Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/299 B

Address :
20-22 Castle Place Belfast Co Antrim BT1 1EL

Townland:
Town Parks.

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
26/06/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop

Former Use
Shop

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13

IG Ref:
J3385 7430

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

"Four storey red brick building with lancet windows and details in black brick and painted stonework. Original iron cresting at parapet now removed." - Central Belfast A Historical Gazeteer UAHS Terraced multi-bay four-storey red brick commercial building, built c.1866, to the designs of Thomas Jackson with replacement shopfront spanning the ground floor. Irregular on plan facing north onto Castle Place. Flat roof hidden behind rebuilt grey brick parapet with lead-lined stone eaves course on stone brackets and angled yellow brick. Parapet and eaves flanked by sandstone console brackets with cast-iron downpipe breaking through to the west end. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with black brick courses framing each floor. Chamfered pointed-headed window openings with splayed flush sills, formed in flush painted stone surrounds and replacement timber casement windows. Front elevation is four windows wide, paired to the first and second floors with a series of eight diminutive pointed-headed window openings to the third floor. First floor windows are deeply set with a central polished granite colonettes to each pair having stiff-leaf capitals. Replacement timber-clad shopfront to the ground floor with glazed doors and shopfront, inserted c.1990. East side elevation abutted by adjoining building (HB26/50/097A), now interconnected at ground floor level. Rear elevation not seen. West side elevation abutted by adjoining mid twentieth-century commercial building. Setting: Facing north onto Castle Place in the commercial centre of Belfast city centre. Roof Flat RWG Cast-iron Walling Red brick Windows Replacement timber casement

