14 University Square, Belfast

A three-storey terraced townhouse with attic, comprising two bays of red brick, now used as university offices for the School of History & Anthropology at Queen's University. Built in 1852 as part of the University Square terrace, which was constructed in stages between 1848 and 1853. While Charles Lanyon laid out University Square, the architect of the actual terrace remains unconfirmed. The building is situated mid-way along a row of 30 former houses, fronting south onto University Square in South Belfast, which connects University Road on the west to Botanic Avenue on the east. It overlooks the Old Library (now the QUB Student Graduate Centre) and the grounds of the northern end of The Lanyon Building. The building is flanked by No 13 on the west and No 15 on the east.

The front elevation is built in Flemish bond red brick with the entrance positioned on the left and a single-storey bowed bay to the right on the ground floor. Two single window openings appear on both the first and second floor levels. A pitched natural Welsh slate roof with red clay ridge tiles and rebuilt brick chimneys with corbel detailing and yellow clay pots sits above. Two small modern rooflights pierce the south roof slope. A painted stone rendered plinth and corbelled painted stone cornice with lead to the parapet edges run across the elevation.

The ground floor doorway features an elliptical arched head with brick voussoirs and moulded plaster reveal. It is deeply recessed with fluted columns displaying Doric-type capitals on each side (the left column shaft is misaligned with its capital). The columns support a plain painted rendered entablature with moulded cornice. A leaded stained glass fanlight centred with the number '14' sits above the original painted, raised and fielded timber door with an oval obscured glass top pane. The ironmongery has been replaced. Painted stone dwarf walls flank the doorway; the right side retains an original ornate painted iron boot scraper.

The bowed bay on the right side of the doorway is formed by a painted stone surround containing five large window openings to the bottom section and a small square opening above each. Header bond brick sits above the stone window frame, below a painted stone cornice with a modern roofing membrane visible to the flat roof of the bay. Header bond brick also appears below a continuous painted stone chamfered cill. The bottom section windows are painted metal with fixed single panes, while the top panes are leaded stained glass with the centre pane top-hung. First floor windows are half-side-hung timber casements to the bottom section with leaded stained glass top-hung overlights above, now fitted with a modern metal safety bar restrictor spanning between the reveals. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across the first floor windows. Second floor windows are 6/6 single-glazed timber sliding sashes without horns. Each opening on the first and second floors has separate painted stone cills, painted rendered reveals, and splayed brick heads.

Rainwater goods are painted metal (likely replacements): the flat roof of the bowed bay discharges to a metal hopper on the right side, then to a metal downpipe. The main roof has a secret gutter behind the parapet, likely formed with lead, which discharges to a metal downpipe via a hopper. Four replacement reconstituted stone steps from street level are flanked by modern metal railings. The small front garden is now paved with concrete paving stones and flower beds formed with dwarf brick walls topped with reconstituted stone copings. A Flemish bond low brick boundary wall to the street (not original) features a reconstituted stone coping beneath replacement painted metal railings.

The side elevations are fully abutted by Nos 13 and 15 respectively.

The rear elevation is painted render and three storeys high. A two-storey return projects on the right side, further abutted by a two-storey mews building to the north. A yard is enclosed 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 15. All rear walls are painted render with painted rendered plinth. All windows to the rear have plain reveals and painted stone cills.

The exposed section of the main rear elevation has one window opening per level: 6/6 to the ground floor, 1/2 to the first floor (painted metal side-hung casements to the lower section, top-hung to the upper with leaded glass containing coloured sections), and 6/6 to the second floor (matching the ground floor window). A dormer window to the left side of the rear roof slope features lead to the sides and cheeks with a timber top-hung window. The side wall of the rear return has a pair of 3/6 windows to the ground floor on the left side and a small 2/2 on the right. The first floor has three irregularly spaced windows: a 6/6 on the left, 6/6 to the centre, and a small 2/2 on the right.

A single-storey lean-to spans the south wall of the mews building between the returns of Nos 14 and 15, featuring a natural slate roof and a modern flush timber back door. A twentieth century metal glazed conical roof light sits on the first floor landing of the rear return (visible from the second floor half landing window) on a leaded flat section of the return roof. The roof to the return and mews building is hipped natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. The rear elevation of the mews building onto the alleyway has two windows to the ground floor (a 3/6 on the left and 3/3 on the right) and three window openings to the first floor (a 6/6 to the left and centre and a 3/6 on the right). Further modern buildings stand to the rear of the mews building onto University Square Mews.

All windows are timber sliding sash without horns unless otherwise stated. Rear windows are single-glazed replacements except where noted. A metal casement with leaded panes serves the first floor half landing on the rear elevation. Timber sliding sash windows (replacements) without horns appear to the return and mews. The natural Welsh slate roof is a replacement, with the walls constructed in Flemish bond red brick.