Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/156

Address :
Waterman House 5-23 Hill Street Belfast Co Antrim BT1 2LA

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
14/01/1982 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Warehouse

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-13NE

IG Ref:
J3404 7459

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached two-storey offices, built c.1895. Rectangular-on-plan facing west, extended at north and east. Former attached building at south demolished. Located to the east side of Hill Street, Belfast. Pitched natural slate roof to principal north-south aligned block, parapet with cavetto moulded coping at west, stone verge at south, blue/black ridge tiles, lead-valleys and dentiled eaves course supporting ogee profile cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are ruled-and-lined painted render with moulded architrave and continuous ogee moulded sill course at first floor. Windows are replacement aluminium casements throughout, large multi-paned segmental arched openings at ground floor with double ovolo moulded architrave with plain stop-chamfer and splayed flush sills, diminished segmental arched openings at first floor having moulded architrave (unless otherwise stated). Principal west elevation comprises central segmental arched entrance comprising double diagonally sheeted timber door with glazed segmental arched transom light over having inscription ‘WATERMAN/HOUSE/2-33’ contained within a deep reveal with double ovolo moulded architrave with plain stop-chamfer. Entrance flanked by two windows at ground floor at each side, at left a segmental arched carriage arch contains double diagonally sheeted vehicular entrance doors reinforced with steel bracing, providing access below first floor rooms to an enclosed yard at east; all openings on ground floor surmounted by moulded architrave following the segmental lines of the fenestration. At first floor a window (above principal entrance) is flanked by two sets of paired windows at right, three at left. Windows at first floor are located centrally on a recessed panels surmounted by a Lombardy frieze supporting the eaves and rainwater goods below parapet. North gable is fully abutted by a modern three-storey red-brick extension, built c.1990, of no interest. East elevation is abutted entirely, with exception of carriage arch bay, by a lower two-story extension built c.1895. Walling is exposed English-garden wall bonded brick at first floor, smooth ender at ground floor. Exposed section at first floor contains eleven square headed window openings with sandstone heads and masonry sills. North gable facing onto carriage entry contains modern electric door at left, window at right. Extension roof is pitched (aligned north-south as main block) constructed from powder coated profile roofing with a continuous length of roof light glazing to each pitch. North gable facing into enclosed yard is smooth rendered at ground floor and contains large multi-paned door and glazing at centre. First floor gable is adjoined by various surface fixed air-conditioning units and pipes. East elevation is further extended by a three-storey square-on-plan block. Flat roof with parapet, English-garden wall bonded red brick, square headed aluminium casement windows with sandstone heads and masonry sills, cast-iron rainwater goods. Extension is of no interest. Setting Street fronted, set on a city centre site to the east side of Hill Street, Belfast. Enclosed yard to rear bounded by extensions at north and east. Former attached building at south demolished. Roof: Natural Slate Walling: render Windows: metal RWG: cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Attached two-storey office building with adjoining modern extension to north side, originally constructed as a warehouse and distillery in 1896-97. The Annual Revisions noted that the plot of ground the new building occupied replaced a number of minor private dwellings that were demolished in 1872 providing a large empty plot to the north side of Hill Street that was not built on for over two decades. The current building was completed by 1897; plans held by the NIEA show that the façade of the building, as well as the Hill Street elevation, has not been significantly altered in over a century. The only notable alterations to the façade have been the removal of two chimneys and the removal of a small pediment from the roof over the entrance door; the pediment was engraved with the following inscription: ‘1897 / THE OLD / BUSHMILLS DISTILLERY LTD.’ When first completed the building was valued at £170 and was described as ‘offices and stores’ occupied by the Old Bushmills Distillery; the valuer noted that the site was leased to Bushmills by a Captain Samuel B. Hamilton of Kilmannock House Co. Wexford. Only three years after the completion of the building, the Bushmills stores were included in the Belfast Revaluation (1900); the revaluation increased the value of the building to £190 and noted that construction of the new offices had cost a total of £1,718; Bushmills was required to pay an annual rent of £125. A detailed plan of the building records that a covered yard and a number of small outbuildings lay to the rear of the main block (now demolished). The 1901 Belfast Street Directory notes that the Hill Street stores were a subsidiary branch of the Old Bushmills Distillery, Pure Malt Whiskey Distillers based in Co. Antrim; the Hill Street stores were instrumental in the export of the company’s whiskey from Belfast to the Bushmill’s branch in Norfolk Street London, the close proximity to Belfast’s docks made the Hill Street site an ideal location (Belfast Street Directories). Bushmills continued to occupy the Hill Street offices until 1959. There was no alteration to the value of the offices by the end of the Annual Revisions; however in 1935 the value of the site was increased to £390 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. The offices survived the heavy bombardment of the Belfast docklands during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the conflict were included in the second revaluation of Northern Ireland property. The Old Bushmills Distillery Co. Ltd. vacated the Hill Street site in 1959 when the building fell vacant; the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1959-60) simply depicted the building as a ‘warehouse,’ still possessing its original rear return or extension. The former distillery stores remained empty and had been increased in value to £590 by the end of the revaluation in 1972. Hill Street, a narrow street running from Waring Street to Talbot Street, was first depicted on the 1757 map of Belfast as an entry running off Waring Street; the entry was originally known as Pott-house Lane due to the presence of a pottery shop along the street. By the 1822 map of Belfast, included in George Benn’s ‘The History of the Town of Belfast,’ the current layout of the street had been formed; various structures lined the street including private dwellings, a foundry and, in the mid-to-late-19th century, numerous public houses and licenced properties (Patton, p. 192). Nos 5 -33 Hill Street was purpose-built to house the Old Bushmills Distillery Co. Ltd. In 1896-97 and was used as a whiskey store until the 1950s. Patton described the late-Victorian structure as ‘a two-storey stucco building with arcaded ground floor of windows and carriageway entrances arranged under strong moulded cill course and moulded segmental headed windows under machicolated cornice.’ Upon falling vacant the building was not reoccupied until July 1990 when the Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch of the Department of the Environment took over the property. Waterman House was listed category B in 1982, however in 1990 the original building (nos 3-23 Hill Street) was extended to the north (nos 25-33); the modern four-storey extension, ‘beige brick with central glazed section,’ was undertaken by Barrie Todd Architects in that year. The three-storey redbrick rear extension is also modern, having been added in the mid-20th century and replacing the covered yard and outbuildings that originally lay to the rear of the main building. Waterman House continues to house NIEA’s Built Heritage division. (DOENI – NIEA website). 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/12/B/43/C/1-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/12 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/40 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 9. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823) 10. First Survey Record – HB26/50/156 (No Date) 11. First Survey Image – HB26/50/156 (1981) 12. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13NE (1959-60) Secondary Sources 1. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 Online Resources 1. Department of the Environment – Historic Buildings and Monuments website – http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/built-home.htm

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A street fronted attached two-storey late nineteenth century former warehouse and whiskey distillery building, now extended and remodelled to accommodate offices. Much historic fabric survives with robust form and detailing, although compromised by modern elements. The link to the Bushmills distillery in north Co Antrim is of note. This building represents an important facet of Belfast's mercantile history in the area of the early city.

General Comments

Date of Survey

17 October 2012