The first notice we have of Barrack Street is the appearance of the Barrack Yard in the map of 1715, which with the reconstruction of the barracks in 1737, gave the street its name. It was in these barracks on Friday, December 21, 1770, that David Douglas, arrested by Waddell Cunningham in connection with agrarian disturbances, was lodged... The Hearts of Steel determined to rescue Douglas, and on the following Sunday a band of them marched on Belfast, burned down the house of Waddell Cunningham, attacked the military barracks, and threatened to burn the town. The barracks continued until the new infantry barracks on the Carrickfergus Road (now North Queen Street) were opened. In 1823 the old barracks were unoccupied. In 1836 they were purchased by the Governors of the Belfast College, now Royal Academical Institution. The Board of Guardians occupied the front part as a dispensary till 1893, the main building being used as a Ragged School (John J. Marshall, Origin of Some of Belfast's Street Names).
According to Marcus Patton the phrase “Barracks for Soldiers” was marked on a 1757 map. It is included in the list of streets in the Belfast Directory 1831-1832. There was a building called “Brickfields Police Barracks” and was still a barracks right into the 1920’s Troubles.