Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/102 A

Address :
Wilton House 5-6 College Square North Belfast County Antrim BT1 6AR

Townland:
Town Parks

---

Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
26/05/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
130/13 SE

IG Ref:
J3347 7416

---

Owner Category

Charity

Exterior Description And Setting

A four storey seven bay stucco end-terraced building of c1830, probably by Thomas Jackson, with Greek Revival details, located on College Square N. Roof slate with red brick chimney stack at no.6; attic storey set back behind parapet to front; concealed rainwater goods. Front elevation faces S, has plain d/h sash windows with small panes (3/6) without surrounds at attic level under a simple cornice; at second floor level 6/6 d/h sash windows with projecting cills; at first floor 6/6 windows, with simple moulded architraves to central three windows; 6/6 windows with projecting cills at ground floor, windows flanking the central doorcase having triangular pediments supported by panelled pilasters with scrolled corbels. The elevation is articulated vertically by giant order panelled pilasters at first and second floors, with tulip capitals; these rise at attic level to acroteria that rise above the parapet. The outer bays are slightly advanced and the cornice above 2nd floor is plain, while the central bays have a Greek key pattern on the cornice. Ground floor channelled in outer bays, plain in the central ones; simple plinth. Central doorcase has segmental-headed fanlight in moulded surround over modern 6-panel door with broad sidelights and simple spoke fanlight. Flight of six stone steps to front door, originally extending to the width of full three bays. Left elevation is abutted by HB26/50/102B (previously HB 26/50/112), which is set slightly back. Rear elevation stucco with extension in concrete brick. Gable to E rendered, formed after the demolition of nos.1-4 in c1980. Right gable is blank. Setting Street fronted, to the west side of Belfast city centre, terminating a street of early 19thC houses; Belfast College of Technology is located opposite. Roof: Slate Walling: Stucco Windows: Timber sash RWG: Concealed

