Ballyoan House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built in the early 1860s and located on a mature landscaped site on the west side of Ballyoan Road enclosed by tall rubblestone walls. Irregular on plan facing north-west with front entrance porch and two-storey rear extension. The property was extensively renovated and extended c.1995 and the retention of the current conservatory was granted approval in 2007.

Pitched natural slate roof with rendered chimneystacks having octagonal clay pots. Replacement metal guttering to uPVC sheeted overhanging eaves and metal downpipes. Painted cement rendered walling with rendered quoins. Square-headed window openings with rendered surrounds, concrete sills and replacement double-glazed 6/6 timber sliding sash windows unless otherwise noted.

Front (north-west) elevation is three bays wide with gable-fronted entrance porch (built c1995) with round-arched door opening to the left cheek having replacement four-panelled timber door and leaded fanlight.

Gabled north-east side elevation has a single window opening to the first floor far right.

Rear (south-east) elevation is abutted by the original two-storey pitched roof return to the right. A two-storey extension (built c1995) fully abuts the left side which in turn is abutted by a single-storey pitched roof extension of little interest.
The gabled south-east face of the original return has a paired window to ground floor left surmounted by a single window. The north-east face of the original return has four window openings of various sizes. The south-west face is fully abutted by the two-storey extension.

Gabled south-west side elevation has a single window opening to far left to each floor. The two-storey double pitched rear extension to right is of little interest and is abutted by a modern timber-framed conservatory (aluminium cappings to glazed roof) also of little interest.

Setting:
Located on the west side of Ballyoan Road behind a tall nineteenth-century rubblestone wall. Short winding gravel driveway opens onto the road via pair of modern steel gates hung on square rubblestone piers. A fine whitewashed slate roofed outbuilding is located to the south-east of the house set close to the rubblestone boundary wall.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement steel
Walling Painted cement render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1858) the property on which Ballyowen House stands was in the possession of James Tedlie. The buildings comprised simply offices (outbuildings) – there was no dwelling house on it at that time – which had the valuation of £1 10s. However, the Valuation Revision Book for 1862-64 records that a house was added in the early 1860s, increasing the total value of the buildings to £16.

Pencilled notes in this Valuation Revision Book seem to indicate that the dimensions of the house were 44 x 20 x 25 (length, breadth, height), with a return 22 x 22 x 25, and that there were eight rooms in the dwelling. This would appear to the L-shaped structure shown on twentieth-century Ordnance Survey maps.

Edward A. Hamilton was in possession of the property by 1877. By 1900 John Wylie was in occupation. A wealthy merchant, he died on 9 April 1902 leaving an estate valued at over £6,000. The property then passed to the McCarter family. In 1910 the valuation of the buildings was reduced from £16 to £11, though no explanation for this was noted. By the late 1930s the house was in the possession of William Cunningham. Repairs to the roof were carried out in 1984-85, while in the late 1990s an extensive renovation of the house took place which included the replacement of the flat roofed entrance porch with a pitched roof entrance porch and the construction of an extension to the rear and a hipped roof conservatory to the south-west. The hipped roof conservatory was subsequently demolished and replaced with the current conservatory. Its retention was granted approval in 2007.

References

Primary sources

1. PRONI, Griffith’s Valuation, 1858
2. PRONI, Valuation map, c. 1908–c.1918, VAL/12/D/5/14D (based on Ordnance Survey map published in 1907)
3. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930, VAL/12/B/32/12A-F
4. PRONI, First Northern Ireland General Revaluation Books: Annual Revision Lists, 1936-57 – VAL/3/C/6/9
5. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1933, OS/6/5/14/4
6. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1954, OS/6/5/14/5
7. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1964, OS/6/5/14/6
8. NIEA, First Survey Card
9. NIEA, HB Records

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built in the early 1860s and located on a mature landscaped site on the west side of Ballyoan Road enclosed by tall rubblestone walls. The house was extensively renovated and extended in the late 1990s and further extended in the 2000s forming a large conservatory. Although several additions have compromised it appearance, its historic 19th century character survives and its fine mature setting and associated outbuilding adds to its interest.