Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/303 C

Address :
6 Murray Street Belfast County Antrim BT1 5HD

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
21/08/2015 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Warehouse

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:
J3344 7397

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Asymmetrical end-of-terrace five-storey brick and stone commercial Jacobethan-style former warehouse, dated 1910, as one of four similar buildings to the designs of James Hanna. Rectangular on plan facing east and located in a cul-de-sac on the west side of College Square East. Roof not visible behind red brick parapet wall with sandstone coping. Machine-made red brick walling laid in English garden wall bond. Square-headed window openings with sandstone frames, moulded sandstone sills and uPVC windows. Asymmetrical front elevation is three windows wide with a three-tier canted oriel window to the right and sandstone ashlar ground floor. Raised section to the right surmounted by a red brick chimneystack and having an oval window opening formed in voussoired sandstone with keystones, that to the top framed by decorative brackets and a pair of decorative foliate corbels to either end of the projection. First, second and third floor windows are bipartite to the left and quadripartite to the right. Quadripartite window spans the fourth floor comprising a series of columns with cushion capitals resting on a single bracketed sill course with frieze and cornice over. Sandstone ashlar walling to the ground floor surmounted by a deep moulded cornice with raised plinth course and two tripartite window openings. Shallow canted oriel window to the right bay with corbelled base forming part of the ground floor having a foliate course. Voussoired round-headed door opening to the left with three keystones and carved panel over with raised lettering stating; ‘G.McL & Co Ltd’ surmounted by a scrolled pediment filled with shamrocks and digits ‘1910’. Double-leaf timber panelled doors with raised-and-fielded panels, scrolled timber head, vertical overlights and pair of timber panels to either side. Door opens onto front pavement with mosaic tiled panel stating; ‘Glendinning McLeish & Co. Lmited’. South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.5 (HB26/50/303B). West rear elevation is clad in steel sheeting. North side elevation is six windows wide and fronts onto the grounds of the Royal Academical Institution. Largely bipartite window openings with flush concrete lintel and sill courses. Setting Located on the south side of Murray Street, a cul-de-sac to the west of College Square East overlooking the grounds to the Royal Academical Institution (HB26/50/023). Roof : Not visible RWG : Not seen Walling : Red brick Windows: UPVC

Architects

Hanna, James A

Historical Information

Numbers 4-6 Murray Street and number 13-17 Grosvenor Road were constructed as four separate warehouses, three for handkerchief manufacturers (1908-10) and the fourth for a linen weaving company (1910-11) to designs by James A Hanna. The buildings are first shown on the sixth edition OS map of 1931. Number six Murray Street was built to designs by James A Hanna in 1908-10 for Glendinning McLeish & Co, handkerchief manufacturers. The building enters valuation records in 1911 as a warehouse and laundry valued at £700 with warerooms on the upper floors sublet as two separate holdings valued at £83 each. The firm had been established in Adelaide Street since 1886 but originated in New York in 1871, and traded largely with the American market (Industries of the North). Glendinning McLeish shared the building with a number of other organisations and businesses and in the 1950s, as the linen industry began to decline, diversified into property. Glendinning McLeish had vacated the building by 1970 and the building was vacant for a period in the 1980s but since 1990 has been occupied by bodies such as the Community Relations Council and the Eastern Health and Social Services Board. According to Larmour, Hanna’s warehouses are ‘the most interesting of the Edwardian era and the years immediately following’(Larmour), although a photograph of the building dating from 1917 shows that it has been considerably altered since construction, principally at the roof line (Irish Builder 1917). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931 3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-45 (1863-1930) 4. Street Directories (1900-1995) 5. Irish Builder 6th January 1917 Secondary Sources 1. “Industries of the North One Hundred Years Ago” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1986 (First published as ‘Industries of Ireland, Part 1. Belfast and the Towns of the North’ in 1891) 2. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987 3. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 4. www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Asymmetrical terraced six-storey brick and stone commercial building dated 1910 to designs by James A Hanna. Although the loss of original windows compromises the external appearance of this building, much historic fabric survives with decorative stone detailing, in a loosely Jacobethan idiom, repeated in the adjoining buildings. A major complex of buildings(HB26/50/303A-D) reflecting the growth in the textile industry in the early Twentieth century. The later changes in use to office and public administration are also reflective of the changing circumstances with respect to industry in the City centre .This group is the work of an architect of note and among the most interesting of the Edwardian era and the years immediately following.

General Comments

Date of Survey

19 April 2013