10 College Green, Belfast

Number 10 College Green is a two-storey with attic, red brick, asymmetrical Victorian terraced house built in 1876. It faces south onto College Green, to the north-east of the main quadrangle at Queen's University, Belfast, and sits within the Queen's Conservation Area. The building now serves as offices. It shares group value with the adjoining numbers 12 and 14 College Green, and together the three form part of a longer Victorian terrace running from number 2 to number 26, which overlooks the Theological College of the Presbyterian Church.

Architectural Overview

The roof is a natural slate duo-pitched design with black clay ridge tiles. Two rectangular red brick chimneys sit centred on the ridge, both with corbelled brick copings and several octagonal yellow clay pots; one chimney is shared with number 12, and the other abuts a similar chimney at number 8. There is a wall-head dormer with a hipped roof to the front (south) pitch and a gabled wall-head dormer to the rear pitch. The natural slate covering extends to the dormers and rear return, with a lead roof over the single-storey canted bay. Rainwater goods to the south include a parapet gutter, probably lead-lined, and a cast iron rainwater pipe. To the north and on the return, half-round cast metal gutters and circular section rainwater pipes are used, alongside uPVC soil pipes.

The principal walls are red clay brick: Flemish bond to the south elevation and English Garden Wall bond to the north, with a rendered return. Windows throughout are single-glazed timber-framed double-hung sliding sashes, with one-over-one panes to the south and two-over-two panes to the north, unless noted otherwise.

South Elevation

The south elevation is the principal façade and is asymmetrical in composition. At ground floor, an entrance door sits to the left (east) and a single-storey canted bay window to the right. At first floor, two equal-sized square-headed windows are set beneath a moulded string course that also forms their cills. Above, a wall-head dormer at attic level interrupts the heavy eaves, which are supported on scrolled brackets above a deep plain frieze and a moulded string course, all painted. A deep continuous base plinth runs along the full width, with sub-floor vents and a moulded top.

The canted bay and entrance door both have painted surrounds, likely a combination of stucco and dressed stone beneath paint, consistent with the other painted dressings on this elevation. The bay windows feature stop-chamfered details to the head and jambs, with jambs extending down to the plinth and deep bull-nosed stone cills recessed between. Above the bay windows are decorative incised roundels and diamond shapes featuring abstract thistle and clover motifs.

The entrance door is a square-headed, timber-framed, four-panelled replacement set in a round-arched opening with a roll-edge detail and a plain glass fanlight. It sits within a projecting surround with a moulded cornice hood and incised roundels, similar in character to the bay window treatment. The first-floor windows have moulded surrounds with cornice hoods and diamond-head mouldings projecting over a row of dentils. The paired windows within the attic dormer have canted heads with matching stop-chamfered lintels, a shared projecting cill, and two-over-two panes.

East, West, and Return Elevations

The east and west elevations are abutted by numbers 12 and 8 College Green respectively. The two-storey return is fenestrated to the east, with informally arranged openings all fitted with modern timber-framed top-hung casement windows. A single modern fully-glazed timber-framed door sits at ground floor level to the far left. The gable ends have clipped eaves with painted timber eaves boards along both the east and west sides. Modern rooflights are set along the west slope of the roof. Along the blank west elevation the lower half of the wall is painted white and, close to the main house, is concealed by a single-storey L-shaped lean-to at number 8 College Green.

North Elevation

The rear elevation faces north onto a shared service lane known as College Green Mews. The walling here is red brick in English Garden Wall bond, with brick soldier-coursed headers, thick projecting stone cills, and rendered reveals to the openings, all painted. A two-storey gabled return sits to the right (east), with a single opening above the return containing a timber-framed sliding sash window with two-over-two panes, likely original.

To the left of the return, the main building has one opening at each of ground, first, and second floor levels. These are timber-framed single-glazed sliding sashes and are likely original: the second-floor window is round-arched with a one-over-one pane; those at ground and first floors are flat-arched with two-over-two panes. At first-floor level there is evidence of a further opening, probably a later insertion, with a precast concrete lintel, now in-filled with salvaged brick.

Setting and Boundaries

Number 10 sits midway along College Green, which runs between Botanic Avenue to the east and Rugby Road to the west. To the south, a concrete dwarf wall and modern metal railings enclose a small front garden paved in brushed concrete. The entrance path is graded to meet the threshold at the front door and is paved in brick-coloured precast concrete pavers. To the rear, the gabled return extends the full length of the rear yard to the north boundary with College Green Mews. The remainder of the yard is bound by rendered walling, with a vertically-sheeted timber gate.

Interior

The original domestic scale of the interior has been retained to a considerable degree, along with some historic detailing. The plan form remains legible, though the building has been converted to offices. The significance of this building rests primarily 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.

Alterations

Unlike the other buildings in the group, number 10 retains its two-storey rear return, which was extended around 1989; replacement windows were likely added at the same time. By 1951 the property had been divided into three flats, and it remained so until 1987, when it was sold to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, who converted it to a training centre in 1989 and extended the return in the process.

Historical Background

College Green was laid out in 1866 on what was then the semi-rural "Plains" of Malone, the land to the 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 who were moving southwards away from a rapidly commercialising and industrialising Belfast city centre. The present numbers 6 and 8 were the first to be built along the new thoroughfare in 1866, followed by numbers 2 to 4 (College Green House, originally "Culfeightrin House", rebuilt around 1882) and numbers 24 to 26 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 (which stretches eastwards beyond the intersection of what is now Rugby Road) and was considered as such for its first few decades, with the name "College Green" applied only to Culfeightrin House and numbers 2 to 8 on the 1871 to 1873 Ordnance Survey map.

Numbers 10 and 12 were built in 1876 by the estate of the late Robert Corry, the Belfast timber merchant who had developed part of College Green in the mid-1860s and, before that, in the 1840s and 1850s, Upper and Lower Crescent. The identity of the architect is uncertain. The leases of both properties were obtained by James Watkins, referred to in contemporary directories simply as a "merchant", who initially lived at number 12 while subletting number 10 to William Rutherford, described as a "commercial traveller". Rutherford remained until around 1893, when he appears to have exchanged the lease of number 10 for number 6 with its then occupant, a Mrs Blackwood, who became the new tenant at number 10. Mrs Blackwood stayed until around 1898 to 1899, when she was followed by George Dunlop, another commercial traveller working in the tea trade. In the 1901 census, Dunlop is recorded as occupying the house with his wife Mary, their two infant children, and two domestic servants; the building is noted as a "first class" dwelling with ten rooms in use. By 1907, Hector Gullan, superintendent of works at Belfast Corporation, is listed as householder. He moved out around 1909 and was followed in 1911 by Allan Forrester Parker, a Lancashire-born superintendent at the Post Office, who in that year's census was living there with his wife Grace Smith Parker, their two infant children, his father Edward Parker, and a domestic servant. Parker is named as householder until at least 1943, but by 1951 the property had been split into three flats.