15 University Square, Belfast

15 University Square is a three-storey terraced townhouse with attic, now used as university offices for the School of History & Anthropology at Queen's University, Belfast. The building was constructed in 1852 as part of the University Square terrace, which was built in stages between 1848 and 1853. Though the square itself was laid out by Charles Lanyon, the architect of the terrace remains unconfirmed. The house is positioned mid-way along a row of thirty former houses, flanked by No. 14 to the west and No. 16 to the east, and faces south onto University Square, overlooking the Old Library (now the QUB Student Graduate Centre) and the grounds of The Lanyon Building.

The building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond with a pitched roof of natural Welsh slate. It presents a two-bay front elevation with a flat facade. The entrance is located on the left side of the ground floor, featuring an elliptical arched doorway with brick voussoirs and moulded plaster reveal, deeply recessed with fluted columns of Doric-type capitals supporting a plain rendered entablature with moulded cornice. The original four-panelled timber door retains a leaded stained glass fanlight bearing the number 15. The ground floor contains two single window openings to the right of the door, with two further windows above on both the first and second floors, though these upper windows are not aligned with those on the ground floor. All front-facing windows are original timber sliding sash, single-glazed, with painted rendered reveals and splayed brick heads. The ground floor windows are 1/1 lights with separate painted stone cills. The first floor windows are also 1/1 lights over a continuous painted stone cill course. The second floor contains two 6/6 windows with separate painted stone cills. The facade sits beneath a plain rendered plinth and corbelled painted stone cornice with lead parapet edges. Brick chimneys with corbel detailing sit at both left and right, shared with neighbouring properties, each topped with seven yellow clay pots. The roof slope features two small modern rooflights. Rainwater goods are hidden within the parapet gutter, likely formed in lead. The front garden, now paved with concrete paving stones and small brick-walled flower beds with reconstituted stone copings, is enclosed by a low brick boundary wall in Flemish bond with reconstituted stone coping and replacement painted metal railings.

The east and west side elevations are fully abutted by the adjacent terraced properties.

The rear elevation faces north and comprises painted render on three storeys, abutted on the right by a two-storey return, which is itself abutted by a two-storey mews building. These elements enclose a yard bounded by the main rear elevation, the side wall of the rear return, the south wall of the mews building, and the side wall of the rear return to No. 16. The main rear elevation's exposed left section contains windows on each level, all 6/6 lights. The second floor half-landing features an arched window opening with a timber 10/6 light, aligned above by an attic half-landing window with a smaller 3/3 light. A dormer window on the left side of the rear roof slope has lead to its sides and cheeks and a timber top-hung casement. The side wall of the rear return contains a paired 6/6 window at ground floor level, with three regularly-spaced 6/6 windows at first floor. All rear windows are timber sliding sash without horns, single-glazed, and feature plain reveals with painted stone cills. A single-storey lean-to with natural slate roof spans the south wall of the mews building between the returns of Nos. 15 and 16, incorporating a modern flush timber back door. A twentieth-century metal glazed conical roof light illuminates the first floor landing of the rear return. The roof to the return and mews building is hipped natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. The mews building's rear elevation onto an alleyway contains two ground floor windows (3/6 to left, 3/3 to right) with a flush timber door between them, both windows fitted with metal grilles. The first floor has three windows: 6/6 lights to left and centre, and a 3/6 to the right. Further modern buildings stand to the rear of the mews building.

The roof is natural Welsh slate replacement, with hidden parapet gutters to the front, painted metal guttering to yard and rear, and a plastic soil vent pipe to the yard. Replacement reconstituted stone steps with modern metal railings provide access from street level to the front entrance.