7 Chichester Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 4JA

7 Chichester Street is a terraced four-storey former townhouse over a part-raised basement, built in brick around 1804–1805 as one of a group of three similar buildings. It sits on the south side of Chichester Street, Belfast, with a railed basement area to the front, and is now in commercial use as a health centre. The building is listed together with its railings.

The terrace was designed in what Paul Larmour describes as the typical 'Dublin style' of the period, and constitutes a rare surviving example of late Georgian domestic architecture in Belfast. It forms an elegant composition among the largely late Victorian commercial buildings that now surround it, and is also notable as part of the remaining fragments of the Georgian city, comparable to those surviving in Wellington Place. The building was severely damaged by bomb explosions in the alley behind during the late 20th century, but has since undergone extensive restoration together with No. 9 next door. Despite this, much historic fabric and detailing survive, along with the original plan form.

EXTERIOR

The pitched slate roof is hidden behind a rendered blocking course and cornice. There is a shared rendered chimney stack to the east party wall, and a cast-iron hopper and downpipe breaking through the parapet at the west end. The front and rear elevations are faced in dark red brick laid in Flemish bond, with a rendered plinth course to the basement. Window openings are square-headed and diminishing in height with each rising storey, formed in gauged brick with rendered reveals, painted masonry sills, and multi-pane timber sash windows without horns.

The front elevation is three windows wide. To the third floor are original 3/6-pane timber sash windows; to the second floor are 6/6-pane timber sash windows with original upper sashes and replacement lower sashes; to the first and ground floors are largely replacement 6/6-pane timber sash windows; and to the basement are original 3/6-pane timber sash windows.

The doorcase is positioned in the east bay and features a gauged brick round-headed opening with a projecting moulded surround and painted masonry detailing. The replacement flush-panelled timber door is fitted with brass furniture and is flanked by a pair of slender Doric columns on plinth blocks. These support frieze blocks with paterae and a recessed lintel cornice featuring an elliptical patera. Above the door is a semi-circular webbed iron fanlight with an architrave surround. The door opens onto a concrete-paved platform approached by six concrete steps that bridge the basement area. The steps are enclosed by plain wrought-iron railings set into the steps, which return to enclose the basement area and are set into a low concrete plinth wall, with a matching replacement gate and concrete step providing basement access.

Mounted beside the doorcase is a blue plaque reading: 'Luke L. / Macassey / MinstCE / 1843–1908 / Civil Engineer / and Barrister / had his office here'.

The east side elevation abuts No. 9 (the adjoining listed building). The west side elevation abuts the Ocean Building, also a listed structure. The rear elevation is two windows wide and is adjoined by a single-bay, two-storey-over-basement brown brick flat-roofed return built around 1980, with largely replacement 6/6-pane timber sash windows throughout.

SETTING

The building sits on the south side of Chichester Street, forming a uniform terrace of three similar buildings. To the rear is a small enclosed yard fronting onto Pattersons Place, within a conservation area.

HISTORY

No. 7 was built as a private residence in 1804, to the designs of an unknown architect. The terrace first appears on a map of Belfast dating from around 1818, on a site that had been undeveloped as of 1791, close to the White Linen Hall building that formerly occupied the site where Belfast City Hall now stands.

In the Townland Valuation of the 1830s, the house and yard were valued at £24 and occupied by a James Cassidy. By the mid-19th century, the building had been occupied successively by a Dr McCormack and then by the surgeon Dr James Moore, according to street directories. Griffith's Valuation of 1859–60 records that both No. 7 and No. 9 were owned by a Mr Edward McDowall, and that each property comprised two parlours, two dining rooms, six bedrooms, two basements, a scullery, pantries, a water closet, a stable and a yard. No. 7 was valued at £55, while No. 9 was valued at £60, despite being described in the valuer's notes as "a good deal out of repair."

By the late 19th century, the buildings had begun to move away from purely residential use. At the turn of the century, both premises were subdivided and let to separate occupiers. The Belfast Revaluations of 1900 record that Charles H. Brett, of the firm L'Estrange and Brett, purchased both No. 7 and No. 9, as well as No. 11. At that time, the entire ground floor of No. 7, the yard, and two rooms to the rear were occupied by a Martin Turnbull as offices, and valued at £54, with the remaining space assessed at a combined value of £65 12 shillings.

Throughout the 20th century the building continued in office use, occupied on the ground floor by solicitors' firms and on the upper floors by a variety of businesses including an estate agent, a civil engineering firm, a commercial stationer and an architectural practice. Most notably, the Belfast artist William Connor had a studio on the first floor during the 1920s, and the pioneering civil engineer Luke Macassey — commemorated by the blue plaque on the façade — had offices here in the early 20th century. By the First General Revaluations of 1935, the building was listed at £177 5 shillings. By the mid-20th century, both No. 7 and No. 9 had vacant upper floors and basements, which had previously been occupied by resident caretakers. The rear of the terrace was badly damaged by two explosions in the alley behind during the late 20th century, after which the rear was rebuilt and restoration work was carried out to the roof and façade. No. 7 was subsequently used as an optician's and is now a health centre. The building was formerly referenced as HB26/50/017 and has been renumbered as part of the terrace.