21 University Square, Belfast

21 University Square, Belfast

This is a mid-terraced former townhouse of three storeys with an attic, built in 1848–49 as one of the original eight houses in University Square. It forms part of a row of thirty late-Georgian style brick-built terraced houses (numbers 4–30) constructed in stages between 1848 and 1853. The building now operates as university offices for the School of Creative Arts at Queen's University. It has been physically connected to the adjoining No. 20 to the west, incorporating much of that building's ground floor and all of its upper floor accommodation, though as the interconnecting doors between the two buildings make this largely reversible, No. 21 is described here as it originally stood: a three-storey, three-bay building in its own right.

University Square was laid out around 1847 by Charles Lanyon — the architect of Queen's College itself — on land belonging to a Jane Gregg, as a direct consequence of the college's construction between 1845 and 1849. The street was originally intended to be called Victoria Square. Building agreements from 1847 specified that the frontages were to be modelled on Glenfield Place, a terrace then under construction on the Ormeau Road (now numbers 121–135). The architect of that terrace is unknown, but architectural historian Paul Larmour has suggested that the University Square houses derived from it were the work of Thomas Jackson, a prolific Belfast-based architect. No documentary evidence has yet emerged to confirm this, though the style of the buildings is consistent with his work, and Jackson is known to have later designed numbers 1–3 University Square. Lanyon himself appears to have determined only the layout, with no evidence of his direct involvement in the design of the houses. Notably, many of the interiors have an oddly off-centre relationship between the front entrance and the hallway beyond — a quirk considered uncharacteristic of Jackson's usual approach.

The terrace fronts south onto University Square, which runs between University Road to the west and Botanic Avenue to the east. It looks across to the Old Library (now the Queen's University Graduate Student Centre) and the northern grounds of the Lanyon Building. No. 21 sits towards the eastern end of the row, flanked by No. 20 to the west and No. 22 to the east, both sides fully abutted.

The rear of the building is more complex in plan. A three-storey return built at half-landing height projects from the main rear elevation, abutted in turn by a two-storey return with a hipped roof, and then a single-storey lean-to. A shared rear yard is formed between the rear elevations and returns of Nos. 21 and 22, which connects into a wider network of alleyways and courtyards behind Nos. 20–24 University Square, bounded to the north by modern buildings — including part of the Queen's Film Theatre and the School of Creative Arts — that back onto University Square Mews.

Materials and construction

The roof is covered in natural Welsh slate (a replacement covering) with red clay ridge tiles. The walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond. Windows to the front (south) elevation are timber sliding sash, single-glazed, with horns to ground floor and first floor openings, and are possibly replacements. Windows to the rear (north) elevation and the returns are a mixture of single-glazed timber sliding sash and timber top-hung casements. There is a rooflight to the rear, likely modern. Rainwater goods to the front consist of a hidden parapet gutter, probably formed in lead, with painted metal downpipes; to the rear, painted metal guttering is supported on metal rise-and-fall brackets.

Front elevation

The south-facing front elevation is three storeys with an attic, three bays wide, and built in red brick in Flemish bond. At ground floor level, the entrance door is positioned to the left and a single-storey flat-roofed canted bay window projects to the right. The bay window is finished in painted render and has one square-headed window opening to each of its three faces. These openings have roll-moulded stucco detailing to the soffit and reveal edges, a continuous painted stone sill, a painted stone rounded cornice above the windows, and a painted stone coping to the bay parapet.

The doorway is deeply recessed and has an elliptical arched head with brick voussoirs and a moulded plaster reveal. Fluted columns with Doric-type capitals stand to each side, supporting a plain painted rendered entablature with a moulded cornice. Above the door is a plain glazed fanlight with the number "21" at its centre. The door itself is a panelled painted timber door, possibly original, fitted with replacement ironmongery. To either side of the front door is an original low painted stone plinth wall; an iron bootscraper is set into the left-hand plinth.

Above ground floor level, three window openings are evenly spaced across both the first and second floors, aligned vertically. The first floor windows share a continuous painted stone sill course, partly concealed behind the bay window parapet; the second floor windows have individual painted stone sills. Above the second floor is a plain rendered plinth with a corbelled painted stone cornice, lead to the parapet edges, and a pitched natural Welsh slate roof with red clay ridge tiles. The chimney stack, which has been rebuilt, is positioned to the right side, features corbel detailing, and carries seven yellow clay pots; there is no chimney to the left side. A small pitched-roof dormer window with cheeks likely clad in lead sits to the right side of the roof, with a natural slate roof, red clay ridge tiles, and paired timber casement windows.

All windows to the front have splayed brick heads and are timber sliding sash, single-glazed. The bay window has 1/1 sash windows with a smaller top sash. The first floor has three 1/1 sash windows. The second floor has three 6/6 sash windows, some panes of which retain historic glass.

Access to the front door is via six reconstituted stone steps rising from street level to a landing of reconstituted stone paving slabs, with modern metal railings on either side. A disabled ramp with a concrete sett surface is formed between brick walls with reconstituted stone coping stones, and contains shrubs. The low boundary wall to the street is of Flemish bond brickwork — not original — with a reconstituted stone coping beneath replacement painted metal railings.

