Mount Pleasant

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A split-level two and three-storey three-bay detached house, dated 1879 and situated on the steeply sloping east bank of the River Bann in Coleraine town centre. Rectangular plan with two-storey gabled projection to front and three-storey gabled projection to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta crestings, leaded valleys and rendered chimneystacks having moulded caps. Plain bargeboards and terracotta finials to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting bracketted timber eaves. Walling is painted smooth render on a chamfered plinth. Exposed windows are 1/1 timber sash with horns and projecting masonry sills, several are boarded over; those to east elevation have label moulds over with moulded stops.

The principal elevation faces east; central gabled projection is flanked at left and right by a single-storey bay (two-storey at other elevations) each with paired windows under continuous label mould raised to centre and topped by decorative finial. Gabled projection has moulded roundel to apex of gable dated “1879”; pointed-headed window with hood mould at first floor over two square-headed boarded openings. Left cheek has a set of timber steps to boarded timber door at first floor; right cheek is blank.

The south elevation has two segmental-headed 1/1 sash windows to first floor; 1/1 window at ground floor left; lower ground level not visible.

The west elevation has paired windows at each floor to gabled projection (see surveyor’s comments).

The north elevation has two segmental-headed timber sash windows to first floor; 1/1 window to ground floor right; lower ground floor has large boarded window opening and entrance (door missing) with transom light over at left.

Setting:

Situated to the west side of Mountsandel Road in Coleraine town centre, built into the west bank of the River Bann. Bounded to Mountsandel Road by a partially replacement castellated concrete wall, and original stone piers having polygonal caps and moulded roundels at east face.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted smooth render
Windows: 1/1 timber sash with horns or timber-boarded
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

No. 23 Mountsandel Road, a two-storey Victorian cottage (three-storey to the rear), was constructed in 1879 by a Mr. John Baxter who had leased the plot of land from the Marquis of Hertford in 1872. Baxter was employed as a house painter and operated a decoration business with his brother David under the company name J. & D. Baxter; the Ulster Town Directory for 1880 notes that John Baxter also owned a separate house at Portrush. In 1879 Baxter’s cottage was erected along the Mountsandel Road to the south of Coleraine’s town centre; upon its completion ‘Mount Pleasant’ was valued at £21 15s in the Annual Revisions, at which it remained until 1931. The Annual Revisions town plan (c. 1882-1907) records that the layout of the cottage has not been altered since its construction, and that a rectangular-shaped outbuilding, located to the north side of the property along the Mountsandel Road, had been erected soon after the completion of the cottage. Baxter resided at Mount Pleasant until his death in 1885 at which time he bequeathed the cottage, his property in Portrush, and effects of £1,220 13s. 9d. to his widow Elizabeth (PRONI Wills).

Elizabeth Baxter did not reside at Mountsandel Road and in 1887 a Mr. Hugh Eccles, a local printer, took possession of the property, leasing the site from Warren Baxter (likely John and Elizabeth’s son). The 1901 Census records that Eccles (46, Presbyterian) resided at Mount Pleasant with his wife Emma (37 – born in New York City), and their three children; the census building return described Eccles’ cottage as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a fowl house, turf house and shed as its sole out offices (these out offices were located in the rectangular-shaped outbuilding located to the north side of the cottage – demolished in the late 20th century). Eccles vacated the cottage in 1902 and for seven years the dwelling lay vacant until a Mrs. Eva Christie purchased the property in 1909. The 1911 Census notes that Eva Christie (33, Presbyterian) resided at Mount Pleasant with her husband Daniel Hall Christie and their infant son; Daniel Christie was employed as a local plumber and gasfitter (Ulster Town Directory – 1918).

The Christie family continued to reside at the cottage until at least the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931 when Eva Christie was still recorded as occupant. By the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of Mount Pleasant had been increased to £43 when a Mr. Joseph Cameron was recorded as occupant. By the 1950s the value of the cottage had been further increased to £52 under the second revaluation (1956-72); the valuer noted that by the cancellation of the valuation survey in 1972, a Professor McFadyen was the owner and occupant of Mount Pleasant. Prof. Amyan McFadyen was a professor of Ecology and Environmental Science at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, an editor of the journal Advances in Ecological Research, and in the 1990s stood as a politician for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

The cottage was listed in 1977; writing in 1972, Girvan described Mount Pleasant Cottage as ‘a pleasing Victorian cottage orne, stuccoed, with Tudor-style drip mouldings, and a spectacular view across the river’ (Girvan, p. 21). There has been little discernible alteration carried out to the cottage since its construction in 1879; the First Survey Image notes that a greenhouse had been installed to the front of the property by 1973; however this has since been removed. Further, the former outbuilding located to the north side of the dwelling was demolished in the late-20th century, after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1967-68 which last depicted the structure. Mount Pleasant currently lies vacant and has fallen into a state of disrepair with the original glazing broken and all entrances and openings boarded up.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/156/1/15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan c. 1882-1907
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-P – Annual Revisions 1859-1931
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/3 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/2 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (17 Nov 1885)
10. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
11. Ulster Street Directories (1877-1918)
12. First Survey Record – HB03/17/013 (1972)
13. First Survey Image – HB03/17/013 (1973)
14. Ordnance Survey map – 13-13SW (1967-68)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Mount Pleasant is a split-level two and three-storey three-bay detached house, dated 1879 and situated on the east bank of the River Bann in Coleraine town centre. With a wealth of historic detailing, all of fine quality and typically late-Victorian in character, the building is currently vacant and falling into a state of disrepair. Well-proportioned and prominently sited on the banks of the River Bann, Mount Pleasant makes an important contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre. A fine example of a late-Victorian townhouse, Mount Pleasant is also of local interest.

General comments

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