16 University Square, Belfast

16 University Square, Belfast

This is a three-storey-with-attic, two-bay, mid-terraced former townhouse, built in red brick in 1852 as part of a terrace constructed in stages between 1848 and 1853. It is currently used as university offices for the Institute of Theology at Queen's University. The square was laid out by Charles Lanyon, though the architect of the terrace itself remains unconfirmed. Documentary evidence suggests the houses were modelled on Glenfield Place, a contemporary terrace on Ormeau Road, and the architectural historian Paul Larmour has proposed the prolific Belfast architect Thomas Jackson as the likely designer — a suggestion supported by the style of the buildings and Jackson's later documented involvement with nos. 1–3 — though no primary evidence has yet been found to confirm this. Unusually, most of the interiors have entrances that appear awkwardly off-centre when viewed from their hallways, a quirk considered uncharacteristic of Jackson's work.

University Square was created as a direct consequence of the construction of Queen's College between 1845 and 1849. Set immediately north of the college grounds, the street was originally intended to be named Victoria Square and was laid out around 1847 on land belonging to a Jane Gregg. The rear boundaries of the house plots followed an existing garden boundary from a pre-1832 residence, an estate that had already been partially broken up by the building of present nos. 2–6 Mount Charles in 1842, nos. 42–48 University Road between 1846 and 1848, and the creation of what became University Street around the same time. Nos. 18–25 of the square date from 1848–49; nos. 26–27 from 1849–51; nos. 4–17 from 1852; nos. 28–30 from 1852–53; and the High Victorian nos. 1–3 — built on the site of three pre-1837 dwellings — from 1871.

No. 16 sits approximately midway along the row of thirty former houses, flanked by no. 15 to the west and no. 17 to the east. The terrace faces south onto University Square, which links University Road on the west and Botanic Avenue on the east, and overlooks the Old Library (now the QUB Student Graduate Centre) and the grounds at the northern end of the Lanyon Building. The terrace as a whole — nos. 4–30 — carries strong group value and contributes significantly to the character of the Queen's Conservation Area.

The street was originally populated by a mixture of Queen's academics, and prosperous Belfast merchants and professionals seeking to move away from the rapidly commercialising town centre. By around 1920 the terrace was largely occupied by medical men and their families. From the late 1940s onwards, Queen's University gradually acquired the properties for its expanding range of departments; by 1960 it had taken possession of around two-thirds of the buildings, by 1974 it occupied all but one, and by the mid-1980s all were in university use.

No. 16 was among the fourteen new houses noted as under construction in the 1852 Belfast street directory. Mrs. Charlotte Savage was recorded as occupant in the 1858–59 directory and in the valuation of around 1861, with William Linden as immediate lessor and the property rated at £43. Subsequent occupants included Hugh T. C. Hamilton, an auctioneer, from around 1873 to around 1882; James Gardiner of J. & J. Gardiner, grain merchants of York Lane, from around 1882 to around 1900; and William Russell, described variously as a salesman and later as a director of A. & S. Henry & Co. Ltd. In the 1901 census, Russell himself appears to have been away, with his wife Grace, her sister, and a domestic servant recorded as occupants; the house is described as a first-class dwelling with sixteen rooms in use. The Russell family retained the property until around 1939, when a S. D. Donnan is named as resident, followed by James C. Donnan by 1943. Around 1953 the property was acquired by Queen's University for its Department of Physics, transferring to the Department of Greek around 1965, with part of the building used as the University's Palaeoecology Laboratory by 1970, functions it appears to have retained into the early 1990s. The building was listed in 1979.

To the rear, two mews houses are recorded from around 1880 onwards, one of which remained in private residential use until the 1960s; both have since been demolished to make way for Queen's University extensions.

Exterior

The front elevation is a flat red brick façade laid in Flemish bond. The entrance is positioned to the left side of the ground floor. On the ground floor there are two single window openings to the right of the door; the first and second floors each have two window openings, aligned with each other but not with those on the ground floor. The elevation is finished with a plain rendered plinth at the base and a corbelled painted stone cornice at the top, with lead to the parapet edges. The roof is pitched natural Welsh slate (a replacement covering) with red clay ridge tiles. There are brick chimneys with corbel detailing — rebuilt, and shared with the neighbouring properties — to both left and right, each with seven yellow clay pots. There is a single small modern rooflight to the left side of the south roof slope, and a large lead-clad dormer window to the right with timber top-hung windows.

The doorcase is a distinctive and repeated feature of the whole terrace: a deeply recessed opening with an elliptical arched head formed in brick voussoirs and a moulded plaster reveal, flanked by fluted columns with Doric-type capitals. The columns support a plain painted rendered entablature with moulded cornice. The fanlight is leaded stained glass with the number 16 at its centre. The door itself is painted, possibly a replacement, and is a panelled timber door with a rectangular Georgian-wired top pane.

