Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Belfast, who was paid for work at Carrickfergus Court House in 1781-1783, including the erection of a bulwark wall between the court house and the sea, the provision of kitchen furniture and bedsteads for the gaol, and alterations to the Crown Court.(1) He appears a few times in the Belfast News Letter selling land in 1785 and advertising for brickmakers and masons in 1791 and 1792.(2) He was living at 24 Arthur Street, Belfast, in 1802(3) and had died by June 1808.(4)   His  pupils and assistants included JOHN NEILSON. JOHN NEILSON.

James Hunter acquired the leasehold of a considerable amount of property in Belfast. A series of leases in the Donegall papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland,(5) show him as leasing twenty-two acres in Ballynafeigh in 1794, two acres of meadow near Lodge Road in 1798, and premises on the corner of Arthur Place and William Street South in 1802. The latter lease indicates that he already owned premises on the corner of Arthur Street and Arthur Place, while one of the estate maps indicates that he also had property in Smithfield. A confirmatory lease of the Lodge Road meadows, dated 1 June 1808, is to John Hunter, gentleman, as administrator of the 'late James Hunter deceased'.(6) 



References



(1) C.E.B. Brett, Court Houses and Market Houses of the Province of Ulster (UAHS, 1973), 29.
(2) Belfast News Letter, 13-16 Sep 1785, 10-13 May, 3-7 Jun 1791, 5-8 Jun 1792 (references from Belfast News Letter Index, www.ucs.louisiana.edu).
(3) C.E.B. Brett, The Buildings of Belfast (2nd edn., 1985), 9.
(4) See note 5, below.
(5) D509/716,1415,1417; D 652/387,481,708 (information from C.E.B. Brett architects files).
(6) D652/708.


3 work entries listed in chronological order for HUNTER, JAMES [1]


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Building: CO. ANTRIM, CARRICKFERGUS, COURT HOUSE
Date: 1781-83
Nature: Bulwark wall between court house and sea; beds and kitchen furniture for gaol; alts. to Crown Court.
Refs: C.E.B. Brett, Court Houses and Market Houses of the Province of Ulster (UAHS, 1973), 29.

Building: CO. ANTRIM, CARRICKFERGUS, PROSPECT
Date: 1792
Nature: JH advertises for mason (to build same?)
Refs: Belfast News Letter, 5-8 Jun 1792 (Belfast News Letter Index, www.louisiana.ucs.edu)

Building: CO. DOWN, BALLYLESSON, CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY (CI, DRUMBO PARISH)
Date: 1798
Nature: JH declines to carry out work proposed alterations to spire.
Refs: Letter from Rev. Henry Savage, Drumbo, to Lord Downshire, 23 Mar 1798, in PRONI, D607/F/105 (see, PRONI e-catalogue, http://applications.proni.gov.uk/LL_DCAL_PRONI_ECATNI/ResultDetails.aspx , last visited, Nov 2011).