Architects

Jackson, Thomas

Historical Information

Nos 5-6 College Square North, a four-storey Georgian townhouse, was constructed between 1822 and 1832-33; the terrace of College Square North was not depicted on the 1822 map included in George Benn’s ‘The History of the Town of Belfast’ which recorded that the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023) lay to the western limit of the town and was still not surrounded by many buildings. The terrace, which included the Old Museum (HB26/50/102B), had been completed by the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1832-33, however at the time of its completion nos 5-6 College Square North did not lie at the end of the terrace (nos 1-4 were demolished in the late-20th century-1978). The current single building was originally constructed as two separate dwellings; the contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1830) note that No. 5 College Square North was valued at £25 4s. 10d., possessed a stable, coach house and a cellar, and was let at £35 annual rent, whilst the adjoining No. 6 was similar, possessed the same out offices and was valued at £25 5s. 7d. In c. 1830 No. 5 College Square North was occupied by a Mr. James Campbell who was employed with the flax and cotton spinning company James Boomer & Co., whilst the adjoining No. 6 was recorded as the property of a Mr. George Suffern (1843 Belfast Street Directory). By Griffith’s Valuation (1860) ownership of both nos 5 and 6 College Square North had passed to a Mr. Murray Suffern (presumably the son, or other relative, of George Suffern). Despite the 1852 Belfast Street Directory recording that No. 5 had been occupied by a Mr. Henry Hawkins (who was employed in the Bank Buildings on Castle Street), the valuer continued to record the Campbell family as occupants in 1860; the value of Hawkins dwelling had increased to £52 since the 1830s. In 1852 No. 6 College Square North had been occupied by a Mr. John Taylor who was employed in the Ulster Bank, however by Griffith’s Valuation the site had come into the possession of Robert Patterson, a hardware merchant and ironmonger who possessed premises on High Street; No. 6 was valued at £57 in 1860. The occupants of nos 5 and 6 College Square North continued to change over the following decades; in 1868 No. 5 was occupied by a Mr. C. Bradell, a Corn Agent. Robert Patterson remained at No. 6 until at least 1877 when a Mrs. Herdman was recorded as tenant; in that same year a Dr. Alex Harkin was recorded as occupant of No. 5. College Square North was a popular and affluent residential area and was frequently occupied by doctors and those in high professions; Alex Harkin (1818-1894), who represents the professional class that resided in the area, became medical officer for the Belfast Constabulary in 1864 and was appointed a magistrate J.P. In 1869. Harkin was one of the earliest medical officers appointed under the Poor Law, later becoming president of the Ulster Medical Society and consulting physician to the Mater Infirmorum Hospital (Obituary – British Medical Journal). Nos 5 and 6 College Square North remained separate buildings until c. 1894; in that year the Annual Revisions note that the two former residences were combined into a single property under John Walker Hicks who converted the site into a hotel; the conversion increased the value of the site to £135. The first detailed assessment of the new hotel, which was known as the Hotel Metropole, was carried out under the 1900 Belfast Revaluation. The revaluation reported that Hicks, who leased the site from a Ms. Matilda H. McNaughton, purchased the lease in 1894 and paid an annual rent of over £165; the enumerator mistakenly recorded the date of the building as approximately 90 years of age but noted that the four-storey building consisted of 24 rooms (excluding kitchens), was fitted with gas installations and possessed 14 guest bedrooms. The hotel was increased in value to £170 in 1900 under the revaluation. The 1901 Census of Belfast notes that John Hicks (38, Church of Ireland) resided at the hotel with his wife Marie Elizabeth (36) and their three infant children. Hicks employed a number of staff including a manageress, a cook, maids, waiters and a nurse; the census building return described the Metropole as a 1st class hotel that possessed two stables and two coach houses to the rear of the establishment (now demolished). The 1901 Belfast Street Directory also noted that nos 5-6 College Square North was also occupied by the Hibernian Vitagraph Co. A firm that dealt in ‘Cinematographs, Gramaphones, Phonographs, Optical Lanterns and Photographic Apparatus.’ The success of the Hotel Metropole, once a well-placed establishment in the centre of Belfast, began to wane after the construction of the Belfast Technical College at the corner of College Square East and North in 1900; upon the completion of the 'tech', the hotel was separated from the green and lost its view, and by 1907 Hicks was forced to vacate the site. From 1907 nos 5-6 College Square North was utilised as a mission hall for the Adult Deaf and Dumb Organisation. Upon coming into possession of the site the value of the building was reduced to £145 and this was not altered by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930. In 1935 the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland increased the value of nos 5-6 College Square North to £180; the building escaped any damage during the Belfast Blitz and after the end of the Second World War the value of the building was once more reassessed. By the Second Revaluation, which commenced in 1956, nos 5-6 College Square North continued to be occupied by the Adult Deaf and Dumb Organisation and by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value of the building stood at £328. College Square was laid out in the early-19th century as a large open square containing the newly established Royal Belfast Academical Institution; in the mid-to-late-19th century College Square North was one of the most desirable areas in Belfast and attracted many professionals, including doctors and businessmen, however when the Belfast Technical College was constructed at the corner of the square and cut off the view of the Academy’s lawns, many of the professionals moved to University Square beside Queens University (Brett, p. 20; Patton, p. 74). Both Larmour and Patton suggest that nos 5-6 College Square North were designed by the architect Thomas Jackson (1807-90); Jackson, who also designed the adjoining Museum Building in a similar Greek styling, was a Belfast-based architect who became a partner of Thomas Duff of Newry in 1829. The Dictionary of Irish Architects writes that ‘Jackson was primarily a domestic architect, though he turned his hand to buildings of every type, commercial, industrial, educational, and ecclesiastical;’ in 1869 he went on to design Belfast’s Town Hall (HB26/50/044) and became the preferred architect to the Ulster Bank (Larmour, p. 7; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Nos 5-6 College Square North continued to be utilised as an educational establishment for the deaf at the time of its listing in 1977. Patton states that the ground-level windows with overhead corbelled pediments signify where the two original entrance doors used to be located before the central-bay doorcase with overhead fanlight was added. Photographs of the adjoining terrace (comprising nos 1-4 College Square) show that the neighbouring buildings were of similar style to nos 5-6 and were likely of a contemporary build date, however these four dwellings were demolished in the 1970s after a bomb attack severely damaged the row; the First Survey Image shows that the row had been demolished by that time and that the former Metropole Hotel and Institute for the Deaf may have been damaged in the attack (a number of the windows had been boarded up despite the building being in use at the time) (Patton, pp 75-77). Nos 5-6 College Square North continues to be owned by the Ulster Institute of the Deaf, however at the time of the Second Survey the building lay vacant; the large two-storey concrete return located to the rear of the building appears to have been constructed in the mid-20th century, however it is not clear whether this return is the one that was depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1959. 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/720A-B – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/5D – Griffith’s Valuation 1860 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/E/1-24 – Annual Revisions 1862-1930 9. PRONI VAL/7/B/12/20 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/18 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/37 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72 12. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823) 13. British Medical Journal (13 Jan 1894) 14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) 15. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1943) 16. First Survey Record – HB26/50/102 (1970) 17. First Survey Image – HB26/50/102 (1974) 18. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 3. 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 K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A four-storey seven-bay stucco terraced building of c1830, probably by Thomas Jackson, with Greek Revival details, forming one of a terrace of fine early 19thC townhouses. This house is of note due to its scale and historic change as representing the development of this part of Belfast in the early 19th century. It forms part of a group described as the best surviving example of an 1830s terrace in Belfast, with the plain Georgian character of the terrace and its historic interest significant as a surviving part of Georgian Belfast, similar to the houses at 7-11 Wellington Place.

General Comments

Record renumbered from HB 26/50/102 to HB 26/50/102A

Date of Survey

16 January 2013