Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/294

Address :
18-22 Hill Street Belfast Co Antrim BT1 2LA

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
30/09/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Warehouse

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13NE

IG Ref:
J3401 7458

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Owner Category

Commercial Miscellaneous

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached two-storey former warehouse, built c.1850 and now horizontally divided to contain performance space and bar at ground floor (No.20 and 22) and office space at first floor (No.18). Rectangular-on-plan facing east onto Hill Street, extended at south and west. Pitched natural slate roof, blue/black ridge tiles, lead-valleys at attached building, two smooth-rendered gable chimneystacks with corbelled bellcast coping and three clay pots at north, deep moulded eaves course supporting ogee profile cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are painted smooth render with torus moulded plinth, continuous projecting flat sill course at ground floor and continuous ogee moulded sill course at first floor; moulded string course above first floor windows. Windows remain largely intact comprising aVenetian arrangement contained with a pointed arched frame with enriched barley twist colonettes surmounting in small carved capital from which the paired segmental arches begin. Frame is entirely surface fixed to one sheet of replacement glazing for each ground floor window. Decorative surface fixed roundels located above and between all ground floor openings. First floor windows segmental arched 2/2 timber sashes with horns unless otherwise stated. Principal east elevation comprises principal entrance at left, replacement double timber panelled entrance doors are surmounted by paired segmental arched glazing panels with glazed roundel (similar detail to ground floor windows). Roundel contains painted inscription ‘18’. Entrance contained within segmental pointed arch with torus moulded architrave. Right of principal pedestrian entrance is the former carriage arch vehicular entrance which now also provides pedestrian access only to No.20 and 22. The segmental carriage arch contains double diagonally sheeted entrance doors with cast-iron strap hinges and replacement external painted steel gates, a deeper moulded architrave contains a decorative figuratively carved key block at centre. Three windows at left of carriage arch. Five windows at first floor, each located directly above a ground floor opening. South gable is attached by modern three-storey red-brick extension, of no interest. West elevation is abutted at ground floor by single-storey extension connecting to east block to a modern five-storey block at west. Single-storey extension is partially glazed where is abuts the east block providing light to the ground floor rooms of No.20 and 22. Exposed section at first floor contains four square headed 1/1 timber sashes at right, projecting box-bay window at left with leaded flat roof, bay comprises 2/2 horizontally divided timber sash at north and south and paired 2/2 horizontally divided timber sashes at west. To the east side of the glazed lean-to roof a paved walkway with mild steel handrail provides external access (for maintenance purposes only). North gable is smooth rendered and fully painted with a monochrome mural. West five-storey extension is of no interest. Setting Set on a city centre site to the west side of Hill Street, Belfast. Street fronted to paved footpath, with original cobbles to street. Enclosed to south and west by adjacent buildings. Car parking provided at north bounded at north by metal railings enclosing car parking from Exchange Place. Roof Natural Slate RWG cast-iron Walling render Windows Timber

