1 Upper Crescent & 28 University Road, Belfast

1 Upper Crescent and 28 University Road, Belfast

This is a relatively large, three-storey, restrained Italianate stuccoed terrace town house, built in 1869 to designs by architect William Hastings, and converted to a bank branch in 2001–02. It sits on the corner of Upper Crescent and University Road, and contributes to the group value of the Upper and Lower Crescent terraces.

The building is now entered from its west elevation, which is asymmetrical in character. To the left of the entrance is a modern access ramp. To the right on the ground floor is a large modern-style entrance with a recessed plate glass doorway, with a pair of ATMs immediately to its right. To the left of this entrance are three unevenly spaced plain sash windows with moulded voussoirs. At first-floor level, six symmetrically arranged semicircular-headed windows with relatively plain pilaster-like surrounds and moulded archivolts sit on a continuous cill course. At second-floor level, four smaller flat-arched windows have plain sash frames and simple moulded surrounds, also set on a cill course.

The north elevation is longer and broadly symmetrical, except at second-floor level. At the centre of the ground floor is the original main entrance, no longer in use. This comprises a panelled door with a semicircular fanlight, all set within a deep semicircular-headed recess. The recess is flanked by a plain rendered surround topped with a small decorative balustrade supported on curved brackets, with a moulded keystone between them also acting as a bracket. To the left of the doorway are three windows matching those on the ground floor of the west elevation, though the second and third are narrower; to the right is a mirrored arrangement of the same. At first-floor level, seven symmetrically arranged semicircular-headed windows match those on the west elevation's first floor; the second and third, and fifth and sixth windows are arranged in pairs and are narrower than the outer windows, as is the central window. At second-floor level, eight windows match those of the west elevation's second floor, with the second and third, and fifth and sixth windows again arranged in pairs.

The ground floors of both the north and west elevations are finished in rusticated render with vermiculated in-and-out quoins. The upper floors are in plain render with plain in-and-out quoins.

Access to the rear was not possible at the time of survey, but from a distance two rendered gabled returns were observed abutting one another, the northern one being much the larger. The larger gable has a wide flat-arched vehicle doorway at ground-floor level, with a very narrow window to its right and a similar narrow window at first-floor level. The smaller return has a window with a modern two-pane frame at first-floor level.

The building has a slated hipped roof with a slight overhang supported on a bracketed eaves course. There are four unevenly arranged rendered chimneystacks on the north side, each with a bracketed coping and uniform pots. Rainwater goods are metal.

Historical context

The development of Upper and Lower Crescent arose from the selling off of much of Lord Donegall's Belfast estate in the early to mid 19th century, which opened up large areas of land around the town for development. The lands to the south, along the Malone Ridge, were particularly attractive to developers, leading to the construction of many fine late Georgian-style terraces from the mid 1830s onwards — a trend accelerated by the establishment of the prestigious Queen's College in the area in the later 1840s. These grand new terraces were occupied by Belfast's professional and business classes, who left their older residences in the town centre, which were gradually converted into shops and offices.

Upper Crescent was perhaps the grandest terrace development undertaken to the south of the town: an elegantly curving row of three-storey dwellings in a late Regency style, built in 1846 by timber and shipping merchant Robert Corry. The authorship is uncertain, though Dr Paul Larmour has suggested that Charles Lanyon may have been involved. Corry himself undertook the building work and took up residence at the east end; for the first few years the row was known as Corry's Crescent. To the immediate south, where a church and small park now stand, Corry held a large lawn as a garden. Shortly after it was laid out, however, he had it ploughed up and used for the cultivation of vegetables to relieve local workers suffering as a result of the Great Famine. To the north of this garden ran an old watercourse flowing northwards into the Basin, a reservoir east of the Dublin Road; to the east were some smaller gardens belonging to other occupants of the Crescent; and further to the east and north-east ran Albion Lane, a narrow semi-rural laneway stretching from the north end of Bradbury Place to the east end of the present University Terrace.

In 1852 Corry built another terrace to the north of his garden, just south of the old watercourse. This new development — the erroneously named Lower Crescent — was built in much the same style and was occupied by a similar mix of professionals and businessmen, though by as early as 1860 the ground floors of some properties were in use as offices. In the later 1860s a railway line was cut immediately to the north of Lower Crescent, along the line of the old watercourse. In 1873 a large sandstone building — originally the Ladies Collegiate, later Victoria College — was added to the west end of the terrace, with two further houses added to the east end by the close of the decade. The most easterly of these, Rivoli House, was designed by William Hastings and originally contained a dance academy run by one Frederick Brouneau. The new railway line cut across Albion Lane and presaged the laying out of the broader new thoroughfare of Botanic Avenue.

Upper Crescent also saw further building activity in the 1860s and 1870s, with two large properties designed by William Hastings erected at the west end in 1869, one of which — Crescent House, the present Bank of Ireland — also fronted onto University Road. In 1878–79 two further houses were added on the ground between those of 1869. In 1885–87 the large Presbyterian church, the present Crescent Church, was erected to plans by Glasgow architect John Bennie Wilson on the west side of Robert Corry's former garden, while a two-storey terrace — the present Crescent Gardens — was built on the site of smaller garden plots at the east end in 1898.

During the first half of the 20th century most properties in Upper and Lower Crescent and Crescent Gardens remained private dwellings, but by 1960 many had been given over to business use or divided into flats, with the former Rivoli House (by then known as Dreenagh House) becoming the Regency Hotel. This trend continued, and by the beginning of the 21st century none remained occupied as private dwellings. In the mid 1990s three of the 1860s to 1870s houses at the west end of Upper Crescent were demolished and replaced by a modern office block, while in 2000 the railway cutting to the south of Lower Crescent was built over in preparation for a new development.

This property, originally named Crescent House, was built in 1869 to designs by William Hastings. Its first resident was Dr Wilberforce Arnold, whose family remained there until the early 1900s. He was followed by Dr John Campbell — possibly later Sir John Campbell — and subsequently by Dr William Campbell, presumably his son. Both the Campbells, and possibly Arnold before them, appear to have used the University Road section of the property as a surgery. In the 1970s the building was acquired by the neighbouring Queen's University and served as the University's Institute of Professional Legal Studies. In 2001–02 the property was converted to a branch of the Bank of Ireland — and was practically rebuilt in the process — with half of the first floor and all of the second floor converted to offices linked to the large modern office block to the east.