15 Mount Charles, Belfast

15 Mount Charles is a three-storey brick townhouse with an attic and pitched roof, built in 1859 to designs by Alexander MacAlister (c.1821–97), a Carlow-born architect who spent his entire career in Belfast working almost exclusively in counties Antrim and Down. It is the seventh house from the right in a terrace of nine (Nos. 3–19 Mount Charles), positioned mid-terrace with No. 13 to the west and No. 17 to the east. The terrace faces north along the south side of Mount Charles, a tree-lined street running between Botanic Avenue to the east and University Road to the west, within the Queen's Conservation Area. The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return, and its rear yard backs directly onto University Street.

The land was developed by Bernard ('Barney') Hughes (1805–78), the Armagh-born baker who became Belfast's master baker and owner of Ireland's largest milling concern, and a noted philanthropist. Hughes had initially offered part of his Mount Charles holding to the Redemptorist Order to serve the Catholic community of the Malone area, but when that offer was declined he resolved to develop the site for dwelling houses in keeping with the existing terraces nearby. MacAlister also designed the facing terrace at Nos. 8–16 Mount Charles. The development was previewed in The Dublin Builder of 1 May 1859, whose correspondent described the houses as 'not large', their plots 'too confined for our notion of how towns should be built', but noted that the proprietor appeared 'to be sparing no expense to render them durable and elegant dwellings for those whose aspirations do not go beyond paying £45 or £50 per annum rent'. The writer observed that bay windows were 'as much the rage now as hoops or crinoline', noted the provision of hot and cold baths, sunk and covered ashpits, and remarked on the terrace's distinctive double frontage: 'The nine houses on the south side have the peculiarity of a double frontage, the returns extending to University Street, with the yard wall in the same street built up to an equal height with the windows and cornice above. This has the advantage of making the return bedroom one of the most cheerful and desirable in the house, which is far from usual.' Hughes supplied all materials himself; only the workmanship was contracted out.

The terrace belongs to the broader story of Victorian development on the northern lower slopes of the Malone Ridge. The granting of perpetual leases — and eventually outright sales — by the Donegall estate from the mid-1820s opened up attractive plots to developers, and this movement intensified following the establishment of Queen's College in 1845. By the end of the 1850s the area was characterised by large, graceful terraces, early Victorian in date but late-Georgian in style. Mount Charles itself occupied a trapezoidal plot between what was then the Old Malone Road (now University Road) and Albion Lane (forerunner of Botanic Avenue), which had previously contained a house probably dating from around 1770 and recorded in the 1837 valuation as a two-storey residence. The street began with Nos. 2–6, built in 1842 and accessed by a short private lane off the main road. The earlier house was demolished around 1850; by 1854 the lane had been extended to serve No. 1, and in 1859 it was extended further eastward with the building of Nos. 3–19 and 8–16. Nos. 18–24 followed in 1869, and Nos. 26–50 in 1892–94 finally linked the street through to Botanic Avenue — yet even then Mount Charles retained its private, gated character, unlike the neighbouring public thoroughfares of University Street, University Square and Upper and Lower Crescent.

No. 15 was first occupied by Mrs. Annabella Wilson, a shopkeeper with premises in Donegall Place, who remained until around 1867. She was followed by William Grogan, a linen merchant, and then by Thomas Gerrard, described as 'manager of Belfast Mills'. By 1884 Mrs. Robert Reid had taken on the lease, staying until around 1898, when the Reverend Hugh Davis Murphy, Rector of St. George's Church, became resident. The 1901 census records him living there with his wife Francesca, their three children, a house guest and two domestic servants, with the building noted as a 'first class' dwelling with eleven rooms in use. The Murphys vacated in 1909; Miss Agnes Scott Gibson is recorded as householder in 1910 and appears in the 1911 census with two boarders. William McBretney had become occupant by at least 1918 and remained until at least 1924. By 1932 the property had been divided into flats, with E.F. Cassidy (a banker), Miss A.A. Murphy and E.E. Fisher (a solicitor) in residence. It remained as three flats until acquired by Queen's University Belfast around 1990–91, when it was converted to student accommodation — a use it has retained since.

The exterior retains much of its original character, proportion and detailing. The principal north-facing elevation is three storeys of red brick in Flemish bond with a painted rendered plinth at the base and a painted rendered frieze beneath the eaves. At ground floor level there is a single-storey canted rendered bay to the right and a deeply recessed doorway to the left. The canted bay is painted render with moulded plaster detailing; its lower section beneath the cill is formed by the deep plinth, and it has a flat roof with a modern roof membrane over a projecting cornice. Windows to the canted bay and at first floor level are timber sliding sash with horns, single-glazed replacements, horizontally split 2/2; the lower sashes of the bay windows have a translucent film applied to the inner face. Second floor windows are 8/8. Window heads at first and second floor are straight with splayed brick soldier courses. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across first and second floor levels. At attic level there are two modern rooflights.

