14 College Square East, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 6DZ

14 College Square East, Belfast — Former Townhouse, built c.1830

This is a four-storey rendered former townhouse, built around 1830 as part of a terrace of several similar houses at the junction of College Square East and Wellington Place. It is rectangular on plan, facing west, directly opposite the Royal Academical Institution. Although the building has been compromised by modern alterations, much of its historic fabric and detailing survive. Together with its neighbours — including nos 58–64 Wellington Place and nos 14–16 College Square East — it forms a rare surviving late-Georgian terrace of a type once commonly found throughout the centre of Belfast but now quite scarce. Comparable examples include a four-storey terrace on Chichester Street and two three-storey terraces on Joy Street and Hamilton Street.

Exterior

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, lead junctions with the adjoining houses on either side, and a lead-lined blocking course and eaves cornice. The chimneystacks at either end are rebuilt in red brick: the south stack has angled clay pots and the north stack has plain clay pots. The walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined cement render with rusticated rendered quoins, while the rear elevation and return are built in red brick laid in English garden wall bond. The square-headed window openings on the principal elevations have masonry sills and moulded architrave surrounds, fitted with replacement timber sash windows. The rear elevation has gauged brick flat-arched window openings with masonry sills and replacement timber casement windows, and is also two windows wide. The west front elevation is two windows wide and has a replacement glazed shopfront and fascia that extends across the ground floor of the adjoining building to the north (No. 12). The north side elevation is partially abutted by that adjoining building, presenting a blank red brick wall with steel reinforcements. The rear is abutted by a two-storey red brick return, built around 1900. The south side elevation is abutted by the adjoining No. 15. Rainwater goods are UPVC.

Historical Context

The terrace was constructed between 1822 and 1832–33. It does not appear on the map of Belfast included in George Benn's The History of the Town of Belfast, which recorded that the Royal Belfast Academical Institution stood at the western limit of the town and was still not surrounded by many buildings at the time of writing. By the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33, both the Wellington Place and College Square East terraces were depicted. The terrace was originally intended as a residential area for Belfast's professional classes, forming part of what was designed as a Georgian square surrounded by handsome townhouses. The building was originally constructed in red brick, which has since been concealed beneath a stucco render.

The Townland Valuation of Belfast, contemporary with the first edition Ordnance Survey map, recorded No. 14 as occupied by a Mr John Clarke and valued at £11 7s. 11d. Clarke — a local magistrate and Justice of the Peace — was still recorded at the property in Griffith's Valuation of 1860, by which time the value had risen to £35. Griffith's Valuation also noted that No. 14, like most of the terrace, was leased from the representatives of the estate of a Mr James Blair. By 1868 Clarke had vacated and was succeeded by Dr A. Gardiner, the first of several medical professionals to occupy the building. Subsequent tenants included Mr William H. Braddell in 1877 — who operated an armourers' business called Braddell & Son from 21 Castle Place — and a dressmaker, Mrs N. Wood, recorded in 1880.

The Belfast Revaluation of 1900 recorded ownership of the terrace as having passed to a Ms Sarah White, thereafter noted as lessor. At that time the building comprised eight rooms (including sitting rooms and bedrooms, but excluding the kitchen) and was fitted with gas. In 1897 the ground floor was converted into a shop when Matthew Crymble Ltd took over the property, using it as a warehouse while Crymble's music shop occupied No. 58 Wellington Place. The rateable value rose to £115 and Crymble paid an annual rent of over £90. From 1896 the building ceased to function as a private dwelling and was used solely as commercial premises; it was consequently absent from both the 1901 and 1911 census returns, though the 1911 census noted that the ground floor shop was in use as a piano showroom.

Matthew Crymble Ltd continued to occupy No. 14 until the 1970s. Around 1928, nos 14–16 College Square East were purchased by a Mr Frederick H. Stringer, and by 1935 the rateable value had increased to £184 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. The terrace survived the destruction of the 1941 Blitz. By the 1950s ownership had passed to the Evangelical Bookshop, which occupied the adjoining nos 15–16 and used the upper floors of No. 14 for storage; the rateable value had risen to £332 by the end of the Second General Revaluation in 1972.

The commercialisation of the terrace is attributed in part to the construction of the Municipal Technical Building in the early 20th century, which is considered to have undermined the aesthetic quality of the square and contributed to the departure of the professional classes to South Belfast and the newly formed terraces on University Square near Queen's University. A photograph of College Square North dated around 1880, published in J. C. Beckett's Belfast: The Making of the City, shows the terrace before its conversion to commercial use, with ornate doorcases and fanlights above at ground-floor level. Early chimney pots survive on the stacks; according to Marcus Patton's Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer, some are of the beaded or dropped-bead type and others of the dragon's teeth type.

The origin of the rusticated quoins framing No. 14 is uncertain. Patton notes that the only quoins originally on the terrace were those at the corner with Wellington Place, and speculates that the quoins on No. 14 may have been added around 1897 when Crymble took over, given that Crymble was known for embellishment — he added a distinctive Art Nouveau shopfront to his main property at No. 58 Wellington Place.

The building was listed in 1976. By 1978 the Scout Shop, which subsequently expanded into nos 12 and 13, had occupied No. 14. The building continues to be used as commercial premises. It forms part of a terrace lining the east side of College Square East and returning onto Wellington Place, situated within a conservation area. The listing number was renumbered to rationalise the group; it was previously recorded as HB26/50/022G.