Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/30/075

Address :
2/6 Bradbury Place Shaftesbury Square Belfast County Antrim BT7 1RX

Townland:
Malone Lower

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
07/04/1994 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Bank

Former Use
Public House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
147/1 NE

IG Ref:
J3358 7317

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Owner Category

Financial

Exterior Description And Setting

An asymmetrical three-bay, two storey with attic gabled semi-detached former Public House, now bank, in the Tudor Revival style; built c. 1915 to designs by Blackwood & Jury and located to the east side of Bradbury Place in Belfast city centre. Rectangular plan with two storey curved bay to north and full height red brick return to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with replacement red brick chimneystacks; leaded ridgeline and valleys. Cast iron ogee rainwater goods with decorative cast iron hoppers and gargoyles; timber bargeboards to decorative half timbered gables. Walling is painted roughcast render with string course between floors and corbels to half jettied gables; two storey curved bay with floriated string course to masonry castellated parapet. Windows are timber framed to attic; two modern dormers to rear elevation; paired metal casements to first floor in masonry surrounds with projecting sills; modern plate-glass windows to ground floor. The principal elevation faces west and has three half jettied gables to attic; that to right is wider with a quadripartite window; those to left have bipartite windows; as at first floor. Ground floor spanned by Modern shop front to ground floor with synthetic fascia. The north elevation has a jettied decorative half timbered gable and window to left and right at attic; abutted at first floor by the two storey curved bay with projecting half timbered jettied gable to first floor containing a tripartite window; two sets of paired windows to east elevation, paired window to west. The east (rear) elevation is enclosed by a red-brick wall and is partially concealed. Paired windows to left and right at first floor; abutted at centre by the full-height return with fire exit and window to attic and first floor. The south gable is abutted at first floor by the adjoining building; upper section is blank. Setting:Corner sited at Shaftsbury Square and Bradbury Place; alley to rear. Forming part of a largely twentieth century terrace. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Roughcast render Windows: Timber & metal casements RWG: Cast-iron with hoppers

Architects

Blackwood & Jury

Historical Information

The current building, now in use as a bank, was originally built in 1912 as a public house for William Thomas Braithwaite, publican, to designs by Blackwood & Jury. (Irish Builder; Patton) The ‘Old Dublin Road’ had been laid out by 1809 and there are buildings shown on this site from the first edition OS map of 1832-3. (Brett) W T Braithwaite was trading on the site from c1895 and rebuilt his premises in 1912. (Street Directory; Annual Revisions) The building, designed by Blackwood & Jury, was greeted with some fanfare by the Irish Builder who published a photograph in their edition of 3rd February that year. Under the headline ‘An Interesting House in Belfast’ the periodical commented, “The new licensed and other premises of W T Braithewaite in Bradbury Place...add a very distinctive architectural feature to that leading thoroughfare into and out of the city...The half-timbered work is executed in oak with the intervening spaces rough-cast...The roofs are covered with Westmoreland slates. The ground floor of the building is occupied by a bar and two shops, the first floor by offices and dwelling accommodation, and the second floor by dwelling accommodation only. All the bar fittings are in oak and the bar has been decorated by Messrs George Morrow & Sons, Belfast. The bar floor is of vitreous mosaic by Jesse Rust [of Battersea]. The plumbing work was done by Mr A Stevenson; glazing by Messrs Campbell Bros; electric lighting by Mr Stanley Johnston; the general building contractor being the late Mr Hutchinson Keith.” (Irish Builder) When first built, the lower storey was finished entirely in ‘Burmantofts Marmo’, a type of faience produced by the Burmantofts pottery in Leeds from 1908 and remnants of this remain around the windows and crenellations. (Irish Builder) Other alterations include a reduction in the height of the chimneys and the removal of a first floor gable which has now been replaced by a window. The building first enters valuation records in 1912 as a ‘licensed shop and stores’ valued at £155, and reduced to £140 on appeal. The occupier is William Thomas Braithwaite and the building is leased from the Representatives of Dr Magee and Samuel Tate. By 1919 the building had been taken over by the Belfast Banking Company Ltd and was used as a bank and manager’s house. The building remains a bank. Upper floors are used as office accommodation but currently lie vacant. (Annual Revisions) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/1-8 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 6. Irish Builder, Vol 56, 3rd February 1912, p.68 (illus) 7. Belfast Street Directory (1895) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B., Gillespie, R. and Maguire W.A. “Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850, Maps Buildings and Trades” Dublin and Belfast: Royal Irish Academy and Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 2004 2. Patton, M “Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest V. Authorship R. Age S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A modified asymmetrical three-bay, two-storey with attic gabled semi-detached former Public House, now bank, in the Tudor-Revival style; built c. 1915 to designs of Blackwood & Jury and located to the east side of Bradbury Place in Belfast city centre. Alterations to ground floor to incorporate a modern shop-front with plate-glass windows have resulted in the loss of the Burmantott-Marmo and a half-timbered gabled entrance porch. A window to the left gable is also a later addition. Converted into a modern bank and offices in recent years, the internal layout has been altered with some loss of internal detailing and historic character. Despite this, the building retains much of its original character and is a valuable example of the work of renowned local architects Blackwood & Jury. Prominently sited on a major thoroughfare, it makes a significant contribution to the architectural character and variety of the area.

General Comments

Date of Survey

09 May 2011