Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/031

Address :
36-38 Donegall Place Belfast BT1 5BB

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
26/06/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop

Former Use
Shop

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13 SE

IG Ref:
J3383 7419

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

Terraced symmetrical multi-bay four-storey painted brick and stucco-fronted gabled commercial building, built c.1903, to the designs of Vincent Craig in an Edwardian Freestyle, with replacement shopfront to the ground floor. Rectangular on plan facing west onto Donegall Place. Interior mostly removed and rebuilt c.2000 with flat-roofed three-storey rear extension. Replacement steeply pitched natural slate roof to the front abutting decorative gabled parapet with further single pitched natural slate roof to the rear. Tall painted redbrick profiled chimneystacks rising from parapets to either side elevation having terracotta pots. Painted redbrick walling laid in English garden wall bond. Square-headed window openings with continuous flush masonry lintels, flush splayed masonry sills and original fixed-pane timber windows or single-pane timber sash windows (unless otherwise stated). Front elevation is surmounted by a large triangular gable with moulded masonry coping and a pair of scrolled carvings supporting an octagonal masonry finial to the apex. Decorative masonry plaque to the gable states; ‘1803 / N / 1903’. Flanking the gable is a pair of raised corner parapets, returning to meet the chimneystacks to the side elevations with curvilinear coping and square plaques. Squat Venetian window opening to the third floor with moulded surround and a pair of engaged squat columns. The second floor has five square-headed window openings with the central three set within a shallow recess (to first and second floors. The entire second floor is crowned by a deep moulded cornice rising as a shallow segmental pediment to the central recess and supported on corbels to either side. The pediment is filled with three figurative carvings and a ribbon banner stating; ‘Tempus Fugit’. The recess to the first floor has a shallow bowed masonry framed five-light window with masonry mullions and transom with the overlights having the same shallow segmental profile as the crowning cornice. To either side is a bipartite window opening with stone transom and mullion surmounted by a shield and decorative scrolled surround. Modern glazed shopfront to the ground floor framed by a full-span polished stone-clad surround and topped by an original full-span cornice. North side elevation abutted by adjoining building. Rear elevation abutted and obscured by three-storey flat-roofed rear extension. South side elevation abutted by adjoining building. Setting Street-fronted on a terrace of twentieth-century commercial buildings on the east side of Donegall Place. Roof : Replacement natural slate RWG: Not visible Walling: Painted redbrick Windows: Original fixed-pane timber

