36 Hamilton Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT2 8LP

36 Hamilton Street is an end-of-terrace, two-bay, three-storey redbrick late-Georgian townhouse, built around 1832–33 as one of a terrace of six similar houses lining the south side of Hamilton Street in Belfast city centre. It is among the finest surviving examples of late-Georgian terraced housing in Belfast, described in 1971 by architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as part of "the best example left in the city of late-Georgian Belfast."

The first edition Ordnance Survey map confirms that numbers 36–40 were constructed by 1832–33, with numbers 42–46 following shortly afterwards. The street was built on reclaimed land to the south-east of Belfast's town centre, created by the construction of a paper mill dam along the Blackstaff River at what is now the junction of Ormeau Avenue and Cromac Street. The street takes its name from the family name of the Dukes of Abercorn, who resided at number 3 Hamilton Street from 1818 (now demolished). Hamilton Street originally attracted high-ranking merchant-class residents, many employed in the newspaper and printing trade, but by the 1850s the area had become distinctly working class as businessmen relocated to grander suburban houses. Some of the large nearby houses on Joy Street were converted into lodging and boarding houses for students attending Queen's College, established in 1849, though the majority of houses on Hamilton Street were maintained as private dwellings.

By the time of the 1852 Belfast Street Directory, the houses were numbered differently — number 36 was then listed as number 24 — and was occupied by a Mrs Charles Stewart. By Griffith's Valuation of 1859, ownership had passed to a Mr Elisha Crawford, who owned the rest of the terrace as well. The occupant at that time was a Mr George McBain, a professor of phrenology — a late-Georgian and early Victorian pseudoscience based on measurements of the human skull. The valuer described the house as a B+ class dwelling ("not new but in sound repair"), measuring 6 by 7½ yards and valued at £14. Annual Revision records indicate that McBain remained at number 36 until around 1905, though the Belfast Street Directories record that two dressmakers — Elizabeth Williamson and Jane Kelly — lived there in 1877 and 1880 respectively. The 1901 or 1911 census records the house as occupied by Denis Mulholland, a Roman Catholic bricklayer and widower, who lived there with his son (also a bricklayer), his sister, and his daughter, both of whom worked as stitchers in a local warehouse. The Census Building Return described it as a second-class dwelling with only three occupied rooms and no outbuildings. Mulholland remained at the address until his death in 1908, after which the house stood vacant for some years.

By 1906, ownership of the entire terrace (apart from number 46) had passed to a Captain E. Gibbons, who continued to own the properties until at least the 1970s. The house was reoccupied by 1918 by Joseph Laverty, a motorman, who remained there until at least 1935. In that year, under the first general revaluation of property in Northern Ireland, the rateable value was increased to £17. Hamilton Street was badly damaged during the Second World War when the Luftwaffe targeted the nearby shipyard industries in the Belfast Blitz, and many houses along the street were lost. Numbers 36–46 were repaired and included in the second general revaluation of 1956, at which point number 36 was assessed at £19, a value it retained until the revaluation closed in 1972. By 1950 an insurance agent named John Keenan had taken up residence; following his death around 1956, his widow or daughter Teresa Keenan continued to occupy the house into the 1980s. Many of the remaining houses on Hamilton Street, returning into Catherine Street North and Joy Street, were demolished in 1988, by which time numbers 36–46 had also fallen into a state of disrepair. The terrace was listed in 1985. Between 1988 and 1990, the Hearth Revolving Fund restored the terrace, with a new running bay added at the rear; an earlier sensitive refurbishment by Hearth Housing Association had also taken place around 1985–1990. The restoration retained only the exterior walls, resulting in some loss of original interior fabric, though the exterior has retained much of its historic character and late-Georgian detailing.

Externally, the building has a natural slate roof, hipped to the east, with black clay ridge tiles, lead hip ridges, and two redbrick chimneystacks with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering runs to a stepped redbrick eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The walls are laid in Flemish bond redbrick with a rendered plinth course. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and replacement 6-over-6 timber sash windows.

The two-bay three-storey front elevation features a railed area at ground level and rusticated rendered quoins to the outer corner. The front door opening is off-centre and round-headed, with a moulded surround, replacement timber panelled door, flat-panelled pilasters to either side, a stepped lintel cornice, and a decorative fanlight above. The door opens onto a concrete platform with three nosing steps, flanked by a low rendered plinth wall and replacement iron railings enclosing a small paved front area.

The three-storey east side elevation is two windows wide, with rusticated render quoins to either end, three 6-over-6 timber sash windows to the left and three blind openings to the right. The three-storey rear elevation is also two windows wide and is abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension that spans the entire terrace. Camber-headed brick arches are used to all rear window openings, irregularly placed to light rooms to the right and half-landings to the left. There is a bipartite 6-over-6 timber sash window to the lean-to, along with a single timber glazed door opening onto a communal rear bitmac parking area. This area is accessed via pairs of tall timber-sheeted gates at either end of the terrace, supported on pairs of tall redbrick piers with redbrick screen walls and concrete coping. The west side elevation abuts the adjoining house at number 38.

Number 36 Hamilton Street sits within a conservation area and forms part of a terrace of six houses of consistent style and proportion. It contributes significant group value to the terrace as a whole and, together with the neighbouring houses on Hamilton Street and Joy Street, represents a rare and important survival of late-Georgian terraced housing in the centre of Belfast.