Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/27/084

Address :
Hatfield House Bar 130 Ormeau Road Belfast County Antrim BT7 2EB

Townland:
Malone House

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
03/04/1989 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Public House

Former Use
Public House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
147/1 NE

IG Ref:
J3433 7280

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

A multi-bay, two-and-a-half storey, late-Victorian red-brick semi-detached public house, built c.1890. Located east of Ormeau Road, south of Belfast city centre. L-shaped plan with two two-storey returns to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and red-brick chimney stacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on ornate eaves course. Walling is English garden wall-bonded red-brick with first floor sill course and corner pilasters to gabled bay; carved terracotta panels to principal elevation; decorative egg-and-dart dentilled course to flues and dentilled pediments to wall-head dormers. Windows are 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash to upper floors and two-storey canted bay (left); segmental-headed tripartite timber tracery window to ground floor (south); painted smooth rendered lintels to windows at west elevation. Bowed windows to pub-front are round-headed with three glass panels, vertically divided with metal lattice grilles opening on a hinge. The principal elevation faces west and is asymmetrically arranged incorporating an adjoining former terrace dwelling to north. Six windows wide with two-storey canted bay at left; gabled bay (wider) at right; symmetrical pub-front (c.1910) incorporates ground floor of central and right bays. Decorative carved timber pub-front has ornately carved and painted quatrefoil panels with keystone to round-headed openings. Bowed windows to left and right are framed by pilasters with ionic capital heads; those to far left and right are set back with scrolled console brackets. Faience tiles to window plinths with ornate tiled panels depicting cherubs with vines and exotic birds. Recessed entrance has mosaic tiled floor reading ‘Hatfield Bar’; replacement timber-panelled doors to twin curved entrances. Signage fascia with painted lettering reading ‘Wines / Hatfield House / Spirits’, surmounted by faience balustraded parapet, which is topped by curved metalwork sign reading “Braithwaite & McCann Spirit Merchant”. The north elevation is abutted by a modern extension (of little interest). The rear elevation is partially concealed; abutted at left and right by a two-storey return; that to left has two windows to second floor and a stairwell window at ground floor left ; south elevation has two windows at first floor, a replacement timber-panelled door at ground floor left and elongated window at ground floor right. Timber signage fascia with painted lettering reading “Stout, Ales & Spirits”. The south elevation has slightly projecting pedimented dormer with paired windows to right of centre; three irregularly arranged windows to first floor; two tripartite windows to left at ground floor divided by brick pilasters; replacement timber panelled door and double-leaf door to ground floor right in segmental-headed surrounds. Three timber signage fascia with painted lettering read from left; “Wholesalers” “Fine Wines” “Off Sales”. Setting: Corner-sited at the junction of Ormeau Road and Hatfield Street which comprises late nineteenth/ early twentieth-century red-brick terraced housing. Enclosed yard and gated alley to rear. Cast-iron railings on a replacement red-brick plinth to front and south. A large three-storey modern extension has recently been constructed to north. Roof: Natural slate Walling: English-garden wall bonded red-brick Windows: Mainly 1/1 timber-framed sash RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Hatfield House was first recorded in the Annual Revisions for the Cromac Ward of Belfast in 1891; the valuer described the site as a shop and store which occupied No. 132 Ormeau Road. The site was let by R. J. McConnell & Co., an estate agents established by Sir. Robert McConnell who also operated an auctioneer business in the city (Belfast Street Directory - 1901). McConnell let the site to Braithwaite and McCann, spirit merchants who first converted the premises into a public house, although the Annual Revisions continued to record it as a shop until 1903. The property was originally valued at £30 in 1891; however this was increased to £50 when the adjoining No. 130 Ormeau Road, formerly a private dwelling, was added to the public house. In 1903 the Annual Revisions first recorded the site as a ‘licensed shop’ resulting in an increase in its value to £60. This value was later further increased to £80 in 1906 (at the same time Cromac Ward was first valued separately from the rest of Belfast’s City Centre); in 1911 the owners appealed against this high rate resulting in a decrease in its value to £70. There was no further change to this value by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. The Street Directories described the property as a grocers and wine merchants and indicated that a Mr. James Gordon was employed as manager between at least 1907 and 1918. The public house also contained a private residence and between 1901 and 1916 a Ms. Jane Wilson resided at the site; the 1901 census recorded that Wilson was a 67 year old widow. The Census Building Return described the site as a 1st class public house and private dwelling that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed no out offices. Wilson’s will records that she resided at the public house until her death in 1916; however the valuation records do not note the later occupational history of the property (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 24 Nov 1916). The public house was next valued during the 1935 General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland; at that time the bar continued to be operated by Braithwaite and McCann although its value had been recalculated at £100. Hatfield House survived the bombardment of Belfast during the Second World War and in 1956 was revalued as part of the second general revaluation which was carried out between that year and 1972. Due to general inflation the value of the pub was increased to £400 in 1956, however this was reduced to £320 under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act; the owners again deemed this too high a rate and an appeal lowered the value further to £248. By the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value of Hatfield House stood at £291. Law writes that there was a public house on the site of the current pub from at least 1873; however the Annual Revisions indicate that the current building was completed in 1891 whilst the Belfast Street Directory for 1880 does not record a public house between the Ormeau Bridge and the Belfast Gasworks, indicating that if a public house did indeed exist prior to c. 1890 it was likely a simple or insignificant structure. Law states that the original owners, Braithwaite and McCann, were a major Belfast pub chain and that Hatfield House was the partnership’s first premises. The spirit merchants later purchased the Red Lion on Ormeau Road and the Garrick Bar in Chichester Street; other premises later acquired included The Store Bar on Church Lane and The Ulster Tavern in Chichester Street. Braithwaite and McCann continued to operate until the 1960s when the firm changed its name to McCann Ltd. and merged with Morton & Co., a Belfast based bottling company. During the 1970s the new company spent £5 million buying new pubs, possessing 27 by 1974. Currently all the former Braithwaite and McCann public houses are independently owned, however Hatfield House is the only surviving pub which still possesses a curved metalwork sign bearing the name of the original owners ‘Braithwaite and McCann: Spirit Merchants’ (Law, pp 45-46). Hatfield House was listed in 1989 and continues to operate as a popular public house. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931 5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/13 – Annual Revisions 1882-1897 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/26 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/40 – Annual Revisions 1906-1915 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/43 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/1 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/9 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 12. Census of Ireland (1901) 13. Belfast Street Directories (1880; 1901; 1907; 1908; 1910; 1918) 14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1916) Secondary Sources 1. Law, G., ‘Historic pubs of Belfast’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 2002. 2. First Survey Record – HB26/30/104 (1989)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance Z. Rarity R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Hatfield House is a two-and-a-half storey, late-Victorian red-brick semi-detached public house, built c.1890 and located east of Ormeau Road, south of Belfast city centre. One of the first premises owned by the prominent local merchants Braithwaite & McCann, this is the only one to retain the original Braithwaite & McCann metalwork sign. Relatively well-preserved late-Victorian pub-front and interior bar, altered to incorporate an adjoining former dwelling. Despite the addition of an extension, Hatfield House retains much of its original late-Victorian character and remains one of the best examples of its type in the city. A rare example of a traditional public house, Hatfield House is an important local landmark of considerable social and local interest.

General Comments

Please note this record has been renumbered, it was previously recorded as HB26/30/104.

Date of Survey

04 July 2011