The first reference to College Square can be found in a street directory in 1813. In 1819 there was a listing for “Thompson, James, professor of mathematics, College sq.”. In the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1832-1846) the street name College Square is listed. This would become College Square East. It takes its name from The Royal Belfast Academical Institution which opened its doors in 1814 having been founded in 1810. Originally the square surrounded "Inst" on all four sides, but now only two sides remain: College Square North and College Square East.
One of the earliest references to College Square East as such was in an advert in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle on Wednesday 01 October 1828. This space is dominated by the former College of Technology, often simply called "the Tech". It was designed by Samuel Stevenson and built in 1907. In 2011 Belfast Metropolitan College sold the building when they moved to a new site in the Titanic Quarter. It is now named John Bell House (after physicist John Stewart Bell, 1928-90) and serves as student accommodation for several academic institutions.