102-108 Ann Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT1 3HU

102–108 Ann Street is a substantial four-storey steel-framed red brick commercial block, built around 1903, possibly to the designs of architects Tulloch & Watt. It occupies the northern side of Ann Street in central Belfast, and its height means it is immediately visible when crossing the Queen's Bridge from the east, standing taller than its lower three-storey neighbours on either side. The building was continuously occupied by the ironmongers and hardware merchants Jamison & Green from its construction until the company went into administration in 2015.

The building is rectangular on plan, with a concealed basement and half-dormer attic, and is abutted to the rear by a full-height gable-fronted single-bay return of around 1903 and a two-storey flat-roofed extension of around 1930. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta half-round ridge tiles. Three flat-roofed dormers sit to both the north and south slopes. Raised brick verges to the east and west gables and to the bay left-of-centre are topped with chamfered brick coping. The southern parapet is scalloped red brick, topped with moulded red sandstone coping and tall pyramidal finials, with parapet gutters and painted uPVC downpipes breaking through to the outer ends, piercing the sandstone stringcourses. Red brick chimneystacks sit on the east gable and the south pitch of the eastern bay, with stepped brick corbels, cementitious coping and a variety of terracotta pots.

The walling is machine-made red brick laid to Flemish bond with ashlar red sandstone dressings. Window openings are largely square-headed with brick architraves, and windows are mostly side-hinged timber casements with an incorporated bipartite overlight. The flat-roofed dormers are lead-capped painted cast-iron and timber with uPVC rainwater goods and tripartite timber casements, some retaining historic glass.

The principal, south-facing elevation has four bays. Three of these are largely symmetrical, each having three window openings on the upper floors with a bipartite window to the central openings. A narrower fourth bay sits east-of-centre, one opening wide, containing a shallow breakfront with gauged sandstone pediments over the third-floor window and the ground-floor door opening; the entablature of the latter is inscribed PRINCES BUILDINGS. Window aprons throughout contain projecting brick panels. Continuous projecting sandstone cornices run over the second and third floor levels, and flush continuous sandstone lintels serve the upper floors. The outer bays are defined by projecting brick piers at third-floor level, carried on T-shaped stylised sandstone corbels and extending up to parapet level, where they are topped by sandstone finials.

The ground floor of the principal elevation has five square-headed bays comprising three shopfronts separated by two door openings — the eastern giving access to No. 106, the western located between Nos. 102 and 104. These bays are defined by projecting ashlar red sandstone piers, clad in polished red granite to the lower half and featuring engaged Ionic pilasters to the upper portion, which support the fascia level. A continuous painted timber fascia carries raised fixed lettering (with modern vinyl lettering to the right bay at No. 108) and is subdivided by a pedimented doorcase right-of-centre, surmounted by a continuous sandstone cornice. The display windows are modern bipartite aluminium with polished red granite stall-risers and replacement wired glass overlights over a projecting plastic fascia. Recessed door openings are concealed behind steel roller shutters with matching overlights. Brass plaques reading JAMISON & GREEN Ltd and PRINCES BUILDINGS Ltd, together with a letter slot, are mounted on the western pier of the western doorcase.

The west elevation is blank, with remnants of a former projecting chimneybreast to the left side, and is abutted by a neighbouring building at lower levels. The north elevation is six openings wide, with an exposed basement level and a multi-storey gable-fronted return abutting left-of-centre. The roof here contains a modern Velux window and ventilation stack. A horizontal red brick parapet is pierced by cast-iron downpipes and hoppers. Window openings to the north elevation are segmental-headed with brick voussoirs, concrete sills, and largely bipartite timber casements with matching overlights; much historic glass survives. Openings to the central bay are four lights wide. The windows to the right cheek of the return are square-headed 1-over-1 timber sliding sashes, with bipartite casements to the first floor and a diminutive casement to the basement of the gable-fronted elevation. At the upper two levels of the western re-entrant angle there is a bowed bay with a concrete flat roof and supporting beam, square-headed window openings, bipartite fixed-light casements, and single overlights. A later flat-roofed red brick two-storey-over-basement return abuts the western re-entrant angle, with bipartite and tripartite square-headed window openings to the upper floors, continuous concrete lintels and sills, multi-paned metal-framed windows, and a ground-floor opening concealed behind a steel roller shutter. Traces of former abutments survive at lower levels to the right side, now removed, with openings boarded up and an internal steel structural column exposed. The east elevation is largely blank except for a pair of plainly detailed diminutive windows to the right side of the first floor and remnants of a former projecting chimneybreast to the left side; lower levels are abutted by a neighbouring building.

The building stands street-fronted on the northern side of Ann Street, abutted on each side by lower three-storey commercial blocks. To the rear is a bitmac yard, bounded to the north by a late 20th-century multi-storey car park and to the west by a modern steel fence, accessed via a modern steel gate to the north-west on Prince's Street. The yard is largely vacant except for remnants of former outbuildings and abutments, and a multi-storey warehouse to the north-east with corrugated metal walls over a brick base.

The site has a long commercial history. Before the present building was constructed, the plot contained a number of townhouses that were gradually converted to retail and warehouse use during the late 19th century. Prior to that, it had operated as the Ann Street brewery, likely established by a Francis Turnly in the late 18th century, as noted by Patton in Central Belfast — An Historical Gazetteer. Jamison & Green first established an office and storage premises at No. 104 Ann Street in 1882, and by 1885 had extended into No. 102 with a shop and warehouse. The site was noted as building ground in the Annual Revisions of 1902, and the previous structures were replaced by the present block by around 1903. The building is first shown on the sixth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1931.

In the early years after construction, Jamison & Green occupied the ground-floor shops of Nos. 102–104, with their offices on the first floor of No. 102 and storage buildings to the rear yard. Between 1903 and 1906 the other shops and offices remained largely vacant, except for a caretaker's apartment on the fourth floor of No. 106, occupied by a Perry Smith. By 1907, Belfast Street Directories record that the Raleigh Cycle Co. Ltd had established a shop at No. 104, and The New Hudson Cycle Co. had taken a cycling shop at No. 108. Listed in the directories as Prince's Buildings, No. 106 contained a number of rooms above its ground-floor premises, used variously as offices for contractors, solicitors, and manufacturing companies, with third-floor meeting rooms for the RIC (later RUC) Band and a dancing academy. The Valuation map of 1906–16 shows that rear yard access from Ann Street was originally provided by an entryway between Nos. 102 and 104; this has since been altered to create a shared entrance door to the retail units. The footprint of the main building has remained relatively unaltered over time, though the outbuildings to the rear yard have largely been removed or replaced. Together with the nearby Riddle's Warehouse and the former Bank of Ireland Chambers, this building forms part of a group of late 19th- and early 20th-century commercial buildings that reflect Belfast's commercial history in this city centre location.