17 University Square, Belfast

17 University Square, Belfast

This is a mid-terraced, three-storey-with-attic former townhouse of red brick construction, built in 1852 as part of a larger terrace developed in stages between 1848 and 1853. It now serves as offices for the School of History, Anthropology and Politics at Queen's University Belfast. The square was laid out by Charles Lanyon, the architect responsible for Queen's College itself, though the designer of the terrace houses is unconfirmed. Building agreements from 1847 indicate that the frontages were to be modelled on Glenfield Place, a terrace then under construction on the Ormeau Road (present nos. 121–135). The architectural historian Paul Larmour has suggested that the University Square houses derived from this precedent were the work of the prolific Belfast-based architect Thomas Jackson, and the fact that Jackson was later responsible for nos. 1–3 lends some weight to this view, though no documentary evidence has yet confirmed his involvement with the terrace as a whole. Interestingly, many of the interiors have awkward layout quirks — most notably entrances that sit off-centre when viewed from their respective hallways — which some consider uncharacteristic of Jackson's work.

University Square was one of several streets created as a direct consequence of the construction of Queen's College between 1845 and 1849. Originally intended to be called Victoria Square, it was laid out around 1847 on land belonging to Jane Gregg, whose garden boundary at the rear of the plots had already begun to be broken up by the building of present nos. 2–6 Mount Charles in 1842, nos. 42–48 University Road in 1846–48, and the creation of what became University Street around the same time. The terrace faces south onto University Square, which links University Road to the west with Botanic Avenue to the east, and overlooks the Old Library (now the Queen's University Student Graduate Centre) and the grounds at the northern end of the Lanyon Building. No. 17 sits approximately midway along a row of thirty former houses, flanked by no. 16 to the west and no. 18 to the east.

Exterior

The front elevation is a flat, two-bay, red brick facade laid in Flemish bond, three storeys high with attic. The entrance is positioned to the left side of the ground floor. The roofline is defined by a plain rendered plinth and corbelled painted stone cornice with lead to the parapet edges, behind which sits a pitched natural Welsh slate roof with red clay ridge tiles. Brick chimneys with corbel detailing — rebuilt — rise to both left and right, shared with the neighbouring properties, each carrying seven yellow clay pots. A flat-roofed dormer window with lead cheeks and roof and timber casement windows sits to the right-hand side of the roof slope.

The doorcase is one of No. 17's most distinctive features and a detail repeated throughout the terrace: an elliptical arched head with brick voussoirs and moulded plaster reveal, deeply recessed, with fluted columns carrying Doric-type capitals to each side. These columns support a plain painted rendered entablature with moulded cornice. Above the door is an original spoked fanlight, likely of painted timber, with plain glass panes. The door itself — likely a replacement dating from around 1915–1920 — is painted timber with three tall rectangular panels to the lower section, a central oval panel, and a nine-pane top section with an arched head and bullseye glazing to six of the panes. The ironmongery is replacement.

No. 17 is distinguished from its neighbours by retaining 6/6 timber sliding sash windows on all levels of the front facade, all single-glazed, with painted rendered reveals and splayed brick heads; those on the ground floor and first floor have horns and all appear to be original. There are two single window openings at ground floor level, each with a separate painted stone cill. Two 6/6 windows sit above on the first floor over a continuous painted stone cill course. Two further 6/6 windows — in which historic glass is apparent — are at second floor level with separate painted stone cills. The first and second floor windows are aligned with each other but not with those on the ground floor.

A hidden parapet gutter, likely formed in lead, runs behind the parapet. A painted metal downpipe with metal hopper is located to the right-hand side. Access to the front door is via four replacement reconstituted stone steps from street level, leading to a landing of reconstituted stone paving slabs, with modern metal railings to either side. A small front garden with shrubs is bounded by a low brick boundary wall in Flemish bond — not original — with a reconstituted stone coping and replacement painted metal railings.

Both side elevations are fully abutted: by no. 16 to the west and no. 18 to the east.

Rear Elevation and Outbuildings

The main rear elevation is painted render, three storeys high with attic. It is abutted to the right by a three-storey return, which is in turn abutted by a three-storey mews building to the north. A yard, shared with no. 18, is enclosed by the main rear elevation, the east side wall of the rear return, the south wall of the mews building together with a single-storey flat-roofed infill extension, and the side wall of the rear return to no. 18. Rainwater goods are painted metal with guttering supported on metal rise-and-fall brackets; the soil vent pipe is plastic. All rear walls are painted render with a painted rendered plinth, and all rear windows have plain reveals with painted stone cills unless otherwise noted.

To the left of the main rear elevation, the exposed section carries a window on each floor level: a ground floor bay window with a lead flat roof, metal windows with small square top panes and tall panes to the lower section, with a painted timber cill. All top panes have leaded coloured obscure glazing; the windows to the canted sides are multi-pane leaded with obscure glass; and the three tall panes to the central section are plain glass. The first and second floors each have a 6/6 window. A flat-roofed dormer to the left-hand side of the rear roof slope has lead cheeks and roof and a triple timber casement window, which is modern.