The doorway has an elliptical arched head with brick voussoirs and a moulded plaster reveal. It is deeply recessed with Ionic columns to each side, set on raised moulded plaster panelled bases, supporting a moulded plaster entablature with a plain fanlight above. The cornice, columns and bases sit on two replacement concrete steps with a dwarf wall to each side. The four-panelled timber door itself appears to be original, although the two upper panels have been replaced with glazing and the ironmongery has been replaced. The pitched roof is clad in natural Welsh slate with black clay ridge tiles. Brick chimney stacks — shared with Nos. 13 and 17, rebuilt, and centred on the ridge with corbelled detailing — carry seven circular clay pots each. Rainwater goods are cast aluminium ogee gutter and downpipe with hopper from the canted bay, with a small section of PVC pipe from the bay into the hopper.

The east elevation is fully abutted by No. 17 and the west elevation by No. 13.

The rear (south) elevation is three storeys, built in painted render, abutted on the right side by an original three-storey return constructed at half-landing height. The return has a hipped natural Welsh slate roof with black clay ridge tiles; the main block has a pitched Welsh slate roof with one modern rooflight to the left side. A single-storey flat-roofed modern extension housing the boiler room spans the full width of the rear elevation and approximately half the depth of the yard, abutting the main block. It is accessed from the yard through double painted timber doors with metal vents, and two large circular-section metal flues rise from its felt roof to above full eaves height. Yellow gas pipework extends from the boiler house along the wall shared with No. 13 to the rear yard wall at high level. All rear windows are single-glazed timber sliding sash with horns and are replacements, with the possible exception of a ground floor window on the rear yard wall. The main rear block has a 2/2 window (horizontally split) on the left side at first and second floor levels with painted stone cills, and a smaller single 6/6 window at the attic half-landing level on the right side, above the roof of the return. The return elevation facing into the yard has a replacement timber back door on the extreme left adjacent to the extension; above the boiler house a 6/6 window at first floor and a smaller 6/6 window at second floor; and to the right of the back door at ground floor level, modern double painted timber doors with metal vents giving access to the oil tank. Cast metal downpipe and replacement cast metal gutters on metal brackets serve the rear elevation and yard.

The internal face of the yard wall onto University Street has, at ground floor level, a replacement timber sheeted door with a plain fanlight over, beneath a semi-circular head with brick voussoirs; above are two multi-pane timber window frames (without glass) at first and second floor levels respectively, both with slim painted stone cills. A plain flat concrete coping stone runs along the top of the rear wall. The three-storey external facade of this yard wall onto University Street is constructed of dark brown brick in Flemish bond with a rendered plinth and eaves band. To the right of the yard door is a 6/6 window, possibly original, with wrought iron bars attached to the reveals and painted stone cills, and a diminutive square single-pane window with frosted glass to the right (the surrounding brickwork has been re-pointed). At first floor level there is a false multi-pane window frame (without glass) to the left and a 6/6 window to the right; the first floor openings have shallow arched heads. The second floor mirrors the first floor except that the heads are straight. A cast iron gutter sits above a painted rendered eaves band. The front of the house is accessed directly from the tree-lined pavement of Mount Charles; the rear is accessed directly from the pavement of University Street via the yard door.

The terrace as a whole has strong group value as part of Nos. 3–19 Mount Charles, and the dual aspect onto both Mount Charles and University Street — the tall yard wall with its false windows presenting what reads as a three-storey facade to University Street — is a strong design feature executed with considerable success, adding significant character to the setting within the Queen's Conservation Area.

When Queen's University acquired the property around 1990–91 and converted it to student accommodation, a substantial programme of works was carried out. This included the rebuilding of the chimney stacks and replacement of pots; re-slating of the roofs in new Bangor Blue slates; installation of cast aluminium rainwater goods in place of the original cast iron; external and internal re-plastering (no original plaster detailing survived internally at that stage); re-pointing of brickwork; renewal of all window frames; replacement of the entrance steps in reconstituted stone; renewal of rooflights to front and rear; and replacement of all internal joinery with the exception of the staircases, which were retained in their original positions. A subsequent refurbishment scheme by the university has involved the replacement of all kitchens and bathrooms and further changes to the joinery. The original plan form has been subject to some subdivision, though the staircase remains in its original position and the exterior retains much of its original character, proportions and detailing.