Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/170

Address :
The Morning Star 17-19 Pottinger's Entry BELFAST Co. Antrim BT1 4DT

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
31/01/1986 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Public House

Former Use
Public House

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:
J3407 7434

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached corner-sited rendered two-storey rendered public house with interconnected three-storey former house to the south, built c.1820, refaced c.1885, with matching stucco pub shopfronts spanning both front elevations and returning to the north side elevation. Rectangular on plan facing east onto Pottinger’s Entry with a two-storey extension abutting the rear, built c.2000. Pitched slate roofs to both sections having a profiled red brick chimneystack to the north party wall. Moulded cast-iron guttering on rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Replacement decorative timber bargeboard to the north gable with sheeted eaves. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with rusticated rendered quoins to the two-storey section, painted brick walling to the three-storey section. Square-headed window openings with kneed architrave surrounds, continuous concrete sill course and replacement single-pane hardwood sash windows to the two-storey section. Gauged brick segmental-headed window openings to the three-storey section with painted stone sills and timber sash windows; replacement single-pane to the first floor, horizontally-glazed 2/2 to the second floor. East front elevation to two-storey section is four windows wide with apron panels below first floor windows flanked by scrolled console brackets. Decorative painted stucco pub shopfront to the ground floor spanning across the north gabled elevation with a recessed angled corner entrance. Square-headed fixed-pane hardwood display windows with etched glazing (replacement uPVC to the north window) having decorative leaded overlights and flanked by Doric pilasters. Continuous moulded sill course spans across all pilasters with bolection moulded stall risers having ceramic roundels and full-span moulded plinth course. The door opening is surmounted by an overpanel with dentiled cornice and overlight and flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters with swags, that to the corner articulated as a free-standing pier and having tiled panels below the sill moulding. All pilasters support a full span timber fascia with gilt lettering; ‘Morning Star’ and a gilt acanthus embellished cornice over. The corner pier supports a gilt winged lion with replacement double-leaf hardwood glazed doors and terrazzo floor. The entrance is surmounted by a replacement glazed brass sign with a brass urn finial and supported on a decorative bowed wrought-iron frame, inserted c.2009. Three-storey section is three windows wide with a slightly lower painted stucco pub shopfront to the ground floor, detailed as per above with the fascia framed by shields embellished with star motifs. Square-headed door opening to the left with replacement timber panelled door providing access to the upper floors. South side elevation abutted by adjoining red brick infill building. West rear elevation abutted by two-storey flat-roofed extension, built c.1960 and fronting onto a short alley. North gabled side elevation is four windows wide, detailed as per front elevation with pub shopfront to the ground floor detailed as above. Setting Located at the southern end of Pottinger’s Entry with a short alley to the north side elevation and located between High Street to the north and Ann Street to the south. Roof : Slate RWG : Cast-iron Walling: render Windows: timber/uPVC

