Magheraboy House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey-with-attic, three bay detached Victorian house, now in use as a hotel; built c.1860 to designs by Charles Lanyon and situated to the north side of Magheraboy Road south of Portrush town centre. Rectangular plan with single-storey canted bays to north; modern single-storey extensions to three sides and large two-storey modern wings to south and east (of little interest).

Hipped artificial slate roof with sandstone ridges and hips and rendered panelled chimneystacks having bracketed corniced caps and three decorative terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting bracketed eaves. Walling is painted smooth render with channelled rustication to ground floor on a contrasting plinth; bead moulded string course below bracketted eaves; moulded impost course and sill course to first floor. Windows are replacement timber casements in round-headed moulded surrounds with keyblock to first floor, surmounted by pediments (segmental pediments to left and right) on scrolled embellished consoles with decorative carved mouldings to spandrels. Tripartite canted bays to ground floor (wider to main face) divided by pilasters with moulded frieze and cornice surmounted by parapet. Two segmental-headed dormer windows to attic.

The principal elevation faces north and is arranged according to the classical style, with three openings to each floor. To centre at ground floor is a semi-circular headed doorway fronted by a distyle Ionic portico with entablature, segmental pediment and pilaster responds. Bolection moulded two-panelled double-leaf timber door with brass knobs and number, surmounted by fanlight with leaded and bevelled glass panels.

The east elevation has projecting chimney breast to right; abutted at ground floor by modern extension (of little interest).

The south (rear) elevation has round-headed stairwell leaded-and-stained glass window and replacement timber sheeted door (accessed by modern metal staircase to roof level) to first floor left of centre. To right at first floor is a round-headed 3/6 with spoked head timber sash window with horns and projecting painted sill. Ground floor is abutted by modern extension.

The west elevation has projecting chimneybreast flanked to either side at first floor by a round-headed multi-paned uPVC window; abutted at ground floor by the modern single-storey extension.

Setting:

Conversion for use as a modern hotel has meant large scale re-landscaping of the site which has degraded much of the original character. The view from the road is now dominated by the rear extensions and a modern entrance has also been inserted to southwest. Original balustrade and steps to former gardens to front, now replaced by gravelled car-park. Overlooking a modern housing estate to north, bounded by mature hedgerow.

Roof: Artificial slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: Replacement timber casements or uPVC
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Magheraboy House, a two-storey gentleman’s villa in the townland of Magheraboy, was constructed between 1830 and c. 1860 as it first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map carried out in the latter year. The Ordnance Survey map depicted Magheraboy House as an L-shaped building, although at that time it was known as ‘Seaview Ho[use];’ the large mid-Victorian dwelling replaced an earlier property which can be seen on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830. Griffith’s Valuation (1857) records that the site was occupied by a Dr. Robert Hamilton, who also owned the property outright; Seaview House and its associated out offices were valued at a total of £30. Robert Hamilton continued to reside at Magheraboy House until at least 1917 when he was last recorded as occupant in the Annual Revisions.

The census of Ireland records that in 1901 Hamilton (73, Church of Ireland) was a English non-practising surgeon who resided at Magheraboy House with his wife Jane (68) and three of their adult children; the census building return described the house as a 1st class dwelling consisting of 16 rooms and possessing a stable, three cow houses, a dairy, piggery, a boiling house and a barn amongst its out offices; the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1904) records that a large outbuilding (now demolished) was located to the south-east of the dwelling and likely contained the majority of Hamilton’s farm offices. By the 1911 Census there had been little change to the site, although by that time Hamilton was aged 83 and a widower, cared for by a number of servants. Hamilton resided at Magheraboy House until 1917 when he presumably died, although it was not until 1919 that the site was reoccupied by a Mr. Robert Lee Hogg who made various additions made to Magheraboy House resulting in the increase in its value to £65. Hogg continued to reside at the site until 1927 when the property came into the possession of the Whitely family who were the last occupants recorded in the Annual Revisions which ended in 1929.

Girvan and Curran state that Magheraboy House was designed by Charles Lanyon (1813-1889) for Dr. Robert Hamilton, a Liverpool-based doctor who retired to the Causeway coast c. 1855 and selected the site for his grand villa. The dwelling was likely constructed after Lanyon took his assistant William Henry Lynn into partnership, forming the firm Lanyon & Lynn in 1854-55; Girvan states that Magheraboy is ‘an excellent stucco villa’ a typical example of a county villa ‘in the Lanyon manner’ employing innovative styles: ‘the doorway framed by an Ionic Portico with segmental pediment and flanked by canted bay windows, the walls have banded rustication ... the eaves cornice supported by heavy consoles’ (Girvan, p. 39).

Between 1934 and 1947 Magheraboy House was occupied by Sir Richard Dawson Bates (1876-1949) the first Minister for Home Affairs for Northern Ireland. Bates moved to Magheraboy House in 1934 and was made Baronet of Magheraboy on 7th June 1937; however during his retirement after 1943 financial circumstances and sectarian targeting forced the former minister to abandon Magheraboy and move to England where he died in 1949; Bates was later buried in Ballywillin Parish Church near to his former home (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

Magheraboy House was listed in 1977 but is no longer utilised as a private dwelling; the former gentleman’s villa has been converted into a hotel overlooking the Causeway Coast; the external facade of the Victorian villa has been maintained, however all of the original outbuildings visible on the early editions of the Ordnance Survey maps have been demolished to make way for the construction of the three-storey hotel accommodation block to the east of the former dwelling. Since 2006 the hotel has underwent renovation and extension work totalling over £3 million.’ (Magheraboy House Hotel website).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/3/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map c. 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/5/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1922-32
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/13 – Griffith’s Valuation 1857
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4A – Annual Revisions 1862-1864
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4B – Annual Revisions 1865-1880
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4C – Annual Revisions 1881-1889
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4D – Annual Revisions 1890-1898
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4E – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4F – Annual Revisions 1911-1929
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17G – Annual Revisions 1918-1929
13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB03/07/005 (1973)
15. First Survey Image – HB03/07/005 (1974)

Secondary Sources

1. Curran, B., ‘Coleraine and the Causeway Coast: An illustrated history and companion’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 1995.
2. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Building in North Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - www.dia.ie
2. Magheraboy House Hotel website - http://www.magherabuoy.co.uk
3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/64459

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Magheraboy House is a symmetrical two-storey-with-attic, three bay detached Victorian house, now in use as a hotel; built c.1860 to designs by Charles Lanyon and situated to the north side of Magheraboy Road south of Portrush town centre. Architectural detailing is well-preserved and typical of the period, however alterations and extensions associated with its use as a hotel has been detrimental to the building's proportions and character. Despite this, the building remains an important example of the work of a prominent Ulster architect and the quality of the detailing attests to a formerly elegant dwelling, and one of the more prominent houses in the area. Magheraboy House is of considerable local interest and makes a significant contribution to the historic interest of Portrush

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.