All windows to the front elevation are original timber sliding sash, single-glazed, with painted rendered reveals and splayed brick heads. On the ground floor, both windows are 1-over-2 sashes with horns, leaded stained glass top panes, two tall bottom panes, and separate painted stone cills — these tall sashes with coloured leaded lights distinguish no. 16 from others in the terrace. The two first-floor windows are also 1-over-2 sashes, with a small top pane and two tall bottom panes, over a continuous painted stone cill course. The two second-floor windows are 6-over-6 sashes with separate painted stone cills. There are no rainwater goods to the front elevation; drainage is via a hidden parapet gutter to the roof, likely formed in lead.

Access from the street is via four replacement reconstituted stone steps with modern metal railings to either side. The small front garden is planted with flower beds and paved with concrete paving stones. A disabled access ramp has been formed using dwarf brick walls with reconstituted stone copings and brick paviours. The boundary to the street is a low brick wall in Flemish bond — not original — with a reconstituted stone coping beneath replacement painted metal railings.

The west side elevation is fully abutted by no. 15, and the east side elevation is fully abutted by no. 17.

The main rear elevation is painted render and three storeys high. It is abutted on the right side by a two-storey rear return, which is in turn abutted by a two-storey mews building to the north. A yard is enclosed by the main rear elevation, the side wall of the rear return, the south wall of the mews building, and the side wall of the rear return to no. 17. Rainwater goods to the rear and yard are painted metal; there is a plastic soil vent pipe to the yard. All rear walls are painted render with a painted rendered plinth, and all rear windows have plain reveals and painted stone cills.

On the exposed section of the main rear elevation to the left, there is one window opening on each level: all are 6-over-6 sashes except the ground floor, which is 4-over-4. At half-landing level on the right side, above the roof of the rear return, there is an arched opening containing a timber 10-over-6 window. The attic-level half-landing window directly above this is a smaller 3-over-3 window. A dormer window to the left side of the rear roof slope has lead to the sides and cheeks and a modern timber top-hung window. The east side wall of the rear return has a 3-over-3 window to the ground floor on the left side, and three regularly spaced 6-over-6 windows to the first floor. All rear windows are timber sliding sash without horns and are replacements, except where otherwise noted.

The north wall of the rear yard — which is the south wall of the mews building — has a triple metal casement window to the ground floor; the first-floor wall of the mews building on this face is blank. The rear yard of no. 16 is accessed from no. 17 via a modern flush timber door at the north end of the yard. There is a 20th-century metal-glazed conical rooflight to the first-floor landing of the rear return, positioned on a leaded flat section of the return roof. The roofs of the return and mews building are hipped natural slate with red clay ridge tiles.

The rear elevation of the mews building onto the alleyway has two 3-over-3 windows to the ground floor — one to the left and one to the right — both fitted with metal grilles attached to the reveals. The first floor has three window openings: a 6-over-6 to the left, a 6-over-6 in the centre, and a 3-over-6 to the right. Further modern buildings lie to the rear of the mews building onto University Square Mews.

Interior

Internally, the original floor plan has been altered, though some original features survive. Most rooms now serve as offices and meeting rooms.

Alterations and History of Change

The broad unity of nos. 4–30 was first broken in 1865 when a single-storey canted bay window was added to no. 19, with a two-storey version built on no. 23 before 1873. Similar projections appeared on nos. 20 and 22 by 1883, and several others followed in the early 1900s — some canted, as on nos. 7 and 11, and some rounded, as on nos. 12, 14, and 30. Most of the dormers across the terrace also appear to date from the early 1900s, as does the pebbledash to no. 20. No. 16 itself is distinguished from the majority of the terrace by the retention of its tall sliding sash windows with coloured leaded lights to the top panes of the ground-floor windows.

The mid to later 20th century brought changes to the rears of many properties. Extensions of various sizes were added, most notably the Queen's Film Theatre at the rear of no. 20, which began in 1968 as a lecture hall addition and, following several rebuilds — the most recent and most extensive around 2004 — spread into the former back gardens of a significant number of neighbouring properties on either side.

The whole terrace underwent a major renovation around 1990–94, including renewal of roof coverings, chimneys, and rainwater goods, render to rear elevations and returns, and replacement of some return window frames, with internal walls re-plastered and some woodwork replaced. The front gardens were landscaped and adapted for disabled access around 2004. For no. 16 specifically, a rear extension was demolished around 2003–04 to make way for the new Queen's Film Theatre, and the front garden was adapted for disabled access at around the same date.