Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/020

Address :
Clarence House 4-10 May Street Upper / Arthur Street Belfast BT1 4NJ

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
20/06/1974 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:

Former Use
Office

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13SE

IG Ref:
J3397 7396

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Corner-sited asymmetrical multi-bay two-storey over basement with attic-storey polychromatic brick Venetian Gothic former Church of Ireland Offices, built c.1867, to the designs of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon (attributed to W.H.Lynn). Rectangular on plan, facing south, interior stripped out in 2007 for modern office use. Hipped natural slate roof with two tall polychromatic brick chimneystacks to the front pitch with stone coping and string courses. Ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering supported on a stone eaves course and deeply corbelled redbrick eaves with brick cogging, geometric apron and cast-iron downpipes. Brick walling laid in Flemish bond with continuous sandstone sill and impost courses and a projecting uncoursed squared sandstone plinth course. Yellow brick to the first floor with redbrick courses and redbrick to the ground floor with yellow and black brick courses. Decorative pointed-headed window openings to the first floor with recessed Venetian stone arched lights and replacement timber casement windows. Depressed pointed-headed window openings to the ground floor with replacement single-pane timber sash windows, unless otherwise stated. Front south elevation is six windows wide with two asymmetrically-placed door openings. The decorative first floor window openings are formed in flush gauged polychromatic brick and carved sandstone voussoirs rising from a continuous sandstone impost moulding. The Venetian arched carved stone lights comprise a pair of pointed-headed lights with bowtel surrounds and central colonettes with stiff-leaf capitals, glazed oculus above and three carved discs. This window only appears at the easternmost bay on the ground floor. Over the principal entrance the recessed stone surround has two square-headed window openings and a decoratively carved overpanel while opening onto a decorative stone balcony having Gothic arcaded balustrade and resting on four decorative sandstone brackets. All first floor windows rest on a continuous sandstone sill course with a continuous red and yellow brick panel below having a carved stone plaque with blind shields below each window. The ground floor is surmounted by a further continuous stone string course and brick cogging course. The depressed pointed-headed window openings to the ground floor also rest on a continuous sandstone sill course, the heads formed in flush red and black brick with sandstone keystones and springer stones rising from a further continuous stone impost course. Square-headed basement openings set within the plinth course having timber louvres and steel grilles. To the westernmost bay is a depressed pointed-headed door opening formed in chamfered red and black gauged brick with flush sandstone keystone and springer stones rising from the continuous impost course. Either side of the entrance is a pair of inset polished stone columns with stiff-leaf capitals set within a sandstone ashlar block-and-start surround rising from the plinth course. Double-leaf timber doors have decoratively chamfered flat panels and open onto sandstone step and three limestone steps to the front pavement. Pointed-headed door opening to the east end with voussoired buff and red sandstone voussoired head and hood moulding rising from the continuous impost course. Door opening flanked by inset columns, as per above, with deeply recessed carved sandstone door surround comprising square-headed opening with stop-chamfered head, curved corners, bowtel stop-chamfered jambs and double-leaf doors, as per above. Pointed-headed carved sandstone panel over the door with bowtel surround and ribbon carving inscribed; “Church of / Ireland / Young Men’s Society / Established January 1856”. Door opens onto sandstone platform and three stone steps extending onto the public pavement. West side elevation abutted by adjoining building No. 9 May Street. North rear elevation fronting onto Clarence Place Mews is seven windows wide, built in plain redbrick to the western five bays with the easternmost bay continuing the polychromatic facade detailing as per the remaining elevations. Gauged brick pointed-headed window openings to the first floor, gauged brick square-headed window openings to the ground floor, all having replacement fixed-pane timber windows. The decorative easternmost bay has brick facade detailing as per front elevation with two pointed-headed window openings to the first floor and two square-headed window openings to the ground floor formed in gauged redbrick with replacement timber windows. The basement level is cement rendered with three vehicular openings and steel roller shutters. Setting Corner-sited to the east of Donegall Square with its principal elevation fronting onto May Street. The rear elevation fronts onto Clarence Place Mews providing vehicular access to the basement. Roof : Natural slate RWG : Cast-iron Walling: Polychromatic brick and sandstone Windows : Replacement timber casement / sash

Architects

Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon (not attributed)

