Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/50/175 D

Address :
20 May Street Belfast County Antrim BT1 4NR

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
04/05/1988 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
House - Terrace

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:
J3405 7398

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A three storey, mid 19th century Georgian style terraced house, with side entrance, terminating a group of four, sitting directly on the N side of May Street. Pitched, natural slate roof with modern rooflight; moulded metal gutter on bracketted timber gutter tray; round cast iron downpipe; brick chimney to east gable. Red Flemish bond brickwork; stucco eaves fascia, string course to first floor cill and the remains of rusticated stucco plinth surrounding ground floor cill. Window openings, to upper floors, with painted stucco reveals and flat brick arches, uPVC windows. The entrance doorway, with segmental arch, has a stucco moulded surround with inset Ionic doorcase, original fanlight with curved glazing bars over and replacement 6 panelled door; it is approached by 2 sandstone steps. Across frontage is stone kerb. S elevation has entrance to the west side. Ground floor windows have been removed to form large, multi-paned shop window with modern timber architrave. First and second floors have 2 windows. W elevation abutted by adjoining terrace (HB26/50/175C). N elevation has a three storey, pitched roof extension to the right with an adjoining single storey flat roofed modern extension extending to the gable with entrance door. Walls are cement rendered. Windows are 6/6 original timber sashes: the original rear wall has a single window to first and second floors; the extension has 2 windows to the two upper floors of the return wall and a first floor window to the gable, a smaller ground floor gable window is shuttered. E elevation abutted by John Ross & Co. (HB26/30/017). Setting May Street is part of a busy, central thoroughfare which passes to the rear of the City Hall (HB26/50/001A). No. 16 sits opposite May Street Presbyterian church (HB26/30/301A&B). In the same terrace, adjoining the terraced group of four to the east, is John Ross & Co (HB26/30/017), nearby to the west is B.T. Shields (HB26/50/020). Roof: natural slate. Walling: brick. Windows: timber . RWG: metal,