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The Morning Star Bar, a two-storey public house located at no's 17-19 Pottinger’s Entry, reputedly dates from c. 1820 whilst the current owners claim it to be one of the longest-operating licensed premises in Belfast. The building occupies the corner site of Pottinger’s Entry and Pottinger’s Court, and a structure is depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance survey map from 1832-33, however it is difficult to identify the building with certainty on either the Townland Valuations or the early Belfast Street Directories which record a number of buildings, none of which can be positively confirmed as the current building. The current building had certainly been erected by at least 1850 when the Hodges & Smith Belfast Street maps depicted the building along its current layout. Griffith’s Valuation recorded that the current two-storey building was occupied by John and William Riddel in 1860; the Riddel’s were iron and metal merchants who utilized the premises on Pottinger’s Entry as a store and workshop. The valuer noted that the building was valued at £25 in 1860; however by 1863 the site had been converted into a licensed ‘spirit shop and stores’ operated by a Mr. J. Steenman. Steenman was recorded as occupant of the site on the Annual Revisions between 1863 and 1881, although the Belfast Street Directories state that the ‘wine stores’ were administered by the Malcolmson Bros. in 1868, a Mr. George McChesney in 1877, and a Mr. William Nixon in 1880, presumably the publicans (Belfast Street Directories – 1868-1880. In 1892 the property was acquired by James McEntee and Henry McKenna, two publicans who also owned pubs in the area around Castle Street; in 1892 the property was recorded as a ‘Licensed House’ and had been increased in value to £65. McEntee and McKenna’s partnership had been dissolved by 1900 when the Belfast Revaluation noted that Henry McKenna was the sole occupied of the site; in that year the valuer increased the rateable value of the pub to £95 and noted that McKenna paid annual rent of £60 to William Riddel. Henry McKenna’s public house also included a bottling store which was located off Pottinger’s Entry in Pottinger’s Court (Belfast Street Directory – 1901). McKenna continued to operate the public house until 1926; in 1913 the site was first referred to as ‘The Morning Star Bar’ in the street directories. The Irish Builder records that in 1924 renovation work was carried out to the bar which repaired damaged received during an arson assault; the Morning Star Bar was burnt out in a sectarian attack, part of the sectarian violence common in the post-partition years of 1921-23; the renovation work was carried out by F. & J. McCardle, a short lived family partnership which operated between 1922 and 1925 (Irish Builder, p. 62; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the Morning Star Bar had been increased to £150; at that time the bar was administered by the Madden Bros., having passed from Henry McKenna in 1924. There was no further valuation of the pub carried out for the next two decades due to the disruption of the Second World War; the Morning Star Bar narrowly survived the Belfast Blitz of 1941 whilst many neighbouring building on High Street and Bridge Street were levelled. In the aftermath of the conflict the public house was increased in value to £383 at which it remained by the end of the second revaluation which was cancelled in 1972. Patton states that Pottinger’s Entry, a narrow passage running between High Street and Ann Street, was first depicted on the 1715 map of Belfast where it was called ‘Pottinger’s Lean;’ by a later map in 1791 it had been given its current name. The entry was named after the Pottingers, an influential family in the early history of Belfast town; in 1661 Thomas Pottinger was the Sovereign of Belfast, then a small market town, whilst his later descendent, Henry Pottinger worked for the British Empire and was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in the mid-19th century. Pottinger’s Entry lies in the historic centre of Belfast and was originally ‘a tightly packed lane of small houses and businesses,’ now lacking much of its original charm having been substantially rebuilt and widened (Patton, p. 265). The Morning Star is, without doubt, the earliest building currently standing on Pottinger’s Entry, however the exact construction date of the two-storey building is difficult to ascertain. The public house maintains a historic tradition stretching back as early as 1810 when the Belfast Newsletter supposedly made reference to the building as ‘one of the terminals for the Belfast to Dublin mail coach,’ however the building was likely not utilised as a public house or tavern at this time and it is not until 1863 that the building is first referred to as a licensed premises. Despite the uncertainty concerning its origins, both Patton and Law states that the building appears to date from the early-19th century (Law, p. 66; Patton, p. 266). Law and Patton assumed that the current building was occupied by the Scotch Oyster Bar in the mid-19th century; however this was in error as James Simpson’s Oyster House was situated further to the north along Pottinger’s Entry and continued to be recorded in the Belfast Street Directories alongside the Morning Star Bar building until at least 1901. The public house was refaced in 1892 when McEntee and McKenna took possession of the site and added its Victorian features; much of the current pub dates from the 1924 renovation of the building following a sectarian arson attack. Law states that the renovation was carried out shortly after the Madden Bros. Acquired the Morning Star Bar from McKenna in 1924; the Madden’s also owned the Ivy Bar in Church Lane, Dufferin House in Whitla Street, the Sportsman’s Arms in York Street and spirit stores in Duncairn Gardens. The current horseshoe bar and the exterior sign are amongst the features installed as a result of the Madden Bros. 1924 reconstruction (Law, pp 66-67). Having undergone a further extensive renovation in the 1960s, the Morning Star Bar was listed in 1986. Patton, writing in 1993, described the public house as a ‘two-storey stucco building of considerable character, tall pilastered front with etched glass windows and boldly moulded base panels; projecting sign in brass and glass with bronze urn on top; a winged lion stands guard over the corner entrance’ (Patton, p. 266). The features described, including the exterior sign, continue to adorn the facade of the public house. Although it is not possible to identify the exact origins of the Morning Star Bar, the building is at least significant as the sole surviving remnant of the now, irrevocably lost, streetscape of Pottingers Entry, one of Belfast’s original entries dating from at least the early-18th century. 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. VAL/1/B/720A-B – Townland Valuations c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/4A – Griffith’s Valuation 1860 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-42 - Annual Revisions 18-1930 9. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/30 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/41 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 12. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1918) 13. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850: Maps, buildings and trades’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2004. 2. Law, G., ‘Historic pubs of Belfast’ Belfast: Appletree Press, 2002. 3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 Online Resources 1. Morning Star Bar website - http://www.themorningstarbar.com/

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Attached corner-sited rendered two-storey rendered public house with interconnected three-storey former house to the south, built c.1820, refaced c.1885, with matching stucco pub shopfronts spanning both front elevations and returning to the north side elevation. Reputedly dating to c.1810, the principal building was extensively renovated for use as a public house c.1885. The adjoining property expresses a more domestic external appearance while the decorative pub shopfront unifies the composition. Although historic fabric and detailing have been compromised by alterations ongoing from the late 20th century, much character survives. As one of the few traditional pubs in the city centre, the Morning Star represents part of the social history of the Victorian city and forms the main focus of Pottinger’s Entry.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 December 2012