Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/191

Address :
63-73 Royal Avenue 7-13 Lower Garfield Street Belfast County Antrim BT1

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
02/10/1989 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Office

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/13 NE

IG Ref:
J3376 7452

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Four storey building, with attic, on the corner of Royal Avenue and Garfield Street. Built in 1883, designed by Young and Mackenzie in Baroque style. Roof is pitched slate, conical roofed corner turret with weather vane. Rainwater pipes are cast iron. Brick chimney with rendered coping. The walls are of English garden wall bonded red brick, parapet with dormers, giant pilasters at corners; semi-circular rendered dormer heads with decorated tympanum, dentilled string at eaves level, moulded strings and architraves. The dormer windows are flat arched with exaggerated render keystones; those to the turret are semi-circular arches with moulded pilasters and archivolts, exaggerated keystones, centred over are occuli with rendered surrounds. The third floor openings are shallow segmental arches with rendered architraves and exaggerated keystones; second floor are semi-circular arches with fluted pilasters, foliate capitals, moulded archivolts, exaggerated keystones and sunrise tympanum; the first floor windows are flat-lintelled full-storey height and full width between fluted pilasters with zoomorphic decorated panels and foliate capitals. The windows are metal frame replacements to upper floors, timber replacements to first floor. The ground floor fascia and shop fronts are modern replacements. The west elevation is 8 windows wide (3/2/3) with 3 dormers, the curved corner of 3 windows is to the south. The south elevation is 8 windows wide with 4 dormers. The east elevation is plain brickwork with flat arched windows, 4 in width. Setting This building occupies the north corner of busy 65-73 Royal Avenue and pedestrian 7-13 Garfield Street. The corner turret is a landmark looking north along Royal Avenue. Within the same block on the east side of Royal Avenue are HB26/50/185 and HB26/50/186. Roof: natural slate Walls: brick Windows: metal RWGs: cast iron.

Architects

Young & Mackenzie

Historical Information

Nos 65-73 Royal Avenue, a four-storey brick building (which is also known as Spencer House), was constructed in 1883 to designs by Young & Mackenzie. The architectural firm was formed between Robert Young and John Mackenzie in 1868 and in 1882 the firm had also designed the nearby nos 31-39 Royal Avenue (see HB26/50/226); the Dictionary of Irish Architects records that ‘by the beginning of the twentieth century Young & Mackenzie had developed the most successful architectural practice in Belfast … and had also received some of the most important commercial commissions in the city (Dictionary of Irish Architects). Spencer House was erected as part of the Royal Avenue redevelopment of 1880-81 and also extended into nos 7-13 Lower Garfield Street; the building was originally occupied by J. C. Mayrs & Co. Ltd., ‘cabinet makers, upholsterers and general house furnishers’ who occupied the ground floor retail unit and all of the upper offices (Belfast Street Directory – 1900). The Annual Revisions initially valued nos 65-73 Royal Avenue at £515. There was little change to Spencer House over the following decades; the Belfast Revaluation increased the total rateable value of the building to £875 in 1900. In that year the valuer noted that construction of nos 65 73 Royal Avenue cost a total of £8384 19s. 6d. whilst the building consisted of two shops at ground level, eight showrooms between the first and second floor, whilst six storerooms made up the upper floors. By the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of Spencer House had been raised to £940, the valuer describing Mayrs’ business as a ‘furniture warehouse.’ J. C. Mayrs & Co. Ltd. continued to operate from its premises on Royal Avenue for a period of almost fifty years. The depression of the Irish textile industry in the interwar years resulted in the closure of many manufacturers in Belfast and Northern Ireland in general; the Belfast Gazette recorded that on 6th August 1929, after a meeting of the management, it was decided to place J. C. Mayrs’ & Co. Ltd. into voluntary liquidation (Belfast Gazette). By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) nos 65-73 Royal Avenue had been taken over by Sinclair & Co., a drapers firm who also occupied a department store at nos 89-101 Royal Avenue (see HB26/50/186A-B) and utilised Spencer House as additional retail and showroom space. Under the revaluation Sinclair & Co.’s premises were increased in value to £2,140; there was no further revaluation undertaken for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the Second World War. Sinclair & Co. continued to occupy Spencer House under the Second Revaluation (1956-72); by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the store had been increased in value to £4,184. Nos 65-73 Royal Avenue is one of many commercial properties erected on the newly created boulevard of Royal Avenue which was laid out in 1880-81 by the surveyor J. C. Bretland (who in the process relocated approximately 4,000 people). Prior to the redevelopment of the area Donegall Place and Hercules Street (the precursor to Royal Avenue) were divided by an additional line of buildings located on the eastern side of the current street. The demolition and clearing of Hercules Place and Hercules Street created the long open boulevard which now extends from Donegall Square to York Street; however it required the destruction of almost all the buildings on the street pre-dating the 1880s. The only building to survive the clearing of the area is the former Provisional Bank of Ireland (HB26/50/106) which continues to occupy the original line of Hercules Place (a narrow square that linked Donegall Place to Hercules Street) and as a result is set further back in the street than the adjoining buildings (Brett, p. 40; Patton, p. 282; p. 286). Nos 65-73 Royal Avenue was listed in 1989; Patton, writing in 1993, described Spencer House as a ‘four-storey building in brick and stucco, with conical corner turret and weathercock … first floor largely glazed, divided by fluted chamfered piers with different vaguely Ionic capitals above a series of witty zoomorphic panels; an owl with prey under a crescent moon, an eagle under a smiling sun, a pike standing on its tail in front of a bulrush a water snail and a water lily, a pot bellied heron, a parrot in a fruit tree, and so on. Dormers with deeply projecting segmental pediments, above dentilled main cornice’ (Patton, p. 284). Spencer House continues to be utilised as commercial premises; in keeping with its connection to the Irish textile industry, the current occupants of the main ground floor unit are merchants of Irish linen. 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/E/1-13 – Annual Revisions 1862-1896 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/17-44 – Annual Revisions 1897-1930 7. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/22 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/41 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72 10. Belfast Gazette (6 Aug 1929) 11. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1918) 12. First Survey Image – HB26/50/191 (1977) 13. Ordnance Survey map 130-13NE (1959-60) 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 J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

A four storey commercial building built in 1883 to designs by Young and Mackenzie. Baroque style with attic and corner turret and exhibiting some unusual stucco moulding. Although compromised by modern alterations, much historic fabric and detailing survives. The building represents the ongoing development of commerce in the city centre. This is a good example of the minor works of an architectural practice of note.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 February 2013