73 University Road (Fitzwilliam Place), Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT7 1NF

73 University Road is a relatively plain two-storey gabled house forming the centrepiece of Fitzwilliam Place, a somewhat squat terrace of three properties dating from circa 1846-48. The terrace displays mild Neo-Classical styling and stands on the west side of University Road, opposite Lanyon's original Queen's College building of 1845-49 and abutting Queen's University Students' Union to the south. Fitzwilliam Street borders the terrace to the north, and all three properties share a front garden that lends the block a slight country cottage character.

The symmetrical front façade faces east. At ground floor centre is the main entrance, a panelled timber door with a rectangular fanlight containing late Edwardian leaded lights. The doorway is flanked by panelled pilasters with decorative brackets supporting a cornice hood, its edges enclosed in timber. On either side of the entrance are fairly large sash windows with plain frames, simple moulded surrounds and relatively slim cills. The first floor contains three smaller windows of similar design, with the outer windows being broader and squatter than the central example. The façade is finished in plain render and incorporates full-height panelled outer pilasters, a deep eaves course and a gutter course.

To the rear stands a large two-storey gabled return, completely rebuilt circa 1990-91 on a larger scale than the original. The north face of the return contains two windows to the ground floor and four to the first floor, all fitted with modern frames designed to resemble sash windows with Georgian panes. A lean-to section links the property to No. 71. The south face similarly contains two ground-floor windows and four first-floor windows with matching modern frames, with a longer lean-to on the right featuring a glazed door, two small windows and Velux windows to the lean-to roof. The west gable of the return is blank except for a central projecting chimney breast housing the boiler flue. The main rear façade has first-floor sash windows with genuine Georgian panes (6 over 6) flanking the return, left and right. All external surfaces are finished in plain render and painted. Metal rainwater goods (cast iron and aluminium) are present throughout, with a tall rendered wall to the rear of the yard.

The main roof is gabled and covered in natural slate with three Velux windows to the rear and two rendered chimney stacks on the ridge, north and south, both with octagonal pots.

University Road originated as the main route from Belfast to Lisburn and Dublin before being superseded in 1817 by the newly cut Lisburn Road. With the establishment of Queen's College in 1845 and the subsequent movement of Belfast's merchant and professional classes to the suburbs, the street witnessed considerable development from the mid-19th century onwards. Fitzwilliam Place was part of this expansion and was designed to attract the city's middling professional and merchant classes. The land had been leased from the Donegall estate since 1711. In 1849, William Magill Collins, a solicitor with offices in Arthur Street, leased part of the land and subsequently built the present terrace, probably around 1846-48. In 1866, following the break-up of the Donegall Estate, Collins obtained full title to the property.

Collins' earliest tenants included clergymen, merchants, manufacturers and fellow solicitors, with Collins himself residing in one of the houses for a time. Later occupants and owners, documented through to the mid-20th century, were similarly positioned: wine merchants, accountants, doctors, clergymen, company directors and academics attached to Queen's University. Collins died in 1880, and the properties passed to his daughters and their descendants. In 1962, all the houses were conveyed to Queen's University, which subsequently rented them to university staff before converting them for faculty offices.

Number 73 was initially occupied by Reverend John Wrixon and his wife Maria. William Roderick Kamacke, proprietor of W.R. Kamacke & Co. (Linen Hall), and his family followed, remaining until circa 1917. E. Brown, a house and land agent, occupied the property next, followed in 1929 by Professor Frederick Martin Brice Allen, Professor of Child Health at Queen's, who sold the house to the University in August 1962. Queen's initially used the property as a typing centre before later converting it to offices for the Faculty of Humanities and the Institute of Theology. The extensive renovation of circa 1990-91 included the rebuilding of the return on a significantly larger scale than the original, which was probably contemporary with the main building.