20 College Green, Belfast

20 College Green is a three-storey red brick asymmetrical terraced house built in 1876 (or possibly 1878, as the historical valuation records are not entirely clear on this point) and facing south on College Green, to the north-east of the main quadrangle at Queen's University, Belfast. It forms part of a longer Victorian terrace incorporating numbers 2 to 26 inclusive, which overlooks the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church in the Queen's Conservation Area. It has group value with the adjoining numbers 18 and 22 College Green. The building is currently used as part of Queen's University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work, which encompasses numbers 12 to 24 (number 16 is missing), with the former houses connected internally by means of two-storey gabled extensions added around 2004, built in place of the original returns.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The roof is natural slate, duo-pitched, with black clay ridge tiles and two rectangular red brick chimneys centred on the ridge. Both chimneys have corbelled brick copings and several octagonal yellow clay pots; one chimney is shared with number 18 and the other with number 22. The single-storey canted bay has a leaded roof. Rainwater goods are cast metal replacements: an ogee gutter to the south elevation, a half-round gutter to the north, and circular rainwater pipes. The main south and upper north walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond with painted masonry dressings; the brickwork above the northern extension is in English Garden Wall bond. Windows throughout are single-glazed timber-framed sliding sashes with 1-over-1 panes unless otherwise noted.

South Elevation

The south elevation is the principal facade and is asymmetrical, with the entrance to the right (east) and a single-storey canted bay to the left at ground floor level. There are two segmental arched windows at both first and second floor levels, diminishing in height as they rise. The entire ground floor is rendered in smooth plaster and painted, terminating in a square-edged string course that runs between the first-floor window cills. There is a deep plinth to the ground floor with a moulded top, painted in a contrasting colour.

The entrance is set within a projecting door case and fitted with a timber-framed four-panelled replacement door with a rounded central bead designed to resemble double doors, and a plain glass over-light above. All ground-floor openings and the outer edge of the door case have stop-chamfered head and jamb reveals. Above the door is a cornice hood embellished with waterleaf and dart moulding, though this detail is partially obscured by several layers of paint. The windows at the ground-floor canted bay are replacement single-glazed double-hung sliding sashes. First-floor windows have moulded surrounds topped by ornamental decoration. Second-floor windows have the same moulded surrounds, with corbel brackets below projecting cills. The eaves are heavily overhanging and are supported on corbelled yellow brick specials alternating with three courses of angled yellow brick.

The east and west elevations are abutted by numbers 22 and 18 College Green respectively, and the original return has been removed.

North Elevation and Extension

The rear north elevation is almost entirely obscured by the two-storey gabled extension, which spans the full width of the building and also encroaches on much of number 18. Some brick walling remains visible above the extension, with single-course corbelled brick eaves in header bond. At the far left of the half-landing level there is one sliding sash window with single glazing and 2-over-2 panes, with soldier-coursed headers; internal inspection suggests this window may be original, though salvaged brick below the cill indicates it may have been moved. Two further windows at second-floor level are shown as blocked up on the plans.

The two-storey extension stretches the full length of the yard to the boundary with College Green Mews, where slate cladding is applied near the apex so that it reads as a double-pile roof or two narrower gabled ends. It is fenestrated to both east and west, overlooking shared courtyards on either side, and is roughly three bays wide with alternating vertical bands of red brick walling and smooth render. Windows are polyester powder-coated and exit doors are flush timber. The extension roof is artificial slate.

Setting

The building is set midway along College Green, which runs between Botanic Avenue to the west and Rugby Road to the east. A concrete dwarf wall with modern metal railings lines the southern boundary, matching the adjacent properties. The small front garden is gravelled with large reconstituted stone paving slabs forming the front path. To the north, the modern extension extends the full width of the property to the boundary with College Green Mews. The rear yards of numbers 18 and 22 provide shared amenity space for numbers 12 to 24, comprising ramped paths to ground-floor entrances with red brick retaining walls topped by modern painted metal handrails and uprights.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

College Green was laid out in 1866 on what was then the semi-rural "Plains" of Malone, on the land east of the recently established Queen's College (completed 1849) and around and beyond the Union Theological College (completed 1853). The foundation of Queen's College prompted several decades of development in the vicinity, with regularly planned streets filled with mainly High Victorian terraced housing for the professional and merchant classes moving southward from a rapidly commercialising and industrialising city centre. The present numbers 6 to 8 were the first to be built along the new thoroughfare in 1866, with numbers 2 to 4 and numbers 24 to 26 following in 1870 to 1871, numbers 10 to 12 and 20 to 22 in 1876, and numbers 14 to 18 in 1878. The street was originally conceived as part of Fitzroy Avenue and was known as such for the first few decades; the name "College Green" was applied only to Culfeightrin House (later College Green House, rebuilt around 1882) and numbers 2 to 8 on the 1871 to 1873 Ordnance Survey map.

Number 20 appears to have been built by the estate of the late Robert Corry, a Belfast timber merchant who had developed part of College Green in the mid-1860s and, prior to that, Upper and Lower Crescent in the 1840s and 1850s. The identity of the architect is uncertain. David Keay (or Keary), described as the Manager of Marcus Ward and Company's printing department, is recorded as the immediate lessor in 1876 or 1878. Francis O'Flaherty, a linen merchant, is named as the occupant in the 1880 street directory. By 1887 another linen merchant, Thomas Lutton, was in residence, followed by Richard Douglas around 1894, K.C. McDowell around 1899 to 1901, and the Reverend K.C. Landers around 1902 to 1906. Frederick Albert McCane, minister of Rugby Avenue Evangelical Union Congregational Church, is recorded as resident in 1908 and remained until around 1924. The building then appears to have stood vacant for a few years before a Miss Tripp is recorded as occupant from around 1930 until around 1957, followed by Michael Byrne, described as a salesman.

In the late 1960s the property was acquired by Queen's University and became offices for its Department of Statistics, and later in the early 1970s the University's Data Processing Department. In the late 1970s it was combined with numbers 22 to 24 and became offices for the Department of Social Studies. The building was listed in 1979. Around 2004, along with neighbouring numbers 12 to 18 and 22 to 24, it was the subject of a major renovation by Queen's University, with a large extension added to the rear and the interior integrated with those of neighbouring numbers 12 to 14 and 20 to 24. It is now used as Queen's University's School of Social Science, Education and Social Work, formerly known as the School of Life Long Learning.

As a relatively plain example of a Victorian terraced house, number 20 has retained its modest decorative facade including plaster door and window surrounds, and some original decorative fixtures internally, though 20th-century reconfiguration has diminished the historic interior character to some extent. The primary significance of the building lies in its group value and in the integrity of the overall composition of College Green, which is among the most striking terraces in the Queen's Conservation Area.