Category:17 Castle Place, Belfast

English: Three-storey building at 17–21 Castle Place Belfast, built in 1864 or 1867 for Charles Thompson in a High Victorian mix of Neo-Renaissance and other styles after the designs of Belfast architect William Hastings. In the original design, the ground floor was split into three retail units. The two easternmost units were occupied by the music company Cramer & Co., the westmost by the gun store J. Braddell & Son. The dormer windows were added in c. 1890. In 1917, a new shopfront with red granite was installed at the ground floor after designs by the Liverpool architect W. Eccles. Since then, the ground floor was rented out to banks, first to the London City & Midland Bank, then the Belfast Banking Co. after Second World War, and eventually Barclay's Bank. (See Marcus Patton, Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer, p. 54; Paul Larmour, Belfast: An Illustrated Architectural Guide, p. 29; DIA record #1, DIA record #2, HB26/50/152.)