14 University Square, Belfast

14 University Square is an early Victorian former townhouse, three storeys with an attic, built in 1852 as part of a terrace constructed in stages between 1848 and 1853. It is a mid-terraced, two-bay building of red brick, facing south onto University Square in South Belfast, a street which connects University Road to the west with Botanic Avenue to the east. The terrace overlooks the Old Library (now Queen's University Belfast Graduate Student Centre) and the northern grounds of the Lanyon Building. The building is now used as university offices for the School of History and Anthropology at Queen's University Belfast. The listed extent covers the offices together with the plinth walls either side of the front door and the boot scraper.

Origins and Historical Context

University Square was laid out around 1847 by Charles Lanyon — designer of Queen's College itself, built 1845 to 1849 — on land belonging to Jane Gregg, set aside for development immediately north of the College grounds. The street was originally intended to be called Victoria Square. The rear boundaries of the house plots followed the line of an earlier garden belonging to a pre-1832 residence, whose grounds had already begun to be broken up by the building of present nos. 2–6 Mount Charles in 1842 and nos. 42–48 University Road in 1846 to 1848.

Although Lanyon determined the layout, there is no evidence that he designed the houses themselves. Building agreements from 1847 state that the frontages were to follow the model of Glenfield Place, a terrace then under construction on Ormeau Road (present nos. 121–135). The architect of Glenfield Place is unknown, but architectural historian Paul Larmour has suggested that the University Square houses derived from it were the work of the prolific Belfast architect Thomas Jackson. No documentary evidence has yet confirmed this, though the style of the buildings and Jackson's later responsibility for nos. 1–3 on the same street suggest possible involvement with the whole terrace. That said, many of the interiors contain unusual layout quirks — most notably that the entrances are awkwardly off-centre when viewed from their respective hallways — which seems uncharacteristic of Jackson's work.

Numbers 18–25 were built in 1848 to 1849, nos. 26–27 in 1849 to 1851, nos. 4–17 in 1852, nos. 28–30 in 1852 to 1853, and the High Victorian nos. 1–3 (on the site of three pre-1837 dwellings) in 1871. The broad unity of nos. 4–30 was broken from 1865 onwards, when bay windows began to be added to individual houses: a single-storey canted bay was added to no. 19 in 1865, a two-storey version appeared on no. 23 before 1873, similar projections followed on nos. 20 and 22 by 1883, and several others — some canted (nos. 7 and 11), some rounded (nos. 12, 14, and 30) — followed in the early 20th century. Most of the dormers also appear to date from the early 1900s, as does the pebbledash to no. 20.

No. 14 was among the fourteen new houses noted in the 1852 Belfast street directory. I.D. Croome, described as head master of the School of Design, was recorded as occupant in 1858 to 1859. Subsequent residents included Charles W. Shaw (noted in the around-1861 valuation, with William Linden as immediate lessor and the property valued at £43 for rateable purposes), Samuel McCausland, a wholesale grocer, from around 1863 to 1875, George F. Roughan MD, Inspector for the Local Government Board, from around 1875 to 1879, Hans McMordie, solicitor, from around 1879 to 1886, the Reverend H. Evans, editor of the Irish Christian Advocate, from around 1886 to 1899, and Mrs Margaret Andrews from around 1899 to 1904, who in the 1901 census was recorded as living there with her three grown-up children, a house guest, a butler and a domestic servant, the building being classified as a first-class dwelling with 16 rooms in use. The house appears to have been vacant between around 1904 and 1908, before surgeon Robert James Johnstone moved in around 1909. In the 1911 census he was occupying no. 14 with his wife Florence Magill Johnstone and a domestic servant. The Johnstones remained until around 1938 and are believed to have added the bowed bay window during their tenure. They were succeeded by S.I. Turkington, a physician, with Miss S.J.I. Turkington becoming householder around 1953 and remaining at least until 1970. By 1974 the property had been acquired by Queen's and became the University's staff house. From around 1978 until at least 1986 it housed the Queen's University Department of Italian, and it is now the offices for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The building was listed in 1979.

In its early years the street was populated by a mixture of Queen's academics and prosperous Belfast merchants and professionals relocating from the rapidly commercialising town centre. By around 1920 the terrace was largely occupied by medical men and their families. From the late 1940s, as higher education expanded, Queen's progressively acquired the properties for departmental use. By 1960 the University held around two-thirds of the buildings; by 1974 all but one were in university occupation, and by the mid-1980s the entire terrace had come into Queen's University Belfast use. Two mews houses to the rear of the terrace are recorded from around 1880; one remained occupied as a private dwelling until the 1960s, and both have since been demolished to make way for Queen's University extensions.

Exterior

The front elevation is three storeys high with an attic and is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond. The roof is pitched natural Welsh slate (replacement) with red clay ridge tiles. The brick chimneys, which have corbel detailing and are shared with the neighbouring properties, have been rebuilt and are fitted with yellow clay pots. Two small modern Velux rooflights sit in the south-facing roof slope.