Historical Information

Clarence Place Hall was constructed for the Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society in 1865-66, to designs prepared by the architectural firm Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon. Located on what was then Clarence Place, the site was adjacent to the residence of a Mrs. Stirling at No.2 and appeared to be undeveloped prior to construction of the Hall (Street Directories; second edition OS map c.1858). First listed in 1866 in the General Revaluations (1862-82), the building was owned and partially occupied by the Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society but a number of rooms were leased out, with a total value of £256 listed. Contained within the original building were the offices, reading rooms and lecture hall of the Society, the office, bookstore and rooms of the Diocesan Council (of Down, Connor and Dromore), offices for the Church Education Society and for Marriage Licenses, the Protestant Orphan Society and also caretakers rooms and storage space located in the basement. The building is first noted in the Belfast Street Directories (1868) as ‘The United Church of England and Ireland’ occupied by the Young Men’s Association. Founded in 1850 ‘for the spiritual, moral and intellectual improvements of its members’, the Young Men’s Society held frequent lectures by ‘eminent men’ and also operated a library and news room on the premises with an estimated 1,800 volumes (1880 Street Directory). Additionally, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Society also owned the building located opposite, on the corner of Upper Arthur Street, which contained a ‘Gymnasium and Bagatelle rooms’ according to the General Revaluations (1906-14) and contemporary Street Directories. During the early 20th century the Young Men’s Society began to occupy fewer rooms within the building; commercial letting increased and contemporary Street Directories show the Diocesan Council were operating a Clerical Library. In this period the Belfast-born artist William Gibbes MacKenzie also had a studio located within the premises (Street Directories). The valuation changed little until the First General Revaluations of 1935, in which the building was listed at approximately £460 and shows that the Young Men’s Society no longer occupied the premises. This significant increase in value is likely due to part of the ground floor and basement being let for commercial purposes at this time (to Alliance Assurance Ltd and Alexander Cowen and Sons Ltd). The design of this High Victorian building in the Venetian Gothic style is attributed to W H. Lynn, both by Larmour (1987) and Dixon (1975). Fitzpatrick Brothers, builders, executed the contract, the foundation stone was laid on 27th October 1865 and the building completed in November 1866 (DIA). Lynn also produced a number of other examples of ‘…full blooded…’ and ‘scholarly’ designs, such as those of the Former Water Office (HB26/50/015) and the Library at Queen’s University (HB26/27/002) (Dixon). The building continued to function as office space and as premises for the Diocesan Council and the Protestant Orphan Society until March 1975. The Diocesan offices relocated to 17 Talbot Street and by the late 1970s the building was adapted to house tearooms and a squash centre. In 1986 the interior was completely restructured and refurbished for use by Lambert Smith Hampton as offices and in 2007 the building was fully restored and refurbished. Field evidence shows that the roof structure has been retained, the basement is used for car parking and the building is now occupied by a property consultancy firm (Street Directories; Belfast News Letter; Patton). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2- First Edition OS Map (1832-33) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3- Second Edition OS Map (1858) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4- Third Edition OS Map (1901-2) 4. PRONI T1541/1- Map of Belfast (1879) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A1-2- Annual Revisions (1862-82) 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/41 – Belfast Revaluations (1900-02) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/34-35 - Annual Revisions (1906-14) 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C38 - Annual Revisions (1912-25) 9. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13- First General Revaluation (1935) 10. The Ulster Street Directories (1861-1995) 11. The Belfast News Letter “Property Firm’s Home Makeover” (4th September 2007) Secondary Sources 1. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” 1987 2. Brett, C.E.B “The Buildings of Belfast 1700-1914” 1985 Ed 3. Patton, Marcus “Central Belfast- An Historical Gazetteer” UAHS, Belfast (1993) 4. Dixon, Hugh “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture” UAHS, Belfast (2008) 5. www.dia.ie - Dictionary of Irish Architects online

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

Asymmetrical multi-bay two-storey over basement with attic-storey polychromatic brick Venetian Gothic former Church of Ireland Offices, built c.1867, to the designs of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon (attributed to W.H.Lynn). Although largely stripped out c.2007, much historic fabric survives including the elaborate timber roof structure. Its historical character and detailing survive and it remains one of the best examples of Ruskinian Venetian Gothic architecture in the city with an array of architectural motifs and devices. It is the work of significant local architects and represents the commercial development of Belfast around the city centre.

General Comments

Date of Survey

23 August 2012