Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/060

Address :
Northern Whig 2-10 Bridge Street Belfast Co Antrim BT1 1LU

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
27/11/1975 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Public House

Former Use
Market

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:
J3398 7447

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached symmetrical multi-bay three-storey stone former commercial buildings, dated 1820, to the designs of John McCutcheon. Rectangular on plan and corner sited facing north onto Waring Street with a front railed area and a secondary redbrick elevation facing west onto Bridge Street. Flat roof hidden behind lead-lined blocking course with a central raised date stone inscribed; ‘MDCCCXX’. Replacement steel hoppers and downpipes to the east elevation only. Granite ashlar walling over rusticated granite ashlar ground floor with rusticated granite quoins and projecting plinth course. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond to the south side elevation. Voussoired granite flat-arched window openings with granite sills and replacement timber sash windows to the principal elevation, gauged brick flat-arched window openings to the secondary west elevation, also having replacement timber sash windows. Symmetrical principal elevation comprises a central colonnaded two-storey block, five windows wide, flanked by recessed entrance bays connecting to three-storey advanced pavilion blocks to either end. Dentilled granite entablature spans entire elevation supported on engaged Giant Ionic order columns to the upper floor of the central block, paired to either end. Decorative carved Portland limestone panels substitute second floor windows to the central block with horizontally-divided round-headed window openings to the first floor having plain stone transoms. The remainder of the principal elevation has diminished second floor windows with 3/3 timber sash windows, otherwise replacement 6/6 timber sash windows . Voussoired round-headed recesses to the ground floor housing the flat-arched window openings with a central door opening having replacement timber doors and overlight. The flanking entrance bays have Portland limestone Doric porticos with half-fluted columns, responding pilasters, full entablature and replacement double-leaf timber doors with overlights. Redbrick three-storey east side elevation with irregularly placed flat-arched window openings having replacement timber sash windows and concrete sills. A redbrick accretion (possibly housing lift shaft) rises from the centre of the rear elevation with blocked openings indicating a previous use. South elevation abutted by adjoining building No.12-14. Secondary west elevation is seven windows wide with replacement reconstituted stone surround to series of shop display windows and pub front, inserted c.1950. The elevation is surmounted by a plain granite frieze and cornice with rusticated granite quoins. Single-pane timber sash windows to the first floor with diminished openings to the second floor having replacement 3/3 timber sash windows. Five fixed-pane display windows to the ground floor framed by rusticated piers supporting a frieze and mutuled cornice over. Frieze inscribed ‘Northern Whig and Belfast Post’ and framed by paired angled brackets. Replacement double-leaf timber doors, set slightly off-centre with rendered overpanel having copper lettering ‘Northern Whig House’, and providing access to the upper floors. Further pair of replacement double-leaf timber doors to the left providing access to the ground floor bar. Setting: Corner sited at the junction of Bridge Street and Waring Street with a front railed area to the principal elevation on Waring Street having replacement steel railings on low concrete plinth wall with matching steel gates. Roof: Flat roof RWG : Replacement steel Walling: Granite ashlar Windows: Replacement timber sash