The most distinctive feature of the entrance is its elliptical arched head formed by brick voussoirs, with a moulded plaster reveal and a deeply recessed opening. Fluted columns with Doric-type capitals stand to each side, though the left column shaft is misaligned with its capital. The columns support a plain painted rendered entablature with a moulded cornice. Above the door is a leaded stained glass fanlight with the number 14 in its centre. The door itself is original: painted, raised and fielded timber with an oval obscured glass top pane, though the ironmongery has been replaced. Painted stone dwarf walls flank the doorway, with the right-hand side retaining its original ornate painted iron boot scraper.

To the right of the doorway on the ground floor is a single-storey bowed bay window, a feature distinguishing no. 14 from most of its neighbours. This bay is formed by a painted stone surround with five large window openings to the lower section and a small square opening above each. Brick in header bond sits above the stone window frame, beneath a painted stone cornice, with a modern roofing membrane visible on the flat roof of the bay. Brick in header bond also sits below a continuous painted stone chamfered cill. The lower window panes are painted metal fixed single panes; the upper panes are leaded stained glass, with the middle pane top-hung. Rainwater from the bay roof discharges to a painted metal hopper and downpipe on the right side.

At first floor level the two window openings are particularly tall and contain side-hung timber casements (1 over 2 arrangement) to the lower section and leaded stained glass top-hung overlights above. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across both first floor openings. Modern metal safety bars and restrictors span between the reveals. At second floor level the windows are 6 over 6 single-glazed timber sliding sash without horns, each with its own separate painted stone cill. Both first and second floor openings have painted rendered reveals and splayed brick heads. Above the second floor a plain rendered plinth and a corbelled painted stone cornice with lead to the parapet edges complete the front facade.

There are four replacement reconstituted stone steps from street level with modern metal railings to either side. The small front garden is now paved with concrete paving stones with flower beds formed by dwarf brick walls with reconstituted stone copings. The low boundary wall to the street, which is not original, is built in Flemish bond brick with a reconstituted stone coping beneath replacement painted metal railings. Rainwater goods to the front are painted metal and are likely replacements; a concealed gutter behind the main parapet, likely formed in lead, discharges via a hopper to a painted metal downpipe.

No. 14 is flanked on the west by no. 13 and on the east by no. 15, with both side elevations fully abutted by their neighbours.

Rear Elevation and Ancillary Structures

The main rear elevation is of painted render, three storeys high. It is abutted on the right side by a two-storey rear return, which is itself abutted to the north by a two-storey mews building. 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 a painted rendered plinth. Rainwater goods to the rear are painted metal, and the soil pipe is plastic.

The exposed section of the main rear elevation has one window on each floor level: a 6 over 6 sash at ground floor, a painted metal side-hung casement (1 over 2) with top-hung upper section and leaded glass with coloured sections at first floor, and a further 6 over 6 sash at second floor. A dormer window sits to the left of the rear roof slope, with lead to its sides and cheeks and a timber top-hung window. All rear windows are timber sliding sash without horns (single-glazed replacements) unless otherwise noted.

The east side wall of the rear return has at ground floor a paired 3 over 6 window to the left and a small 2 over 2 window to the right. At first floor there are three irregularly spaced windows: a 6 over 6 on the left, a 6 over 6 in the centre, and a small 2 over 2 on the right. At the first floor half landing there is a metal casement with leaded panes. A 20th-century metal glazed conical rooflight sits on a leaded flat section of the return roof at first floor landing level, visible from the second floor half landing window.

A single-storey lean-to spans the south wall of the mews building between the returns of nos. 14 and 15, with a natural slate roof and a modern flush timber back door. The roofs of the return and mews building are hipped natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. The rear elevation of the mews building onto the alleyway has two windows at ground floor — a 3 over 6 on the left and a 3 over 3 on the right — and three window openings at first floor: a 6 over 6 to the left and centre and a 3 over 6 to the right. Further modern buildings lie to the rear of the mews building onto University Square Mews.

Interior

The original floor plan has been altered internally, though some original features survive.

Alterations and Repairs

The mid-to-later 20th century brought changes to the rears of many properties in the terrace, including extensions of various sizes. The whole terrace underwent a major renovation around 1990 to 1994. In no. 14 this work included the renewal of the roof coverings, chimney and rainwater goods, render to the rear and return, re-plastering of internal walls, and replacement of some woodwork. Around 2003 to 2004 a small rear extension was demolished to make way for the new Queen's Film Theatre, which had originated in 1968 as a lecture hall addition to the rear of no. 20 and which, following several rebuilds (the most recent and most extensive around 2004), had spread into the former back gardens of a significant number of neighbouring properties. The front garden of no. 14 was adapted for disabled access at around the same time.

Setting and Group Value

No. 14 sits approximately midway along the row of 30 houses. Despite variations in their facades — including the bay and bow windows added to a number of houses from the late 19th century into the early 20th century — the terrace retains strong coherence as a group (nos. 4–30 University Square). It makes a significant contribution to the character of the Queen's Conservation Area.