneath a moulded string course that forms their cill. Above, a wall-head dormer interrupts the heavy eaves, which are supported on scrolled brackets above a deep plain frieze and moulded string course, all painted. The painted dressings throughout are probably a combination of stucco and dressed stone beneath paint. A deep continuous base plinth runs along the full width, with sub-floor ventilation openings and a moulded top.

The canted bay windows have stop-chamfered detailing to their heads and jambs, with the jambs extending down to the plinth and deep bull-nosed stone cills recessed between them. Above the bay windows are decorative round and diamond-shaped incisions featuring an abstract cross and other motifs. The entrance is a square-headed, four-panelled replacement timber door with a plain glass fanlight set within a round-arched opening with a roll-edge detail. The doorcase projects from the wall face and has a moulded cornice hood with decorative recessed roundels, similar in character to the bay window surround. The first floor windows have moulded surrounds with cornice hoods enriched by a diamond-head moulding projecting over a row of dentils. The paired windows within the attic dormer have canted heads with matching stop-chamfered lintels, a shared projecting cill, and 2/2 pane glazing.

The walls to the south elevation are red brick laid in Flemish bond. The north (rear) elevation, by contrast, is red brick in English Garden Wall bond and has been almost entirely rebuilt following the removal of the original return around 2004, when a two-storey gabled extension shared with No. 12 was added. This rear elevation has soldier-coursed headers to its openings and a single-course corbelled brick eaves in header bond. To the right at ground floor, a powder-coated aluminium-framed glass door leads from a modern stairwell to the rear yard, with blank walling above. To the left, at first floor half-landing level, there is a replacement 1/1 sliding sash with margin panes, a concrete cill, and a modern steel lintel, with a bricked-up opening immediately above it. At attic level, a modern timber-framed casement window sits within the wall-head dormer. A projecting brick nib, corbelled out from first floor level and slated over at eaves, may be a remnant of the original return or a former chimney. All windows are single-glazed timber-framed sliding sashes with 1/1 panes unless otherwise noted. The single-storey canted bay has a leaded flat roof.

The west and east elevations abut Nos. 12 and 18 College Green respectively, with No. 16 absent from the terrace. The original return has been removed.

The building sits midway along College Green, which runs between Botanic Avenue to the west and Rugby Road to the east. The southern boundary is defined by a concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings matching those of adjacent properties. The small front garden is paved with precast concrete slabs, as is the entrance step. To the rear, the yard is enclosed by a replacement red brick wall with brick-on-edge coping to match the gable extensions at the adjoining properties. The yard provides shared amenity space for Nos. 12, 14 and 18 (No. 16 being absent) and contains ramped paths to a ground floor terrace, planted beds with red brick retaining walls, and modern painted metal handrails and uprights.

College Green was laid out in 1866 on what was then the semi-rural "Plains" of Malone, the land to the east of the recently established Queen's College (completed 1849) and around the Union Theological College (completed 1853). The founding of Queen's College prompted several decades of southward residential expansion, with regularly planned streets filled largely with High Victorian terraced housing intended for the professional and merchant classes leaving the rapidly commercialising city centre. The first houses along College Green — Nos. 6 and 8 — were built in 1866. Nos. 2–4 (College Green House, originally Culfeightrin House, rebuilt around 1882) and Nos. 24–26 followed in 1870–71; Nos. 10–12 and 20–22 in 1876; and Nos. 14–18 in 1878. The street was originally conceived as an extension of Fitzroy Avenue and was treated as such for several decades; the name "College Green" was applied only to Culfeightrin House and Nos. 2–8 on the 1871–73 Ordnance Survey map.

No. 14 was built by the estate of the late Robert Corry, the Belfast timber merchant who had developed part of College Green in the mid-1860s, and previously, in the 1840s and 1850s, had developed Upper and Lower Crescent. The identity of the architect is uncertain. The lease was taken by James Watkins, described in contemporary directories simply as a "merchant", who lived there from at least 1879 until around 1882. He was followed by William Miller, a linen agent, who remained until around 1891. Mrs. Susanna Hogg, a widow, was next in occupation; the 1901 census records her living there with her grown-up daughter, an unmarried sister, and a domestic servant, and describes the building as a "first class" dwelling with 10 rooms in use. Mrs. Hogg appears to have died around 1909, after which her daughter Annabella Hogg occupied No. 14 until around 1910. Mrs. Emily Millar, another widow, is named as the occupant in the 1911 census. By 1918 J. M. Bennett, a bank official, was in residence, and by 1932 Mrs. Esther Callaghan, who remained until around 1967. The house appears to have continued as a private dwelling until around 1972, when it was acquired by Queen's University and converted into a language laboratory, later renamed the Audio Resources Centre, a function it retained until at least 1995. The building was listed in 1979.

Around 2004, along with neighbouring Nos. 12 and 18–24, No. 14 was the subject of a major renovation by Queen's University. A large extension was added to the rear, the original returns were removed, and the interior was integrated with those of Nos. 12 and 18–24 through two-storey gabled extensions. This internal reconfiguration has diminished the original historic character of the building to a certain extent. The building is now used as part of Queen's University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work (formerly the School of Life Long Learning), which occupies Nos. 12 to 24 inclusive (No. 16 being absent from the terrace). Despite these changes, the significance of No. 14 lies primarily in its group value and in the integrity of the overall architectural composition of College Green.