Architects

McCutcheon, John

Historical Information

The Northern Whig, originally known as the Commercial Buildings, is a three-storey classical building and one of the few Georgian buildings to survive in Belfast’s city centre having been erected in 1819-1820. The Belfast Street Directory for 1819 records that the Commercial Buildings were ‘intended exclusively for the accommodation of the mercantile trade’ and at that time, prior to its completion, was expected to be ‘the handsomest building in Belfast’ (Belfast Street Directories – 1819). The Northern Whig was designed by John McCutcheon, a Belfast-based architect who also supervised the erection of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (HB26/50/023 – completed in 1814), and was completed by 1820; McCutcheon’s design was executed in Irish Granite (Dictionary of Irish Architects). When first valued in the Townland Valuations of c. 1830 the Commercial Buildings were rated at £508; in a contemporary description of the building, Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary (1837) stated that the Commercial Buildings were constructed at a cost of £20,000 and consisted of ‘an excellent commercial hotel, a spacious and handsome newsroom, over which is an elegant assembly room, and behind these an area with a piazza, for the use of the merchants; and in connection with them are numerous offices principally occupied by professional men’ Lewis also stated that the Waring Street facade was decorated with eight Ionic Columns to the first floor; the northern-facing facade has survived to the present, however the western-facade facing onto Bridge Street has witnessed a number of alterations throughout the buildings history (Lewis states that in 1837 the western side of the building was occupied by a number of retail units (Lewis). In c. 1830 the entire Commercial Buildings was recorded under a single valuation, however under Griffith’s Valuation (1860) the total value of the building was subdivided into its individual retail units (addressed nos 2-14 Bridge Street); in 1860 the total rateable value of the building was set at £1,067, divided between eight shops and warehouses, whilst parts of the upper floors were utilised as dining space. No. 8 Bridge Street was not occupied as a retail premises, but according to Griffith’s Valuation was utilised as a private dwelling and occupied by a Mr. David Walker; ownership of the Commercial Buildings was retained by the original shareholders and ‘Trustees of Commercial Buildings’ who had financed the construction of the edifice in 1819-20. For over a century between 1820 and 1919 the building was one of the most important commercial hubs in Belfast’s centre and continued to be utilised as retail premises until the latter year. By the Belfast Revaluation of 1900 the total value of the Commercial Buildings had been decreased to £725; the largest unit (No. 12) was occupied by William Henry Seawright and was utilised as a cafe; the 1901 Belfast Street Directory records that the remainder of the ground floor retail units were occupied by a tobacconist, an Irish Novelty gift shop, a linen warehouse, and a drapers shop. No. 8 Bridge Street was occupied by Crotty & Aiken who operated an Estate Agency and Property Auctioneers business from the site before moving to the neighbouring No. 1 Donegall Street in 1911 (see HB26/50/246). The upper floors of the Commercial Buildings continued to be utilised as offices for private businesses, whilst a reading room and a hotel also continued to operate from the site (then known as the Commercial Hotel). By 1918 the majority of the space in the Commercials Buildings was occupied by A. Anderson’s tailors shop, only No. 4 Bridge Street was occupied by a separate tenant, the Irish Novelty Shop which operated from the site from at least 1900. The upper floors witnessed a similar change as the hotel and reading room had vacated the site; in the aftermath of the First World War the upper floor of the Commercial Building was occupied by The Belfast Sailor’s and Soldier’s Service Club, a charitable ex-servicemen organisation; an accountancy firm known as John Lawther & Co. occupied the remainder of the office space (Belfast Street Directory – 1918). In 1919 the Commercial Buildings was acquired by the Northern Whig Newspaper (established in 1823) which carried out an extensive renovation to the interior of the building whilst also completely rebuilding the Bridge Street facade in redbrick (Northern Whig – 1919). The Northern Whig took possession of their newly refurbished offices and printing works in 1923 when the Annual Revisions increased the value of the building to £2,000; this rating was deemed too high by the Northern Whig who appealed against the decision resulting in the sharp revision of the value to £852 in the same year, a value that was maintained by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the Commercial Buildings was increased £1,250, the valuer noting that the building itself was worth £670 whilst the heavy industrial machinery utilised for the printing works were valued at £580. In May 1941 the Northern Whig Headquarters was badly damaged during the Belfast Blitz; a Luftwaffe bomb caused damage to a portion of the building, however a resulting fire destroyed the interior offices leaving only a charred shell. Due to use of sturdy Irish granite, the Waring Street facade of 1819-20 remained standing whilst the Bridge Street facade was mostly destroyed. Despite the destruction of their headquarters, the Northern Whig continued to be sold on the streets of Belfast even on the day after the bombing, due partially to the aid of other newspapers; in the aftermath of the Blitz the Northern Whig established temporary offices at the Belfast Telegraph’s head office on Royal Avenue (Northern Whig – 1941). In the aftermath of the conflict the Northern Whig headquarters were rebuilt; the current Bridge Street facade dates from the reconstruction, however addition restoration work was undertaken in 1959 ‘to remove the last scars of bomb damage’ (Northern Whig – 1959). Under the second revaluation (1956-72) the value