103-105 North Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT1 1NL

This two-bay three-storey commercial building with half-dormer attic was constructed c.1897 on the north side of North Street in Belfast city centre, designed by architect JJ Phillips. It replaced earlier structures comprising a house with outbuildings at No.103 and a builder's workshop, shed and yard at No.105, which were demolished c.1895.

The building is constructed of machine-made red brick laid to Flemish bond with sandstone dressings. The pitched roof of artificial slate is largely concealed behind a red brick parapet with sandstone coping. A pair of gable-headed attic dormers break through the parapet, featuring scrolled kneelers and pyramidal sandstone finials. Red brick chimneysstacks with stepped cornices flank the east and west sides, without pots. Parapet gutters with uPVC downpipes discharge at the centre and outer ends.

The principal south-facing elevation displays a moulded sandstone crown cornice projecting over the second floor level. Each of the two bays contains a single two-tiered elliptical-arched window opening to the first and second floors. These openings have pole-moulded and cavetto brick architraves with keyed sandstone hood moulds. The upper and lower sections of these windows are separated by painted timber boards, with canted brick sills projecting from first floor openings. The upper sections are early to mid 20th century timber casements; the lower sections are modern replacements. The attic floor contains square-headed window openings with projecting sandstone sills and flush stone lintels surmounted by rounded pediments featuring foliate and shield carvings. The kneeler stones of the pedimented dormers rest on projecting brick piers extending below the crown cornice, terminated by sandstone stops at the impost level of the second floor openings. The attic windows are mid to late 20th century timber casements with decorative rolled glass.

A pair of shopfronts occupies the ground floor, now concealed behind steel roller-shutters with vinyl signage on the fascia. Each shopfront is framed by painted cast-iron pilasters with fluted lower sections over high pedestals. A continuous painted masonry cornice extends over the fascia, featuring uPVC gutters supported by a single fluted console bracket over the central pilaster (the outer two brackets have been removed).

The west elevation is abutted by the neighbouring building at Nos.109-111. The rear (north) elevation is largely abutted by a flat-roofed return, which contains a mono-pitched roof to its right side, red brick walls laid to English garden wall bond, and square-headed window openings. A single former opening to the upper floor of the north elevation has been bricked up, and a plainly detailed opening exists to the upper floor of the left section. The lower floors are abutted by a mid to late 20th century flat-roofed red brick building of little historic interest. The east elevation is abutted by the neighbouring building at Nos.99-101.

Originally occupied by tea merchants and grocers Cairns & Co. Ltd from its construction, the building comprised shop, warerooms, yard and offices with a rateable value of £195. The premises became vacant by 1902. By 1905 it was occupied by Robert Johnston, a wholesale saddler and ironmonger, with the rateable value reduced to £100 c.1906. From 1932 until at least 1951, Johnston operated a motorcoach and saddlery business from the premises. Historic map evidence shows that extensive outbuildings existed to the rear since construction in the late 19th century. These were largely replaced by a cohesive red brick flat-roofed block in the mid 20th century; the red brick return abutting the rear of No.103 is thought to date from the late 19th or early 20th century.

The building sits street-fronted on the north side of North Street, forming part of a wider group of similarly dated commercial buildings, including Nos.99-101 and Nos.95-97 to the east. Although some historic detailing has been lost, including the original windows, the remaining architectural features are of fine quality, including the cast-iron pilasters to the ground floor shopfronts and the stone detailing of the attic dormers. The building represents a significant example of turn-of-the-20th-century Edwardian commercial architecture within Belfast city centre.