Wilton House, 5-6 College Square North, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 6AR

Wilton House, 5–6 College Square North, Belfast

Wilton House is a four-storey, seven-bay stucco end-terraced building of around 1830, probably designed by Belfast architect Thomas Jackson (1807–90). It forms the surviving end of what was once a longer terrace on the west side of Belfast city centre, and is regarded as part of the best surviving example of an 1830s terrace in Belfast, comparable in plain Georgian character to the houses at 7–11 Wellington Place. The building was originally constructed as two separate dwellings and is now used as offices; it is owned by the Ulster Institute for the Deaf.

Architecture and Exterior

The front elevation faces south and displays Greek Revival detailing of considerable refinement. The roofline is slate, with a red brick chimney stack at No. 6. The attic storey is set back behind a parapet, with concealed rainwater goods. At attic level, plain double-hung sash windows with small panes (3/6 pattern) sit beneath a simple cornice without surrounds. At second-floor level, 6/6 double-hung sash windows have projecting cills; at first-floor level, the central three windows have simple moulded architraves. At ground floor, 6/6 windows also have projecting cills, and those flanking the central doorcase carry triangular pediments supported by panelled pilasters with scrolled corbels.

The elevation is articulated vertically by giant-order panelled pilasters running across the first and second floors, with tulip capitals; at attic level these rise to acroteria that project above the parapet. The outer bays are slightly advanced. The cornice above the second floor is plain over the outer bays, while the central bays carry a Greek key pattern on the cornice. The ground floor is channelled in the outer bays and plain in the central ones, with a simple plinth.

The central doorcase has a segmental-headed fanlight in a moulded surround, set above a modern six-panel door with broad sidelights and a simple spoke fanlight. A flight of six stone steps leads to the front door; these originally extended across the full width of three bays. The two ground-floor windows with corbelled triangular pediments are understood to mark the positions of the two original entrance doors before the present central doorcase was added.

The left elevation abuts the adjoining listed building (the Old Museum, formerly listed as HB26/50/112, now HB26/50/102B), which is set slightly back. The east gable is rendered and was formed after the demolition of Nos. 1–4 in around 1980. The right gable is blank. The rear elevation is stucco with a large two-storey extension in concrete brick, which appears to have been constructed in the mid-20th century.

Architect

Both Paul Larmour and Marcus Patton attribute the design to Thomas Jackson, who also designed the adjoining Museum Building in a similar Greek style. Jackson became a partner of Thomas Duff of Newry in 1829 and was primarily a domestic architect, though he worked across commercial, industrial, educational, and ecclesiastical building types. He went on to design Belfast's Town Hall in 1869 and became the preferred architect to the Ulster Bank.

History

The terrace of College Square North did not yet exist on the 1822 map included in George Benn's The History of the Town of Belfast, which showed the Royal Belfast Academical Institution as lying at the western limit of the town with few surrounding buildings. The terrace, including the Old Museum, had been completed by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33.

At the time of completion, Nos. 5–6 did not form the end of the terrace — Nos. 1–4, which were of similar style and likely a contemporary build date, stood beyond them. Those four houses were severely damaged by a bomb attack and were demolished in around 1978–80. Photographs from the first survey (1974) suggest that Nos. 5–6 may also have sustained some damage in the attack, as a number of windows had been boarded up despite the building being in use at the time.

The Townland Valuations of around 1830 record that No. 5 was valued at £25 4s. 10d., possessed a stable, coach house and a cellar, and was let at £35 annual rent. No. 6 was similar, with the same outbuildings and a value of £25 5s. 7d. At around that time, No. 5 was occupied by a Mr James Campbell, employed with the flax and cotton spinning company James Boomer & Co. No. 6 was recorded as the property of Mr George Suffern (1843 Belfast Street Directory).

By Griffith's Valuation of 1860, ownership of both properties had passed to a Mr Murray Suffern, presumably a son or other relative of George Suffern. The 1852 Belfast Street Directory records No. 5 as occupied by Mr Henry Hawkins, employed in the Bank Buildings on Castle Street, though the valuer continued to record the Campbell family as occupants; by 1860 the value had risen to £52. In 1852, No. 6 was occupied by Mr John Taylor of the Ulster Bank; by 1860 the site had passed to Robert Patterson, a hardware merchant and ironmonger with premises on High Street, with a value of £57.

Occupants continued to change over the following decades. In 1868, No. 5 was occupied by a Mr C. Bradell, a Corn Agent. Robert Patterson remained at No. 6 until at least 1877, when a Mrs Herdman was recorded as tenant; that same year a Dr Alex Harkin was recorded as occupant of No. 5. College Square North was a popular and affluent residential area, frequently occupied by doctors and professionals. Dr Alex Harkin (1818–1894) became medical officer for the Belfast Constabulary in 1864 and was appointed a magistrate and Justice of the Peace in 1869. He was one of the earliest medical officers appointed under the Poor Law, later becoming president of the Ulster Medical Society and consulting physician to the Mater Infirmorum Hospital.

Nos. 5 and 6 remained separate dwellings until around 1894, when the Annual Revisions record that John Walker Hicks combined them into a single property and converted the site into a hotel. The conversion raised the combined value to £135. The first detailed assessment under the 1900 Belfast Revaluation recorded the establishment — by then known as the Hotel Metropole — as a four-storey building of 24 rooms (excluding kitchens), fitted with gas installations and containing 14 guest bedrooms. Hicks leased the site from Ms Matilda H. McNaughton at an annual rent of over £165; the building was revalued at £170.

The 1901 Census records John Hicks (aged 38, Church of Ireland) residing at the hotel with his wife Marie Elizabeth (aged 36) and their three infant children. He employed a manageress, a cook, maids, waiters, and a nurse. The census building return described the Metropole as a first-class hotel with two stables and two coach houses to the rear (now demolished). The 1901 Belfast Street Directory also recorded that Nos. 5–6 were simultaneously occupied by the Hibernian Vitagraph Co., a firm dealing in "Cinematographs, Gramaphones, Phonographs, Optical Lanterns and Photographic Apparatus."

The hotel's fortunes declined after the construction of the Belfast Technical College at the corner of College Square East and North in 1900, which separated the hotel from the green and removed its view of the Academy's lawns. By 1907 Hicks was forced to vacate. From 1907 onwards the building was used as a mission hall for the Adult Deaf and Dumb Organisation; on their taking possession, the value was reduced to £145, where it remained until the Annual Revisions were cancelled in 1930. The First General Revaluation of 1935 raised the value to £180. The building escaped damage during the Belfast Blitz.

The Second General Revaluation, commencing in 1956, found the building still occupied by the Adult Deaf and Dumb Organisation; by the end of the revaluation in 1972, the value stood at £328. At the time of the second survey the building lay vacant. It continues to be owned by the Ulster Institute for the Deaf.

Setting

The building is street-fronted on the west side of Belfast city centre, terminating a street of early 19th-century houses. Belfast College of Technology stands opposite. College Square was laid out in the early 19th century as a large open square around the newly established Royal Belfast Academical Institution. In the mid-to-late 19th century College Square North was one of the most desirable addresses in Belfast; after the Technical College was built and blocked the view of the Academy's lawns, many of the professional residents relocated to University Square beside Queen's University.