of the restored Northern Whig headquarters was set at £850, although the newspaper vacated the site in 1963 when production of the newspaper was ceased due to declining sales. In 1965 the Glencairn Trust converted the former Northern Whig headquarters into commercial office space, subsequently increasing the value of the former newspaper press to £1,857 at which rate it remained by the end of the revaluation in 1972. The Commercial Buildings were constructed in 1819-20, replacing a row of two-storey thatched cottages that had formerly occupied the same site; Patton states that one of these cottages was the home of the United Irishman Samuel Neilson. The early-Georgian terrace was demolished to make way for the commercial Buildings which Larmour describes as ‘an important landmark in the history of not only the architectural but also the commercial development of the town [as] the first really monumental public building in Belfast.’ The Commercial Buildings cemented the Bridge Street – Donegall Street – Waring Street junction as one of Belfast’s central commercial hubs; the Commercial Buildings effectively replaced the Exchange Buildings opposite (HB26/50/061) as one of the most important business places in the town (similarly, the White Linen Hall in Donegall Square was a focus for trade and commerce in the early-19th century) (Larmour, p. 4). Brett states that although John McCutcheon is recognised as the architect of the Commercial Buildings, the facade ‘looks as though it ought to be attributed to a more sophisticated designer’ suggesting that McCutcheon was merely employed the supervise the plan which was designed by an unknown architect (Brett, p. 14). The foundation stone of the Commercial Buildings was laid on St. Patrick’s Day 1819 by the Second Marquis of Donegall; the work was completed by 1st November 1820 when the building was opened for commerce (Northern Whig – 1959). The Commercial Buildings were renovated twice before the destruction of the structure during the Belfast Blitz in 1941; Patton states that an interior renovation was carried out in 1886 by Robert Graeme Watt, a Belfast-based engineer, whilst the 1919 conversion of the Commercial Buildings into a newspaper printing works and offices was undertaken by Thomas William Henry, a local designer who mostly undertook commercial contracts in Belfast’s city centre between c. 1920 and c. 1950 (Dictionary of Irish Architects). With the destruction of the Northern Whig’s offices in May 1941, and subsequent restoration work in c. 1950, the original character of the Bridge Street side was lost; Brett was critical of the attempt to restore the redbrick facade and also noted the effect of the 1919 alteration work. His main criticism rested on the construction of an inappropriate redbrick garage between the Northern Whig and the adjoining nos 12-16 Bridge Street (HB26/50/233), which was erected in 1955 and was carefully intended to ‘harmonise’ with the earlier structure; the 1958 extension which connects the two buildings was a ‘disastrous ... sandwich filling between the two; the roofline is wrong, the window spacing is wrong, there is not even a corresponding stringcourse; nothing to relate the new to the old but a plain concrete beam in the ugliest place.’ However, despite his criticism, Brett was grateful that ‘despite all the wrongs committed to it, the building survives ... with real dignity’ (Brett, p. 14). With the closure of the news-press in 1963, the former Northern Whig headquarters was reconverted into commercial office space; the structure was listed in 1975. Utilised as office space for over three decades the Northern Whig was purchased by the Botanic Inns in 1997 who converted the majority of the building into a licensed restaurant and bar called ‘The Northern Whig;’ a portion of the upper floor continues to be utilised as office space. Possessing no connection to the history of either the Commercial Buildings or the Northern Whig, the main feature of the ground floor restaurant are the three Soviet statues which were formerly situated at the Communist Party Headquarters in Prague; commissioned to commemorate the 1917 Revolution, the statues were acquired by Botanic Inns and now stand as historical decorations in the bar. 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/1/B/720A+B – Townland Valuations c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/5C – Griffith’s Valuation 1860 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-42 - Annual Revisions 1863-1930 8. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/29 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 9. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 10. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/38 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 11. Belfast Street Directories (1819-1943) 12. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary (1837) 13. Northern Whig (7 Jun 1919; 15 May 1941; 8 Jul 1959) 14. First Survey Record – HB26/50/060 (No Date) 15. First Survey Image – HB26/50/060 (1971) 16. 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 2. Northern Whig website - http://www.thenorthernwhig.com/

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical multi-bay three-storey stone former commercial buildings, dated 1820, to the designs of John McCutcheon. Rectangular on plan and corner sited facing north with a secondary redbrick elevation facing west. Much historic character and fabric survive, including the mid- 20th century rebuilt interior, although compromised by more recent changes. Formerly a newsroom and assembly room with offices and commercial premises then housing a hotel, shops and warehouses, before becoming the premises of the Northern Whig Newspaper, its changing history is of note as an important area in the active commercial life of the Victorian city. This building was one of the first prominent civic buildings in Belfast with classical aspirations evident in its Leinster granite and Giant Ionic colonnade. It remains a fine example of the type by an architect of note.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 December 2012