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

No. 20 May Street, a three-storey redbrick townhouse, was constructed in c. 1855 first appearing on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for Belfast in 1858; the map depicted No. 20 as part of the adjoining terrace which consists of the similar nos 14-18 May Street (HB26/50/175A-C); however the terrace had not been constructed by the 1852 Belfast Street Directory which noted that the area between a music hall (on the corner of Upper Arthur Street) and Hugh Morrison’s post office (at the corner of Montgomery Street) lay vacant. In 1859 Griffith’s Valuation valued No. 20 May Street at £38 and noted that the building possessed a stable block and was leased by Sir. Edward May to a Mr. John Kennedy. John Kennedy, a carpenter who designed stage coaches at his own factory, continued to live at No. 20 until his death in 1882 when the house fell vacant (PRONI Wills). No. 20 May Street was sporadically occupied, first by a Mr. John Gaffikin in 1887, and then by a Mr. James Sutherland in 1892; by the time the second occupant had taken possession, the value of No. 20 May Street had been decreased to £35. The Annual Revisions for May Street during the period 1897-1905 are missing; however the Belfast Revaluation notes that the former private dwelling had been converted into a warehouse by 1900. In that year No. 20 May Street was revalued at £41, whilst ownership of the property had passed from Edward May to a Mr. Henry Kennedy; originally constructed as a private dwelling, by 1900 No. 20 had been converted into a warehouse for Brown & Forth (suppliers of aniline dyes, drugs and chemicals) whilst the ground floor was occupied as an office for a Mr. R. H. Andrews, a local estate agent (Belfast Street Directory – 1901). The valuer also noted that No. 20 consisted of eight rooms (including living rooms and bedrooms but excluding kitchens) and was fitted with gas heating and lighting. The Annual Revisions continued to record Brown & Forth as occupants of No. 20, however the Belfast Street Directories note that the firm had vacated the site by at least 1907 when the building had been converted into ‘Ye Olde Central Temperance Hotel’ which was the establishment of a Mr. J. McCracken. No. 20 May Street only operated as a hotel for a few short years and by 1908 the building lay vacant. In 1910 the former hotel continued to lay empty, however in the following year No. 20 was returned to domestic use when a Mr. Joseph Wright, a bookkeeper, occupied the site as his private residence. The 1911 Census notes that Wright (77, Society of Friends) resided at No. 20 with his wife Mary Anne (71) and their three adult daughters; the census building return described his property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of a total of 13 rooms. Wright remained at No. 20 May Street until his death in 1923 when the house presumably fell vacant; the next change recorded in the Annual Revisions occurred in 1928 when the building was once again converted into commercial premises and occupied by W & J. Garrett (an auctioneers company) and a number of other firms. By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of No. 20 stood at £98 10s; under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the total value was further raised to £97 5s. Nos 14-20 May Street escaped the heavy bombardment of the Markets area of Belfast during the 1941 Blitz and in the aftermath of the Second World No. 20 was included in the second general revaluation (1956-1972). By the 1950s the ground floor had been occupied by Dollar Rae Shopfitters, a Glasgow-based company; the conversion of the ground floor into a commercial shop was facilitated by the installation of the current shopfront, whilst the upper floors continued to be utilised as office space. By the end of the second revaluation the total value of No. 20 May Street stood at £295. May Street, a long axial street which runs from Oxford Street to Donegall Street South, was mostly laid out in the early-19th century and was partially constructed over reclaimed land; this land was provided by the construction of Henry Joy’s paper mill over the Blackstaff River which opened up acres of land to the south-east of Belfast’s town centre for development. The eastern section of May Street was the first to be developed, however it was not until the mid-19th century that the western stretch of the street was fully built over. Originally, the short section of May Street between Joy Street and Alfred Street (including nos 14-20) was known as Clarendon Place; this name was retained until c. 1860 when the entire length from the square to Oxford Street was permanently designated May Street. May Street was named after the May family; Edward May, an influential figure in Belfast’s development, pioneered the reclamation of the Blackstaff river and acquired a large number of the newly created leases from the Marquis of Donegall (who married his daughter Anna May). Nos 14-20 May Street were constructed on the newly reclaimed land in c. 1855. Prior to the stylistical experimentation of the Victorian period, the formal Georgian townhouse was the most recognisable feature of Belfast’s urban fabric. Few examples of pre-Victorian style housing survive in the city centre; the three-storey terraces on neighbouring Joy Street and Hamilton Street (HB26/30/7A-C; 8A-I; 9A-F), as well as the early-19th century townhouses at nos 18-19 Donegall Square East (HB26/50/172), are the last remnants of the original Georgian character of the May Street area. In the Victorian period the availability of cheap building materials resulted in the construction of the redbrick terraces that now greatly characterise Belfast’s city centre and its environs. Nos 14-20 May Street were constructed during this intermediate phase; the redbrick Flemish-bond buildings were constructed utilising materials and construction techniques of the early Victorian period, however the overall design of the terrace is conservative and resembles the formal townhouses of the Georgian period incorporating pillared doorcases with fanlights above and quoins bookending nos 14 and 16. Patton described nos 14-20 May Street in the following terms: ‘Flemish bond redbrick houses with small-pane sashes and arc-headed doorcases with slender edge mouldings and plain fanlights, and recessed Ionic columns supporting plain entablatures; corbelled gutter on rendered wallhead’ (Patton, p. 234). Throughout its history No. 20 May Street has been utilised as a private dwelling, a warehouse, a hotel and finally as a commercial shop with office space above. The building as listed in 1988 along with the rest of the terrace and in recent years the building has been occupied by CMG Solicitors. 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. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1A-B - Griffith’s Valuation 1859 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-25 – Annual Revisions 1862-1897 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/18-42 - Annual Revisions 1897-1930 9. PRONI VAL/7/B/9/41 – Belfast Revaluation 1900 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/13 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/40 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 12. Belfast Street Directories (1861-1918) 13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) 14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 June 1882; 7 Apr 1923) 15. First Survey Image – HB26/50/172 (1978) 16. Ordnance Survey Map – 130-13SE (1959) Secondary Sources 1. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three storey mid 19th century red brick Georgian style terraced house. Although compromised by recent alterations, much historic fabric and detailing survive. This short terrace is as a good example of the type of residence for the professional classes that represents the ongoing growth of Belfast ain the mid 19th century. Its changing history reflects the development of the city centre throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

General Comments

Date of Survey

27 November 2012