37-43 High Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 2AB

37-43 High Street, Belfast (St. George's Buildings)

St. George's Buildings is an asymmetrical three-storey commercial building with an attic, designed in Italianate style by Thomas Jackson and Son and constructed in 1881 by the Belfast building firm H. & J. Martin. It stands on the south side of High Street, bordering Joy's Entry to the west. Although the building has suffered modern alterations that compromise its overall integrity, a substantial amount of its historic fabric and decorative detail survives, including the original hall to the rear. The building is also notable as the location of Belfast's first full-time cinema, which showed the city's first moving picture — the film Bluebeard, to an audience of 1,500 — in 1908.

Architectural Description

The building has a natural slate roof: mansard in form over the main section, with modern rooflights, and hipped over the central tower. Round metal rainwater downpipes are fitted throughout. The walls are finished in painted render, with rusticated quoins to the main floors. Decorative details include foliate decorated, rope-edged panels to the dormer, a bracketed moulded cornice, moulded string courses, and moulded architraves.

The principal north elevation faces High Street and is nine windows wide. An off-centre section of three windows rises to four storeys to form the attic dormer. The off-centre attic dormer itself has four arched windows with an engaged column to the central pier, moulded panels to the outer bays, and urn balusters below the cill. At second-floor level, the openings are arched with moulded archivolts — except for the three easternmost openings — and have exaggerated keystones; the central three are framed with pilasters with foliate capitals, while those to the west have intermediate square-lintelled windows between them with anthemion decoration above. The first-floor openings are square-lintelled with moulded architraves, decorated keystones, and roundels to the feet. At ground-floor level there is a dentilled cornice, though this is obscured by the eastern shop fascia. The shop fronts are modern replacements, but original pilasters remain framing the modern glazing of the two western shops and the ornate wrought iron entrance screen — which incorporates crowns on the gates and a sunburst fanlight. The entrance doorway is offset to the west of the central section. The windows are timber-framed with three and four panes; the eastern windows are metal-framed casements with overlights.

The east elevation is abutted by a modern building. The rear south elevation adjoins a listed neighbouring property. The west elevation, which faces Joy's Entry, is abutted by a modern building at the front over the entry passage; to the rear it is seven windows wide, with the roof stepping down four windows from the north. A decorated arch is located on the ground-floor south bay.

The Hall

St. George's Hall occupies the upper two storeys of No. 4 Joy's Entry, to the rear of the main building, with the ground floor of that structure having been used as a public house throughout its history. The hall was originally used as a restaurant and as a meeting place for spiritualists. In 1908 it became Belfast's first full-time cinema; the venue was forced to close in 1916, however, as it was no longer considered sufficiently luxurious by the paying public. In the mid-20th century the hall was used by the Ulster Sports Club as a boxing club and also as a dancing hall. The Belfast Spiritualist Alliance also shared the space during part of this period. At the time of listing the hall was vacant and in a state of disrepair.

Historical Background

Thomas Jackson and his son William Ridgeway Jackson operated their family architectural practice from 1867. The Irish Builder records St. George's Buildings as the last work completed under the Thomas Jackson and Son partnership, though the historian Patton notes that the Royal Avenue Hotel (at Nos. 21–29 Royal Avenue, now demolished) was completed by the practice in 1884. Prior to the construction of St. George's Buildings, the site at Nos. 37–43 High Street was occupied by three former properties including two drapery warehouses.

The building was constructed for Wheeler and Whitaker, who initially operated the Belfast Apothecaries Hall from the premises, with the apothecary occupying the westernmost retail unit at No. 37. Wheeler and Whitaker retained ownership of the entire building until the 1920s. The remaining ground-floor units were taken up shortly after completion by R. Goodson, who occupied the central unit and the upper-floor office space at Nos. 39–41, and by W. J. Marshall, a merchant tailor at No. 43. The Belfast Street Directories describe Marshall as a manufacturer and merchant of shirts, gloves, collars and cuffs; by 1910 he was advertised grandly as tailor in Belfast by Royal Warrant of Appointment to His Majesty the King, patronised by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Governor-General of Australia, and sole maker of the Irish Frieze Ulster Coat and the Acme Rainproof Coat. The Annual Revisions initially valued St. George's Buildings, including the hall, at £745.

By the Belfast revaluation of 1900, Wheeler and Whitaker had vacated No. 37, which was converted into a licensed shop and restaurant by a Ms. Ellen Boyd. In the same year W. J. Marshall vacated No. 43 but took over the upper floors for his tailoring business, and R. Goodson's former unit was acquired by Robert Beverland for use as a shoe shop. The total rateable value of the building was raised to £945. After Marshall vacated No. 43, the unit was taken by Harris Rundle and Freeman, opticians. By 1925 Ellen Boyd's restaurant had been taken over by Samuel Hare, and in 1928 Beverland's shop was acquired by F. E. Harcourt and Co. Ltd., coal merchants. At the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the total value remained almost unchanged at £950.

Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935, the total value of the building was significantly increased to £1,430. At that time Rundle and F. E. Harcourt and Co. Ltd. remained in occupation, the restaurant at No. 37 had been taken over by Thompsons (Belfast) Ltd., and the upper offices were occupied by the clothing merchants Weatherwear Ltd.

Nos. 37–43 High Street was one of only a small number of Victorian buildings along High Street to survive the Belfast Blitz of 1941, when much of the area around Castle Place, Bridge Street and High Street was destroyed. Photographs taken in the aftermath of the Blitz show that St. George's Buildings only narrowly avoided a direct hit that almost totally destroyed the northern side of High Street. During the Second World War the ground-floor units were occupied by Thompson's Restaurant, Millett's clothing store, and R. L. Cochrane's outfitters, while the upper floors were used by Greenhill Bros. Ltd. (coal and coke merchants), A. and J. Little's estate agency, and the Ulster Sports Club.

Under the Second Revaluation of 1956–72, Millett and Cochrane continued to occupy their units, while the central unit was held by G. A. Brittain Urenta Ltd. until 1970. The upper floors remained in use by various firms. By the cancellation of that revaluation in 1972 the total value had risen to £2,661.

The building was badly damaged by a bomb attack in the 1970s and subsequently lay derelict. It was extensively restored by Deramore Developments in 1981 and listed in 1990. At the time of listing the ground-floor retail units continued to be used as three individual commercial shops, with part of the upper floors occupied by a solicitors firm.

Setting

St. George's Buildings sits on the south side of High Street, bordering Joy's Entry to the west. It faces a listed building on the corner of Bridge Street across High Street. The listed property that forms the rear portion of Joy's Entry adjoins to the south. The east and west side elevations are both abutted by modern buildings.