Salem Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached twin-gabled mid-Victorian house with Gothic detailing; built c.1870 and located to the east side of Millburn Road in Coleraine town centre. One-and-a-half-storey central rectangular block with arcaded timber porch, intersected by gabled wings with box bay projections; single-storey extension to northeast and two-storey gabled return (lower ridgeline) to rear.

Steeply pitched natural slate roof with fish-scale banding and angled ridge tiles; rendered chimneystacks with moulded caps and chamfered stalks; overhanging eaves and plain bargeboards with round finials to gables. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on overhanging timber eaves with exposed rafter tails. Walling is ruled-and-lined painted render on a contrasting plinth. Windows are a variety of timber sash with horns in splayed reveals; pointed-headed to first floor of gables (replacement six-light timber casements to northwest and 3/3 sash to southeast), with hood mould, keyblock and stops; 1/1 sash with horns to ground floor box bays in full splayed reveals. Gabled dormer to attic has plain bargeboard with simple finial and is lit by triplet of pointed-headed lights having replacement opaque glazing.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is symmetrically arranged; central bay has full-span arcaded timber porch accessed by four sandstone steps and surmounted by ornate cast-iron balustrade supported on slender cast-iron columns. Mid section of porch is enclosed, opening to left and right cheek with a wide four-panelled timber door with transom light having shouldered head and etched glazing (cast-iron door furniture and bell-push to right door); lit to front by a fixed four-light with pointed pointed upper panes set in shouldered reveal, painted masonry sill and recessed apron panel; window is surmounted by a louvered timber vent. Porch has coffered timber soffits, terracotta and black tile flooring and windows (as porch) with carved trefoil detail; set into chamfered reveals with shouldered heads and low sills. Steep left and right projecting gables have slated box bay projections at ground floor with chamfered corners.

The northeast elevation has a mullioned and transomed six-light window with hood mould to gablet at first floor, over single-storey extension (detailed as main house with painted render chimneystack to gable having one tall clay pot); extension has two multi-paned timber windows opening on a hinge in chamfered reveals.

The southeast elevation is abutted at centre by the two-storey gabled return. Left and right gables each have a window to each floor (6/6 sash to ground floor). The return has two 2/2 windows at first floor of gable; single-storey lean-to abutment to northeast; southwest elevation has multi-paned windows to first and ground floor (that to first floor is metal) and replacement French doors with transom light.

The southwest elevation has window to gablet at first floor (as described at northeast) and a replacement multi-paned timber window at ground floor.

Setting:

Situated on a rectangular plot to the east side the River Bann in Coleraine town centre, overlooking The Rose Gardens and Alexander Park, north of 29-31 Millburn road (HB03/18/023A&B) and south of Millburn Terrace (HB03/18/034A-I). Set back from the road with lawned and shrubbed garden to front; two weeping willow trees frame a central concrete pathway leading to five sandstone steps to entrance terrace, flanked by 2 sandstone, lion sculptures. To southwest is a freestanding rendered gable and tall chimneystack (as at northeast) of the former single-storey extension. The site is bounded by a smooth rendered stone wall and hedge to the lane at the north with a tall rendered wall with ogee moulding along the extent of the raised terrace. Two rendered piers with pyrimidal coping with ogee moulding and carved stone ball finial frame the front low wall to the north west with a replacement metal latch gate to centre. Concrete rear yard has a two-storey painted brick and rubblestone outbuilding (exposed to southeast gable), possibly the original coach house,with slate roof, replacement timber window openings and timber-sheeted doors, including loading door, the first floor is accessed by a set of replacement concrete steps with timber handrail.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled and lined painted render
Windows: Variety of timber sash with horns
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Salem Lodge was constructed in 1873-4 by Samuel Shannon and is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1904.

Millburn Road formed part of Coleraine’s late Victorian phase of development in which fashionable villas and terraces were constructed on the outskirts of the town to cater for the rising middle classes. The pride of the local people at these new developments was expressed in newspaper reports of the era (Mullin). Millburn Road, formerly known as Portrush Road, was laid out as a new road to Portrush and Portstewart at the suggestion of an Irish Society deputation of 1834. The new road, which was in progress in 1840, exposed a spring on the eastern side of the road during construction work and this fountain gave its name to ‘Fountain Villas’ beside Salem Lodge (Mullin). Until 1860 the Olphert estate on the north side of Coleraine could only be used for farming, but in January of that year Chancery Court permission was obtained for 99 year leases. In March 1860 the Olphert estate advertised sites for villas on the east side of Millburn Road, commencing at the fountain but building does not appear to have taken place until the launching of the Coleraine Building Society in 1864 (Mullin). David Baxter, who had built the adjacent ‘Fountain Villas’, leased the ground for Salem Lodge to Samuel Shannon of Crannagh in January 1872.

Salem Lodge first enters valuation records in 1873 when it is noted as an unfinished house built by Samuel M Shannon. The completed house was valued at £35 in 1874. Samuel M Shannon is noted as the first occupier and the house was then advertised to let in the Belfast Newsletter of 17th March 1876. The house was said to rest ‘on a beautiful Terraced Lawn, decked with Shrubbery; with open Vestibule at Hall Door roofed with glass and supported by Corinthian columns’. The house had a large hall with a double-railed mahogany staircase over which was a stained glass dome (stained glass now gone) and was said to be ‘of the most modern construction, with every accommodation for a Gentleman’s family’, featuring a greenhouse, coachhouse, stable, hay loft and enclosed yard and garden.

Subsequent occupiers were Samuel Adair (1877) Samuel E Stronge (1877) Daniel McLoughlin (1883) William Todd (1884) John Lusk (1889) Jane Lusk (1894) Samuel Kirkpatrick (1905) and David G Christie (1925). Jane Lusk appears in the 1901 census as a widow of 84 years who lives with her niece and a general domestic servant. The eight-room house was designated first class. The 1911 census notes the occupier as Samuel Kirkpatrick, a retired farmer who lived with his wife and employed a general domestic servant. Three children had been born to the couple, but sadly none had survived.
The house was listed in 1977 and renovations took place in the 1970s and 80s (HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1949
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-N Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
5. HB file – 03/18/024
6. Belfast Newsletter 17th March 1876

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in Coleraine and Portstewart” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971-2
2. Mullin, Rev T H “Coleraine in Modern Times” Belfast: Century Services Ltd, 1979

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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Salem Lodge is a detached twin-gabled mid-Victorian house with Gothic detailing; built c.1870 and located to the east side of Millburn Road in Coleraine town centre. Retaining its original proportions, with the exception of a single-storey southwest extension, much of its architectural detailing is intact, making this an important example of Victorian Gothic architecture on a domestic scale in a town largely characterised by its development during the Victorian era. Of distinct architectural quality and character, the house and setting makes an important contribution to the architectural heritage of Coleraine.

General comments

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