The east side wall of the rear return carries a centrally placed 8/8 window at ground floor level. The first floor has three regularly spaced 1/1 windows. At second floor level there are four openings: a double patterned leaded casement window with obscure glass panes to the far left, followed by three 6/6 windows to the right.

The north wall of the rear yard — which forms the south wall of the mews building — is abutted at ground floor level by the single-storey extension, which has a modern flush door to the left and a 3/6 window to the right. The first floor of the mews building is blank to this elevation, with a 6/6 window at second floor level. The east elevation of the mews building is abutted by the single-storey extension at ground floor level and is otherwise blank above.

The west elevation of the rear return faces onto the yard shared with no. 16. At ground floor it has a patterned leaded fixed-pane window to the right and a modern flush door to the left. The first floor carries an 8/8 timber sliding sash window to the right and a small sliding sash window to the left. The second floor has a patterned leaded window with obscure glass to the right. A painted rendered chimney to the left side of this elevation rises above the roof of the mews building belonging to no. 16.

The rear elevation of the mews building, facing onto the alleyway, has paired 3/6 windows to the single-storey extension at ground floor left; a 3/6 window to the left of the ground floor, a flush timber door to the centre, and another 3/6 window to the right; three openings at first floor level comprising a 6/6 window to the left, a 6/6 to the centre, and a 3/6 to the right; and a single 6/6 window at second floor level. All rear windows appear to be replacements, and all ground floor windows have metal grilles fixed to the reveals. The roof to the return and mews building is hipped natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. Further modern buildings lie to the rear of the mews building onto University Square Mews.

Interior

Internally there have been changes to the original floor plan, with most rooms now serving as offices and meeting rooms. Some original features survive. During the early-to-mid 1990s refurbishment, interior walls were re-plastered and some woodwork replaced.

History and Occupancy

No. 17 was among the fourteen new houses noted as under construction in the 1852 Belfast street directory. Samuel Thompson, a merchant with offices in Corporation Street, is recorded as the occupant in the 1858–59 street directory and in the valuation of around 1861, with William Linden as the immediate lessor and the property valued at £47 for rateable purposes. The next resident was Adam T. Macauley, director of the Belfast Bank, from around 1877 to around 1882, followed — after a period of vacancy — by William McKean, manager of William Ewart & Sons and later a partner in the County Down Weaving Company, from around 1886 to around 1900, and then William Russell, a salesman and later director of A. & S. Henry & Co. Ltd. In the 1901 census, Mr McKean is recorded as living there with his wife Lydia Anne, their grown-up son, a cousin, and two domestic servants; the house itself is described as a first-class dwelling with sixteen rooms in use. H. L. McKissack, a physician, occupied no. 17 from around 1905 to around 1909, succeeded around 1910 by Mrs Marion Andrews, who in the 1911 census was living there with her two grown-up children and two domestic servants. The Andrews were followed by Dr P. E. Loy from around 1922 to around 1926, then S. R. Foster. Around 1953, the property was acquired by Queen's University for use by its Departments of Archaeology and Applied Mathematics. Archaeology remained the sole occupant from the later 1950s until around 1993, when the building became part of the Faculty of Law. The building was listed in 1979.

The street was originally populated by a mixture of Queen's academics and prosperous Belfast merchants and professionals seeking to escape the increasingly commercialised town centre. By around 1920 the terrace was largely occupied by medical men and their families. With the expansion of higher education from the late 1940s onwards, the properties were gradually acquired by Queen's: the University had taken possession of around two-thirds of the buildings by 1960, was occupying all but one by 1974, and held all of them by the mid-1980s.

Two mews houses to the rear of the terrace are recorded from around 1880 onwards, one of which remained in private occupation until the 1960s. Both have since been demolished to make way for Queen's University extensions.

Alterations and Context

The broad unity of nos. 4–30 began to be broken in 1865 when a single-storey canted bay was added to no. 19. A two-storey version appeared on no. 23 before 1873, similar projections followed on nos. 20 and 22 by 1883, and several others appeared in the early 1900s — some canted (nos. 7 and 11) and some rounded (nos. 12, 14, and 30). Most of the dormers also appear to date from the early 1900s, as does the pebbledash to no. 20. The mid-to-later 20th century saw various extensions added to the rears of many properties, most notably Queen's Film Theatre at the rear of no. 20, which began in 1968 as a lecture hall addition and, following several rebuilds — the most recent and most extensive around 2004 — has spread into the former back gardens of a significant number of neighbouring properties. The whole terrace underwent a major renovation around 1990–94, with roof coverings, chimneys, and rainwater goods renewed, render applied to the rear elevations and returns, some return window frames replaced, and the small front gardens landscaped. The front garden of no. 17 was adapted for disabled access around 2003–04, and replacement reconstituted stone steps and paving were introduced at the same time.

Despite these cumulative changes, the exterior of no. 17 retains much of its original character, proportions, and detailing. The terrace as a whole maintains strong group value as nos. 4–30 University Square, and makes a significant contribution to the character of the Queen's Conservation Area.