Architects

Craig, Vincent

Historical Information

Nos 36-38 Donegall Place, a four-storey gable-fronted commercial building located on one of Belfast’s main shopping streets, was constructed in 1902-03 to designs by Vincent Craig. Craig (1869-1925) was a Belfast-based architect; a younger brother to the first premier of Northern Ireland, Sir. James Craig (Lord Craigavon), Vincent Craig trained under the Victorian architect W. H. Lynn and established an independent practise in 1891 before moving to England in 1910. Craig was typical of the architects of the Edwardian period who favoured innovation for aesthetic reasons and advocated an international style; Craig was a keen promoter of Art Nouveau and his design of nos 36-38 Donegall Place reflects his interest in European styles, the facade of the building executed as a Dutch gable. The new premises were constructed for Sharman D. Neill, a jeweller and clockmaker and were finished in December 1903; appropriately, the completed facade included an architectural carving of Father Time sculpted by J. E. Winter (1875-1937) a Belfast-based stone and wood carver who also worked on the pediment of the City Hall and was described by the Dictionary of Irish Architects as ‘the leading architectural sculptor in Belfast, sometimes working on his own and sometimes with others’ (Dictionary of Irish Architects; Irish Builder, p. 106). Nos 36-38 Donegall Place first appear on the Annual Revisions in 1906 which valued the shop, warehouse and offices occupied by Sharman Neill at an approximate rate of £787. In that year the valuer noted that Vincent Craig occupied an office on the second floor of the building; Craig occupied the office from 1904 until 1910 when he left Belfast to practise in England (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The Belfast Street Directories note that Sharman D. Neill Ltd. was a jewellers, opticians, silversmith, watch and clockmaker business whose speciality were turret clocks; the directory noted that the company was commissioned ‘by appointment to his Majesty the King’ (1918 Belfast Street Directory). In 1920 significant alteration work was carried out to Sharman’s shop resulting in an increase in the total value of the building to £1,116; this was deemed too high by the occupant and in 1926 an appeal amended the value to £836 at which it remained by the cancellation of the Annual revisions in 1930. Sharman D. Neill Ltd. continued to occupy the ground floor shop during the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935; by that year Sharman leased the upper floors to other businesses and the total value of the building was revalued at £1,305. Nos 36-38 Donegall Place survived the 1941 Belfast Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War the clockmakers shop was included in the second general revaluation which commenced in 1956. In 1962 Sharman D. Neill Ltd. vacated the Donegall Place site to set up new offices on Royal Avenue. The ground floor was occupied by a clothing store whilst the upper offices continued to be occupied by various other businesses and companies; the total value of nos 36-38 Donegall Place at the end of the second revaluation stood at approximately £1,857. Donegall Place was originally the location of Belfast Castle gardens prior to the destruction of the castle in 1708; in the 1780s the current street was laid out providing a link from the original 17th century centre of the town to the White Linen Hall which was erected in 1787. Originally known as Linen Hall Street, the avenue was rechristened Donegall Place in c. 1810 when the area around the Linen Hall was renamed Donegall Square in honour of the Second Marquis of Donegall who resided at Donegall House (which formerly stood at the corner of the square and Donegall Place). Donegall Place was at the very edge of Belfast in the early-19th century and then consisted mainly of private dwelling occupied by the leading citizens of the town, however during the 19th century the central location of the street, coupled with the expansion of the town and the granting of city status in 1888, resulted in the commercialisation of Donegall Place. Only one original Georgian building now survives on the street (No. 25 Donegall Place – HB26/50/30) (Patton, p. 102; Beckett, pp 28-29). Brett describes nos 36-38 Donegall Place as ‘a strange but rather charming building in a wobbly baroque style ... designed for Sharman D. Neill, the leading firm of clockmakers, now defunct ... the whole building, of cream-painted brick, has very decided character’ (Brett, p. 71). Nos 36-38 Donegall Place was one of the first Edwardian commercial properties to be built along the street; buildings such as Queens Arcade (nos 27-33 Donegall Place) represent the Victorian transition of the area away from domestic use towards it current commercial focus. Vincent Craig was a key proponent of the emerging aesthetic style popular during the Edwardian period and his addition incorporates many aspects of the Art Nouveau movement. Dixon states that ‘the three upper floors have a splendid collection of historic details wrapped about with typical Art Nouveau ‘melting’ curves’ (Dixon, p. 178). Nos 36-38 Donegall Place were occupied by Sharman D. Neill for almost 60 years; the sculpture on the second-storey pediment by J. E. Winter depicts ‘Father Time with scythe and hourglass, in front of a scroll reading ‘Tempus Fugit’ (Time Flies) held by two youths;’ the datestone on the upper-storey depicts two dates 1903, and 1803 which was the year Neill’s grandfather Robert Neil established his first business on High Street (Patton, p. 106). Nos 36-38 Donegall Place was listed in 1979 and since that time has continued to function as a shop. Larmour and Dixon state that when first constructed the building possessed polychromatic brickwork to its facade, however since at least the First Survey (1976) the building has been painted over in one shade undermining Craig’s original intended design (Larmour, p. 72; Dixon, p. 178). In c. 2000 the interior of nos 36-38 Donegall Place was extensively renovated resulting in the loss of many original features; at the same time a modern three-storey flat-roofed extension was added to the rear of the site. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/34-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930 6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13-14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 8. Irish Builder, Vol.46 (27 Feb 1904) 9. Belfast Street Directories (1901-1918) 10. First Survey Record – HB26/50/031 (1970) 11. First Survey Image – HB26/50/031 (1976) 12. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Beckett, J. C., ‘Belfast: The making of the city’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 1983. 2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 3. Dixon, H., ‘An introduction to Ulster Architecture’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008. 4. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 5. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

Terraced symmetrical multi-bay four-storey painted brick and stucco-fronted gabled commercial building, built c.1903, in an Edwardian Freestyle to the designs of Vincent Craig with replacement shopfront to the ground floor. Rectangular on plan facing west. Although compromised by the loss of much historic fabric, this building is of interest as a rare example of this style and by a prominent local architect. Its history also represents the ongoing commercial development of the city centre.

General Comments

Date of Survey

15 October 2012