10 Joy St., Belfast

No. 10 Joy Street is a mid-terrace three-storey rendered house originally built around 1840, forming part of a terrace of four similar late Georgian houses lining the east side of Joy Street in Belfast's Markets area. Although the building is effectively a new structure — having been demolished and completely rebuilt in 1989 — it faithfully replicates the original proportions, materials and detailing, and retains group value alongside its neighbouring houses in this fine late Georgian terrace.

The house is rectangular on plan, facing west. It has a pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and two rendered profiled chimneystacks fitted with octagonal clay pots. Cast-iron guttering runs to a moulded eaves cornice, with a cast-iron downpipe below. The external walls are finished in painted ruled and lined render with a moulded plinth course. Window openings are square-headed with architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills, and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows. The front elevation is two windows wide, with a continuous sill course at ground and first floor levels. The front door opening is round-headed with a moulded architrave surround and scrolled console brackets, flanked by panelled render pilasters, and fitted with a replacement timber doorcase, replacement flat-panelled timber door, and fanlight. The north side elevation abuts the neighbouring building at No. 6, and the rear elevation is abutted by a gable-ended single-storey return. The rear elevation has asymmetrically placed square-headed window openings with 6/6 timber sash windows. The south side elevation abuts the adjoining house at No. 12.

The terrace first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, though it was almost certainly built earlier; the first edition map shows that neighbouring buildings such as Nos. 36–46 Hamilton Street were under construction by 1832–33, and Belfast Street Directories confirm Joy Street existed by 1843, albeit with a different numbering system at that time. The 1852 Belfast Street Directory records No. 10 as a lodging house operated by Mrs. Mary Orr, whose daughters — or sisters — the Misses Orr, worked as milliners and dressmakers, and whose relative Henderson Orr was employed as a writing clerk. By 1859, Griffith's Valuation recorded the house in the occupation of Mrs. Jane Gamble, who rented it from Robert Beggs — the owner of the entire terrace — at an annual rent of £25. The valuer classified it as a three-storey B+ class dwelling (meaning not new but in sound repair), measuring 5½ by 8 yards and valued at £17. Annual revision records suggest Mrs. Gamble remained at No. 10 until around 1900, though street directories record other occupants during that period, including Robert S. Allen, a printer and bookbinder, in 1877, and J. O'Callaghan, a salesman, in 1880.

Between 1901 and 1906 the house was let by Agnes McCord, who operated a Registry Office from the premises, as recorded in the 1901 Census. In 1906 the entire terrace passed from Robert Beggs to a Ms. Anne Kelly and was revalued; No. 10 was reduced in value to £16, and Agnes McCord vacated the property, being succeeded by Rose Ann Thompson. The 1911 Census records Thompson as a 48-year-old Roman Catholic widow who operated a Domestic Servant's Agency from the house and also took in lodgers. The Census Building Return described it as a first-class dwelling with ten rooms. The house changed hands a number of times between 1915 and the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930, and does not appear to have been used as a servant's agency after Thompson vacated around 1915. Between the end of the Annual Revisions and the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935, the rateable value rose to £21, a figure that remained unchanged at the second revaluation of 1956–72. From 1930 to 1980 the house was occupied by a succession of inhabitants, mostly labourers and small traders, and was used solely as a private dwelling without lodgers.

Joy Street takes its name from a former paper mill in the area owned by Henry Joy, a relative of Henry Joy McCracken, the United Irishman. The mill formerly stood at the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street, and the construction of its dam resulted in the reclamation of acres of land to the south-east of Belfast's town centre at the turn of the 19th century. Joy Street and the surrounding Markets area were laid out during the late Georgian period, developing gradually southwards from May Street on this reclaimed land. The grand brick terraces erected around 1830–40 were originally occupied by well-respected merchants, but the mass influx of working-class labourers into Belfast following the Great Famine led the merchant classes to abandon the area by the 1850s in favour of the new suburbs in Malone to the south. Their departure left Joy Street and Hamilton Street to working and lower-middle-class occupants, with many of the larger houses converted into lodging and boarding houses. The establishment of Queen's College in 1849 brought a large number of student residents to the area seeking cheap lodgings, though by around 1850–70 this student population gradually relocated to the vicinity of the university. Thereafter, the lodging houses on Joy Street and Hamilton Street became predominantly frequented by business lodgers and musical performers attending the nearby Music Halls.

The terrace suffered serious damage in the mid-1970s when a bomb explosion destroyed the end-of-terrace dwelling and badly damaged No. 10. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive subsequently sold the terrace to the Hearth Housing Association, who restored Nos. 4 and 6 and erected two flats on the site of the destroyed No. 12 in 1989–90. Hearth originally intended to restore No. 10, but the building had been rendered too fragile by the bomb blast and was instead demolished and completely rebuilt. The house was listed in 1987 despite its poor condition at that time, and continues to be owned by the Hearth Housing Association. It lies within a conservation area.