Glencree House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey rendered house with entrance porch and several bay windows, built c.1840. Rectangular-on-plan facing east, located to the north of Old Mountfield Road, on a large landscaped site, accessed by a drive to south with gate lodge (HB11/12/008B) and a small range of outbuildings.

M-profile pitched artificial slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, cement parged verges and four rendered chimneystacks to the front pile, two chimneystacks to the rear pile. Cast-iron rainwater goods to rendered eaves and a lead lined central valley, lead ridges to the bay windows to the south gable.

Walls are painted ruled-and-lined cement render with rendered quoins to the outer corners.

Window openings are square-headed with painted stone sills and replacement uPVC sliding sash windows (unless otherwise stated).

Front (east) elevation is three bays wide with an off-centre single-storey gabled entrance porch. Pitched artificial slate roof to porch with lead ridge, cement parged verge and cast-iron rainwater goods. Square-headed window opening to the gable contains an early 6/6 timber sash window (no horns). Square-headed door opening to the south cheek contains a four-panelled timber door (possibly replacement) opening onto two concrete steps.

South side elevation comprises a pair of gables with a single-storey square-plan bay to the ground floor of both gables. A single square-headed window opening to the first floor of both gables with single-pane timber sash windows. Hipped artificial slate roofs to both bays with lead ridges and cast-iron rainwater goods. The bay to the right (front pile) has tripartite window opening to the front with a single window to either side on a continuous concrete sill course. The bay to the left (rear pile) contains a pair of sliding glazed doors flanked by a pair of slender windows on concrete sills, with a further window to both cheeks. Doors opening onto a concrete flagged patio area.

Rear west elevation is five bays wide with a three-sided canted bay to the north end. A square-headed door opening encompasses a window opening to the left with a vertically-sheeted timber door with glazed panel.

The north side elevation comprises a pair of gables with a further single-storey gabled projection. The front gable has a remnant of a single-storey canted bay with a slated shallow roof. The projection has rough-cast rendered walls with square-headed door openings to the east and west elevations with uPVC glazed doors. To the north gable is a pair of asymmetrically-placed square-headed window openings with early 2/2 timber sash windows with concrete sills.

Setting:-
A bitmac forecourt leads to a small front avenue through a wooded garden while a single-storey painted brick structure to the rear contains a garage and has square-headed window openings with 2/2 timber sash windows and painted stone sills.

The bitmac avenue descends towards Mountfield Road passing a detached multi-bay lofted outbuilding. Pitched artificial slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted rough-cast over rubble stone walling. Square-headed door openings with vertically-sheeted timber doors and half-doors. Square-headed window openings with multi-pane timber sash and some steel windows.

Roof Artificial slate
Walling Painted render
Windows uPVC / timber sash
RWG Cast-iron

Historical information

The house first appears on the second edition OS Map (1854) captioned “Glencree”.

Griffith’s Valuation records the property in 1858 as a “house, offices and land.” The occupier is Alfred Gahan, and the lessor Elizabeth Hamilton. The building is valued at £10 initially and revised to £17 at an unknown date. Annual Revisions (1860-1903) record Lewis M. Buchanan (later Major Buchanan) as lessor in 1892 with various changes of occupier.

Dean (1994) dates Glencree to c.1840 (Dean, p.143). Mitchell provides some context on the location of the house, “The last great fire in Omagh was in May, 1743, when a chambermaid, careless in discarding lighted coals, accidentally burned the town to the ground in a matter of hours. Following this, the prosperous merchants decided that it was safer to move out of town and build their new houses in private secluded sites such as Glencree….” (Mitchell, p.50).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/47A-Griffith’s Valuation (1858)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/36A-J-Valuation Revisions (1860-1903)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/36A-M –Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37A-G-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929)

Secondary
1.Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories from the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000.

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

Evaluation

Detached three-bay two-storey rendered house with entrance porch and several bay windows, built c.1840. A plain but substantial house of a certain vernacular quality that, although compromised by later alterations, survives in its original setting complete with a Gothic gate lodge (HB11/12/008B) and vernacular outbuilding.

General comments

This record has been renumbered HB11/12/008A-previously HB11/12/008