Prince'S Court, Prince'S St., Belfast

Prince's Court is a three-storey L-shaped warehouse built around 1870, located off Prince's Street in Belfast. It stands as one of the last remaining links to the original Belfast harbour and represents an important survival of late Victorian industrial architecture.

The building is constructed of brick in Flemish bond on a stone plinth, with corbelled brick eaves. The ground floor and quoins have been modernised with lined render. The pitched slate roof is fitted with metal ogee gutters and round downpipes. Window openings to the first and second floors are shallow segmental arches; ground floor openings are flat lintelled. Windows are metal framed with timber plank doors.

The main north elevation is five openings wide. The northern opening is full height, edged with bullnosed brick, and houses double doors at each level with timber plank panels and segmental arches between them. A door sits in the central bay, while the south bay contains three windows on the first floor. The east elevation is a blank brick wall. The south gable is abutted by a modern building, and the west gable was not visible during survey.

Although alterations have been made, much historic fabric and detailing survive including the original openings. It is possible that the original timber post and beam structure and original roof trusses remain intact.

The building was first recorded in 1900 when it was occupied by John Rogers, a felt, wire, soap and grease manufacturer who used it as a warehouse and workshop whilst operating his main business from Queen's Square. Rogers leased the building from Peter Milligan, a rope and twine manufacturer and hemp merchant. From 1930 it was occupied by Edward Green, who possessed additional stores on Prince's Street. During the Second World War it housed John Hilland & Co., wholesale tea and sugar merchants. By the 1956-72 revaluation, C. V. & F. Edmunds used the building as office and storage space. The building was converted into offices by Hobart & Heron in 1992 but has since been vacated and remains derelict.

Prince's Court itself, a cul-de-sac off Prince's Street, was first depicted on the 1791 map of Belfast and was known as Stable Lane prior to 1826. The warehouse's proximity to Belfast's quays made it ideally suited to industrial and storage uses throughout its history. A small south-west return had been demolished by July 2005.

The building is now enclosed by surrounding modern buildings to the north, south and west. To the east lies the Laganside bus station forecourt. It sits on the edge of a car park to the rear of an eight-storey block of flats, with access beneath the south-west corner of that building.