Rear elevation

The main rear elevation is finished in painted render and rises three storeys plus an attic. It is exposed only to the left side, with one window opening per level: a wide 2/2 timber sliding sash window at ground floor, and 6/6 windows at first and second floor levels. There is a small rooflight to the left side of the rear roof pitch.

The east face of the three-storey return has randomly placed openings not aligned between floors. At ground floor, from left to right, there is a flush timber door at the far left followed by two top-hung timber windows. At first floor there is a 3/6 timber sliding sash to the left and a top-hung timber window to the right. At second floor the arrangement reverses, with a top-hung window to the left and a 3/6 sliding sash to the right.

The east face of the two-storey return has a single large opening at ground floor with paired top-hung timber windows, and at first floor a single 3/6 timber sliding sash which appears original.

The north-facing rear elevation of the main block, exposed above the hipped roof of the two-storey return, has a single 4/8 timber sliding sash window with narrow outer panes on the right side. The north-facing wall of the two-storey return has a centrally positioned 3/6 timber sliding sash window above the lean-to. The rear of the single-storey lean-to has one window opening approximately in the centre, the window type of which could not be determined at the time of survey. The west-facing walls of both returns are blank and are exposed only above first floor level, as the gap between the rear returns of Nos. 20 and 21 has been filled by a single-storey flat-roofed extension.

All rear walls are in painted render with a painted rendered plinth. Window reveals are plain throughout; sills are generally painted stone, with the exception of the lean-to which appears to have a painted concrete sill. All windows at ground floor level are protected by metal bars.

Interior

The original floor plan has been altered through the integration with No. 20, but some original features survive on the upper floors.

Historical occupancy and use

No. 21 was one of the first eight houses built in University Square, completed in 1848–49 alongside the present Nos. 18–20 and 22–25. The earliest recorded occupant is Mrs. Isabella Killen, listed in the 1850 street directory, who remained until around 1893. George B. Coulter is listed as householder from 1895. In the 1901 census, Coulter — a 57-year-old life insurance agent — is recorded living there with his wife Clemenia and two domestic servants. The house was classified as a first-class dwelling with fifteen rooms in use. Around 1906 the lease was taken by surgeon Thomas Sinclair Kirk, who is recorded in the 1911 census occupying the property with his wife Constance Mary and two domestic servants. Dr. Kirk moved out around 1941, and after a period of vacancy, a consulting engineer named E. Reid is listed as occupant in 1947. By 1951 the property had been acquired by Queen's University for use by the Department of French. By 1955 both No. 21 and the neighbouring No. 20 had become the Women Students' Hall. Both became part of the Faculty of Law around 1972 and were still recorded as such in 1980, though they disappear from the directories from at least 1986 onwards.

The broader history of the terrace reflects the social character of South Belfast's Victorian expansion. In its early years the street attracted a mixture of Queen's academics and prosperous Belfast merchants and professionals seeking to leave the rapidly commercialising town centre. By around 1920 it was predominantly occupied by medical men and their families. The expansion of higher education in the late 1940s led to Queen's acquiring the properties progressively: by 1960 the University owned around two-thirds of the terrace, by 1974 all but one, and by the mid-1980s all thirty houses were in university use.

The rear garden plots of several houses were significantly affected by the growth of the Queen's Film Theatre at the rear of No. 20, which began in 1968 in a lecture hall addition and expanded through several rebuilds — most extensively around 2004 — into the back gardens of a number of neighbouring properties on either side.

Alterations and condition

The overall unity of the terrace was first disrupted in 1865 when a single-storey canted bay was added to No. 19. A two-storey version appeared on No. 23 before 1873, with similar projections on Nos. 20 and 22 by 1883, and several others following suit in the early 1900s — some canted (Nos. 7 and 11) and some rounded (Nos. 12, 14, and 30). Most of the dormer windows also appear to date from the early 1900s, as does the pebbledash finish to No. 20. Map evidence suggests the bay window on No. 21 was also added in the early 1900s. The building was listed in 1979. A major renovation of the whole terrace took place around 1990–94, during which No. 21's roof covering and chimney were renewed and a single-storey rear extension was built. Around 2003–04, concurrent with the rebuilding of the Queen's Film Theatre, the interior was adapted to connect with the upper floors of No. 20, and the front garden was modified to provide disabled access.

Despite these changes, the front elevation retains much of its original character, proportions, and detailing, including its distinctive doorcase — a feature repeated throughout the terrace. The terrace as a whole displays a coherent character notwithstanding the elevational variations introduced by bay and bow windows over the decades. The large modern flat-roofed extension to the rear of Nos. 20 and 21 detracts from the rear setting. Two mews houses noted to the rear of the terrace from around 1880 — one of which remained in private occupation until the 1960s — have since been demolished to make way for university extensions.

Setting and group value

The building forms part of a listed group comprising Nos. 4–30 University Square, which together make a significant contribution to the character of the Queen's Conservation Area.