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Nos 18-22 Hill Street, a two-storey former warehouse, was constructed in c. 1850, however the current façade is a complete rebuild constructed in 1871. The building was first recorded with certainty in the 1852 Belfast Street Directory which noted that it was the property of a Mr. Robert Atkinson, a commission merchant, general agent and broker who resided in Holywood. In 1859 Griffith’s Valuation recorded that Atkinson’s stores and offices were valued at £83, the lease owned by a Mr. Edward D. Atkinson (an unknown relative of Robert Atkinson). In 1866 the lease passed to a Rev. Canon Babington and in 1871 the front of the building was completely rebuilt resulting in the current appearance and the increase in the value of the warehouse to £77. Atkinson continued to occupy the warehouse until sometime before 1900 when the property was acquired by Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd., English Brewers whose main offices were based at Burton-on-Trent (the company was founded in 1777 and continues to manufacture beer from its original headquarters under the name ‘Bass’); Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton likely took over Atkinson’s former warehouse by 1896 when an additional store and offices, valued at £30, were constructed to the rear of the former building. The Belfast Revaluation included a plan of the warehouse which depicted a large L-shaped return to the rear of the building; this has been demolished in recent years but in 1900 contained a stable block utilised for delivering licensed goods. The warehouse was increased in value to £150 under the revaluation; the valuer noted that the building was installed with gas fittings and had been purchased from Robert Atkinson for a fee of £2,000. Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton continued to occupy the site on Hill Street until the mid-20th century; in 1909 the rateable value of the warehouse was reduced to £130 (the reason was not recorded in the Annual Revisions), however in 1921 this was increased to £166 when the upper floor workrooms were leased out to Arthur McKinney (the 1918 Belfast Street Directories recorded a linen merchant named Arthur McKinney who resided at 4 Sandhurst Road, although it is not known whether this is the same occupant of the warehouse on Hill Street). There was no change to the value of the site by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930; however, the value of the warehouse was decreased slightly to £140 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935. Bass’s warehouse survived the heavy bombardment of the Belfast Docklands during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World War was included in the second revaluation of property which commenced in 1956. By 1956 Bass had vacated the warehouse but continued to lease the site out to other occupants; the valuer noted that the building was subdivided into two separate addresses at that time, No. 18 (the upper floor) and nos 20-22 Hill Street (the ground level). No. 18 Hill Street was occupied by Irwin & Campbell Ltd., a Scottish metal supplier, and was valued at £96, whilst nos 20-22 Hill Street was utilised by David Bell & Co. Ltd. And was valued at £268 by the end of the revaluation in 1972. Hill Street, a narrow street running from Waring Street to Talbot Street, was first depicted on the 1757 map of Belfast as an entry running off Waring Street; the entry was originally known as Pott-house Lane due to the presence of a pottery shop along the street. By the 1822 map of Belfast, included in George Benn’s ‘The History of the Town of Belfast,’ the current layout of the street had been formed; various structures lined the street including private dwellings, a foundry and, in the mid-to-late-19th century, numerous public houses and licenced properties (Patton, p. 192). Patton states that the building was constructed in c. 1850; however it is possible that the building possesses an earlier history. In 1843 the Belfast Street Directories noted that a Mr. Henry Steen, a provision merchant, operated from premises on Hill Street next to Elliot’s Court (the same location that Robert Atkinson was recorded from a decade later). The original construction date of the building is difficult to ascertain due to the extensive refronting of the property in 1871 resulting in the current façade. Patton noted the ‘interesting detail’ incorporated into the façade of nos 18-22 Hill Street describing the building in the following terms: ‘central carriageway entrance has chevron-sheeted doors with ornamental hinges, and large head in a garland of roses on keystone; other ground floor opes depressed lancets containing paired windows with barley-sugar columns under circular lights; roundels between windows contain carved shamrock, thistle, eagle, rose and motif of three barrels, emblematic of the various breweries whose wares were distributed from there’ (Patton, p. 193). Nos 18-22 Hill Street was listed in 1981 by which time it had been subdivided into three addresses, nos 18, 20 and 22 Hill Street which were each utilised as offices; the First Survey Image records that by the 1980s the ground floor windows facing onto Hill Street had been blocked up while the building was still occupied by Irwin & Campbell. Further, the stable block located to the rear of the building was demolished sometime in the late-20th century when the modern extension to the rear of the building was constructed. The site continued to be utilised as offices until 2006 when the current occupants came into possession of the building and converted the former licensed warehouse into the diverse culture and arts venue named the Black Box. The Black Box continues to occupy the building and has been established as one of the principal arts and entertainment venues in the city, ‘a home for live music, theatre, literature, comedy, film, visual art, live art, circus, cabaret and all points in between’ (Black Box website). 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/2/B/7/3A – Griffith’s Valuation 1859 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930 7. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/12 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/40 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 10. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823) 11. First Survey Record – HB26/50/154 (No Date) 12. First Survey Image – HB26/50/154 (1980) 13. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13NE (1959-60) Secondary Sources 1. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 Online Resources 1. Black Box website - http://www.blackboxbelfast.com/

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Attached two-storey former warehouse remodelled to accommodate cultural space at ground floor (No 20 and 22) and office space at first floor (No 18), built c.1850, remodelled c.1871. Rectangular-on-plan facing east, extended at south and west. Despite much interior remodelling and substantial removal of interior detailing the building much historic fabric survives with an architecturally significant façade enriched with restrained but good quality Victorian detailing. The building is a good example of the type of warehouse characteristic of the ongoing development of an early part of Belfast and originating in the early commerce and industry of the City.

General Comments

The building covered by this record was formerly recorded under three separate references, HB26/50/154A-C & HB26/50/154 A referred to No.18, B to No 20 and C to No 22.

Date of Survey

17 October 2012