JOY STREET
4-12 Joy Street and 31 Little May Street
1988, with gap site to Little May
Street
Flats replace the bombed building
The Markets area of Belfast was developed on marshy land reclaimed
from the mill dam of the Joy family's paper mill, which was situated
at the junction of Cromac Street and Ormeau Avenue during the
18th century. Joy Street was mostly developed between 1825 and
1840. Many of the houses were built of local dark brick and only
very soberly ornamented (see p.29), but this group was probably
one of the last developments in the area and built at the beginning
of the Victorian period when fashion was moving towards stucco
plasterwork and richer decoration of architraves and doorcases.
The terrace originally comprised three houses and a flat over
a shop on the corner with Little May Street, but the shop was
bombed in the 1970s and its site cleared. The terrace was acquired
as part of the Markets Redevelopment by the Housing Executive.
Although it was listed, the decision was taken, when it was found
to be surplus to requirements, to put the terrace on the market
as a commercial site. Hearth argued that there was sufficient
housing need in the area to justify its retention, acquired the
property in 1986 and put caretaker tenants in pending restoration,
which got under way in 1989. As a housing association scheme it
was not practicable to restore the corner shop, and no.12 was
rebuilt as flats, providing a wider choice of houses.
Nos.4 and 6 have now been restored as three-storey family houses,
with alcoves in the cross-walls of the ground floor front rooms,
panel doors and simple moulded cornices. No.8 was an entry to
the rear of the property, and remains such. No.10 was to have
been restored, but proved structurally very fragile and when piling
for the replacement of no.12 was under way the decision was reluctantly
taken to demolish the house and rebuild it in replica. Both it
and the flats at no.12 and 31 Little May Street are therefore
of modern construction, but the continuity of the houses with
the important Georgian terrace at 14-16 Joy Street, restored some
years earlier by the Housing Executive, has been retained.
Client: Hearth Housing
Association
Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: Andrew Bradley Ltd, Magherafelt
Restored: 1989-90
Funded by Housing Association Grant
Accommodation: One four-bedroom house, two three-bedroom
houses, one one-bedroom flat, one two-bedroom flat
