Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/30/015 C

Address :
Pizza Express 25 Bedford Street Belfast County Antrim BT2 7EJ

Townland:
Town Parks

---

Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
22/03/1984 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop

Former Use
Warehouse

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
130/13 SE

IG Ref:
J3375 7367

---

Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical five-bay, three-storey-with-attic, terraced red-brick restaurant in Lombardic-style; formerly a linen warehouse incorporating HB26/30/015 A&B; built 1871 to designs by John Boyd and located to the west side of Bedford Street in Belfast city centre. Rectangular-on-plan with bowed front façade and single-storey modern extension to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with yellow brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting masonry eaves with arcaded lombardic frieze eaves course. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with yellow brick dressings; dog-tooth string course to second floor windows at impost level. Windows are segmental and round-headed 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash replacements, in yellow brick chamfered surrounds having ornamented painted masonry keystones and corner stones, and projecting painted masonry sills. The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged with two windows to either side of a gabled entrance bay. Double-height recess rising from the first floor sill course, embracing loggia-style window and an oculus above. Tripartite window to attic, oculus with carved head to keystone, and corbelled and dentilled plinth to loggia-style window. Double-leaf raised-and fielded six-panel entrance door with segmental-headed transom light, in a decorative painted masonry lugged surround with moulded architrave. The south elevation is abutted by adjoining building. The west (rear) elevation is five windows wide to second floor; first floor has four windows and abutment under lean-to roof to far left. Ground floor is concealed. The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building; HB26/30/015B. Setting: Located on an important thoroughfare in the centre of the city, north of the junction with Ormeau Avenue and south of the City Hall. Tarmacadamed alley to rear. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Flemish-bonded red-brick Windows: Replacement timber-framed sliding sash RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Boyd, John

Historical Information

The current building dates from 1871 and was built to designs by John Boyd as warehouses for William Ferguson, linen merchant (Patton) The warehouses were constructed on what was then a new road called Bedford Street that had been laid out in the 1850s in an area formerly known as McLean’s fields. Adam McLean was a linen draper and property developer who came into possession of the area between 1805 and 1826. It was slow to develop, however, the damp floodplain of the river Blackstaff making the site unattractive. However, spinning and weaving factories had colonised the western side of the street by the second edition OS map of 1858, following drainage of the area. (Brett) The new warehouses are first shown on the 1871-3 street map of Belfast and appear to have initially been let by the Ferguson firm to other enterprises. They first enter valuation records between 1863 and 1881/2 but the initial entry is not dated. (Annual Revisions) The first occupier to be recorded in number 25 is Gabriel A Bulloch, shirt and shirting manufacturer who leases the warehouse from William Ferguson. The valuation is £127. By the 1880s the warehouse is being let room by room and Gabriel Bulloch has been joined by Samuel McBride, linen merchant. By 1888 the ownership of the building has passed to John Ferguson & Co which is described in a contemporary work as ‘among the oldest and most respectable concerns engaged in the Ulster linen trade having been founded more than a century ago by an ancestor of the present proprietor’ (presumably William Ferguson - Industries of the North). John Ferguson & Co occupy the ground floor of the building and other floors are let to Nicholson & Douglas, handkerchief manufacturers and Wilson, Malcolmson & Co. (Annual Revisions) By 1902 only Nicholson and Sons remain and they are joined by Galloway & Co linen manufacturers. Over the years a multitude of linen firms pass through the building: John Patterson & Co, linen manufacturers (1904-1910), William Walker & Co Ltd, linen and damask manufacturers (1911-1926), Abernethy & Magnus Ltd, handkerchief manufacturers (1927-1931) Bamford Bleach Works Ltd (1937-1945) Thomas Sinton & Co Ltd, linen manufacturers (1937-1946) Jospeh H Capper & Co Ltd, linen manufacturers (1939-1949) Ballymena Manufacturing Co Ltd, linen manufacturers (1950-1960) and John Wilson & Son, linen manufacturers (1950-1960). However in the 1950s non-linen manufacturing firms began to be seen for the first time, Glenwell Holdings Ltd land investments taking offices in the building in 1958. By 1962 the building had been taken over by the Belfast and Ulster Licensed Vintners’ Association and JRW Murland, a consulting engineer and nearly a century of association with linen manufacture had come to an end. The building currently functions as a restaurant. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/8/30/1/36 – Belfast Street Map (1858) 2. PRONI OS/8/30/2/36 – Belfast Street Map (1871-3) 3. PRONI OS/8/30/3/36 – Belfast Street Map (1883-4) 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930) 5. PRONI VAL/12/F/3/14/1 – Annual Revisions (1930-1935) 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/14/B – Belfast Revaluation Fieldbooks (1900-1) 7. Belfast Street Directories (1902-1995) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B., Gillespie, R. and Maguire W.A. “Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850, Maps Buildings and Trades” Dublin and Belfast: Royal Irish Academy and Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 2004 2. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical five-bay, three-storey-with-attic, terraced red-brick building in Lombardic style; built 1871 to designs by John Boyd and located to the west side of Bedford Street in Belfast city centre. Formerly a linen warehouse, incorporating numbers 21 and 23 (HB26/30/015 A&B) with an unusual bowed façade. This is one of a number of nineteenth-century linen warehouses that characterise the social and economic development of Belfast during the Victorian era. Externally, proportions and detailing have largely retained much of its original character, with some sympathetic restoration over the years. Although the warehouse has been subdivided into three separate properties, the building retains its architectural integrity. Number 25 adds significant value to the group as a whole, retaining the style and proportions of the terrace and contributing positively to its overall character.

General Comments

Date of Survey

04 May 2011