Architects

Jackson, Thomas

Historical Information

The Ulster Medical Hall was founded here by Dr Cantrell, manufacturer of aerated and mineral waters (factory at Arthur Place) , taken over c.1875 by Davidson & Leslie who held one of the largest stocks in Ireland of homeopathic medicines - source Central Belfast A Historical Gazeteer UAHS Nos 20-22 Castle Place, a four-storey Victorian building was constructed in 1866, predating the adjoining Castle Buildings (HB26/50/097A) by forty years; the original ground floor shopfront has been removed with the expansion of the unit to include the adjoining No. 18 Castle Place, however the upper three floors of the building retains its Victorian character and has undergone only minor alterations over the last 150 years. The Irish Builder records that Nos 20-22 Castle Place was designed by Thomas Jackson (1807-1890) a Belfast-based architect who was described as ‘primarily a domestic architect, though he turned his hand to buildings of every type, commercial, industrial, educational and ecclesiastical.’ One of the chief engineers of mid-Victorian Belfast, Jackson’s other notable contracts were the Old Museum at College Square North (HB26/50/112) and St. Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church (HB26/30/023A) on Alfred Street (Irish Builder, p. 21; Dictionary of Irish Architects). When originally completed nos 20-22 Castle Place was valued at £224 and consisted of a ground floor shop with offices occupying the upper floors. The ground floor shop was occupied by Dr. Thomas J. Cantrell who operated an apothecary and chemist business known as the Ulster Medical Hall and also established a mineral water business supplied from his factory in Arthur Place, whilst the upper floors were utilised as a public reading room and a billiards hall (Belfast Street Directory – 1868). Photographs of the building from the turn of the 20th century depict the original ground floor shop possessed similar gothic features as the upper floor windows with two lancet entranceways framing a central shopfront. By at least 1877 the property had passed from Cantrell to Davidson & Leslie, pharmaceutical chemists who continued to operate from the site for over 80 years. In 1877 Davidson & Leslie occupied the ground floor shop whilst the upper floors were let by F. A. Piccione & Co. who operated a photographic studio from the top floor, and William Crawford Jnr. & Co., a stock broker and insurance agent, occupied the central floors (Belfast Street Directory – 1877). By the 1900 Belfast Revaluation Davidson & Leslie had renamed their business Davidson & Hardy, however the building continued to be known as the Ulster medical Hall. The revaluation increased the total rateable value of nos 20-22 Castle Place to £374 and recorded that the upper floors of the building had only recently been damaged by a fire, in 1900 repair work had not yet been undertaken. By 1901 the occupants of the upper floors were James Sands, a superintendent of the Scottish Imperial Insurance Co., W. & R. Hancock, a solicitors firm; the top floor continued to be utilised as a photography studio, however at that time it was known as the London and Paris Photographic Art Studio and was operated by a Mr. G. Kennedy (Belfast Street Directory – 1901). Davidson & Hardy continued to occupy the ground floor unit until the 1950s; between 1908 and 1910 a dental institute had its offices in one of the upper floors whilst the top floor continued to be utilised as a photographic studio then known as the Castle Studio. By the end of the Annual Revisions, which were cancelled in 1930, the total value of nos 20-22 Castle Place had been increased to £385. By the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the upper floors of the building had been acquired by Davidson & Hardy who utilised the space as storage space for their pharmaceutical firm; in that year the total value of the building had been raised to £660. Nos 20-22 Castle Place survived the heavy bombardment of Belfast’s city centre during the 1941 Blitz when the majority of neighbouring High Street was demolished by falling bombs. In the aftermath of the war Davidson & Hardy’s chemists was included in the second revaluation; however in 1958 the ground floor shop was acquired by Wallis’s clothing store which also owned the adjoining No. 18 Castle Place (the westernmost unit of the Castle Buildings). The ground floors of No. 18 and nos 20-22 Castle Place were converted into a single retail unit; as a result of the conversion the original gothic shopfront was removed and a plain modern replacement installed. By the end of the second revaluation in 1972 the total joint value of nos 18-22 Castle Place had been increased to £660. Nos 20-22 is one of only two 19th century commercial buildings (the other being nos 17-21 Castle Place (HB26/50/152)) that have survived the demolition and commercial redevelopment of Castle Place which Patton described as ‘the hub of Victorian Belfast.’ Castle Place was originally part of High Street and the 1685 map of Belfast notes that it ran along the original flow of the river Farset; Belfast Castle (burned down in 1708) was located on the south side of the river and lent its name to the streets, lanes and entries of the immediate area. By 1791 the western portion of High Street was known as Grand Parade and was an area frequently utilised for military processions (in the late-18th century the Volunteers marched through the street as part of their Bastille Day celebrations). The thoroughfare was not renamed Castle Place until the early-19th century and nos 20-22 Castle Place (along with the adjoining Castle Buildings) lies on almost the exact location of the original Belfast Castle (Patton, p. 53). The first occupant of nos 20-22 Castle Place was Dr. Thomas Cantrell who was a chemist and also founded the aerated and mineral water company of Cantrell & Cochrane (C & C), which was the largest mineral water manufacturer in Belfast (whose main competitors were William A. Ross & Co. whose main factory was based at William Street South (HB26/50/177). Cantrell’s first shop was opened in 1852 however he moved to Castle Place in 1866 when the current building was erected as the Ulster Medical Hall; Cantrell formed a partnership with Alderman Henry Cochrane facilitating the expansion of the business and resulting in the vacation of the Castle Place property. Davidson & Leslie (by c. 1900 Davidson & Hardy) occupied nos 20-22 Castle Place between c. 1877 and 1958; Patton states that the pharmacists were one of the largest suppliers of homeopathic medicines in Ireland (Patton, p. 56). Nos 20-22 Castle Place was acquired by Wallis’s clothing store in 1958 when the ground floor Victorian shopfront was removed and replaced with a plain modern shopfront that extended into the adjoining No. 18 Castle Place combining a Victorian warehouse and an Edwardian Art Nouveau shop under a single address (nos 18-22 Castle Place). In 1979 nos 18-22 Castle Place was listed as a single building despite the stark differences in dates and styles of the two buildings. Nos 18-22 Castle Place continues to be utilised as a single commercial property. 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/D/1-14 – Annual Revisions 1862-1896 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/34-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930 8. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/27 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 9. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 10. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 11. Irish Builder, Vol. 9 (15 Jan 1867) 12. Belfast Street Directories (1852-1943) 13. First Survey Image – HB26/50/097 (1977) 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

U. Historic Associations V. Authorship Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance X. Local Interest R. Age

Evaluation

Terraced multi-bay four-storey red brick commercial building built c1866 to the designs of Thomas Jackson and loctated in the commercial centre of Belfast. Built for Messrs Cantrell as the Ulster Medical Hall, founded by Dr. Cantrell, the building represents the site of the C&C drinks company. While the ground floor interior is now interconnected into the adjacent building (HB26/50/299A) and has been modernised, much original detailing remains to the front façade upper floors such as the chamfered pointed-headed window openings with splayed flush sills. This fine detailing and ornamentation, the historic associations with the C&C drinks company and the fact that the building was designed by an architect of note add to its interest.

General Comments

Renumbered previously HB26/50/097D

Date of Survey

07 January 2013