2 BRICK ROW

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

One-and-a-half-storey two-bay Victorian modest red-brick terraced house with blue brick and red sandstone dressings, built c.1872-74 likely to designs by architect William James Watson. L-plan form facing SE having a full width flat roofed dormer extension to rear and a single storey pitched roof rear return. No. 2 Brick Row is one of six similar terrace houses (HB16.06.038A, C, D, E & F) which are located on the NW side of Horner’s Lane, off Bridge Street, Rostrevor.

The terrace faces SE and is fronted by a shared gravelled area bounded along Horner’s Lane by a random-coursed rubble stone wall with rock-faced coping. Gravelled parking area has a vehicular entrance to the E.

Dwellings are grouped into symmetrical pairs along the terrace having recessed semi-circular arched doors to centre of each pair. Open porches formed by continuous over-sailing eaves are supported on decorative timber brackets. Porches are flanked by narrowly projecting gabled bay windows. Each pair of houses shares a dormer with its neighbour, (each dwelling having a single diminutive window to shared dormer) with rectangular section red and blue brick chimneys at apex level. Gabled bay windows and dormers both have decorative pierced painted timber bargeboards.

Generally English Garden Bond red brick walling with a red brick plinth and single blue brick courses at window cill and impost levels. Stop-chamfered brick detail to door and window jambs. Square-headed window opes with front elevation having red sandstone heads and splayed red sandstone cills. Typically timber casement windows with top hung night vents.

Pitched natural slate roof to front block has angled black clay ridge tiles; slates are graded in size with those at eaves level larger than those near to apex. Felt covered flat roof of dormer extension extends to NW the full width of the original dwelling from ridge to rear wall. Rectangular-section red brick chimney to SW of elevation has 9 courses of blue brick to its top half and a two terracotta clay pots.

Narrowly projecting eaves with exposed painted timber rafter ends; generally cast iron RWGs with half-round guttering discharging to circular section downpipes. Rear elevation and rear return have uPVC RWGS.

Principal elevation
Front elevation faces SE having a painted sheeted timber door opening onto an open porch at NE formed by over-sailing eaves; painted timber posts framing porch with decorative trefoil brackets. Door opens onto concrete platform accessed via a granite step from the shared gravelled yard to SE.

Dormer window centred above paired porches has a diminutive side opening timber casement window. Gabled narrowly projecting bay window to SW side of porch has paired top opening timber casement window to GF level with sandstone head; semi-circular red sandstone arch over, with flush herringbone pattern brick spandrel.

Southwest elevation
Building is attached on the SW to No. 3 Brick Row (HB16/06/038C).

Northwest elevation
Limited access to rear NW facing elevation but, where visible, consist of a flat roofed dormer extension at FF having a top opening timber casement window, with slim concrete cill, and smooth cement rendered walling. Elevation is fronted on SW by a single storey pitched roof rear return to right (SW) side which extends NW to meet boundary with shared rear access passage, having a single top opening timber casement window to its NW end. Rear access passage to NW of rear return is paved. Narrow concrete yard to left (NE) side of rear return. Yard is partially covered with monopitched clear corrugated Perspex and leads to a six panelled painted timber door on NE elevation of rear return; single timber casement window to SE side of door.

Generally elevation has painted smooth cement render walling at GF level and to rear return.

Northeast elevation
Building is attached on the NE to No. 1 Brick Row (HB16/06/038A).

Setting
No. 2 Brick Row forms part of terrace of 6 similar houses which are located on the NW side of Horner’s Lane, within the Rostrevor Conservation Area. The site is bounded to the front by rubble stone walling and to the rear by a high stone retaining wall. Rear facades along Brick Row are generally much altered with various extensions of different shapes and size. A pair of two-and-a-half-storey red brick semi-detached dwellings are located on a raised site to the SW end of Brick Row; dwellings bear a similarity to the Brick Row but are much larger and have some significant differences in detail.

Materials
Roof: Natural slate front pitch; fibre-cement slates to extension & felt sheeting to rear dormer
RWGs: Cast iron and uPVC
Walling: Red brick, blue brick and red sandstone
Windows: Timber casement, painted

Historical information

Nos 1-6 Brick Row, a terrace of six one-and-a-half-storey red-brick houses located on Horner’s Lane off Bridge Street, were constructed in c. 1872-74. The terrace was constructed as part of the rapid development of the village of Rostrevor from the mid-Victorian period. The Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide records that there was steady growth in the population of the village in the late-19th century which coincided with the arrival of the tramway from Warrenpoint in 1875 and the construction of the Rostrevor Hotel in the following year (Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide).

The majority of listed buildings in Rostrevor date from the early-to-mid-19th century, however nos 1-6 Brick Row date from c. 1874; the terrace was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in that year. The valuer noted that the terrace was constructed on land leased by Edward Greer, a local solicitor and magistrate (who resided at Moygannon), and that three earlier houses, located to the rear of Bridge Street, had been demolished in order to make way for the new row. It is likely that the terrace was designed by William James Watson, a local architect who operated in Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor and practiced almost exclusively in south Co. Down. In 1872 the Irish Builder recorded that Watson had designed four new houses, ‘which are to form the first portion of a terrace,’ for Edward Greer. This terrace was constructed by Alexander Whelan, a Newry-based building contractor who submitted a tender for £1,550. The Irish Builder reported the acceptance of the tender in September 1872 and subsequently noted that the terrace had been completed by at least May 1874. It is not certain whether this terrace is Brick Row, although it is very likely given the dates and the association with Edward Greer (DIA; Irish Builder).

No. 2 Brick Row, a one-and-a-half-storey red-brick terraced house, was originally valued at £3 by the Annual Revisions. The valuer noted that the house was initially leased to a Mr. Thompson by the Greer estate. By the turn of the 20th century the house was occupied by a Mr. Wallace Stewart and his family. The 1901 Census of Ireland building return described No. 2 Brick Row as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three rooms and possessed no outbuildings to rear. The occupants of the house changed with great frequency over the following three decades and by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 2 Brick Row had been increased to £4. The valuer noted that ownership of the row had passed to a Mr. Francis Morrow by the 1930s. The total rateable value of No. 2 Brick Row stood at £5 and 5 shillings by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) which also noted that the house was owned by a Mr. Daniel Rooney and was occupied by a Ms. Mary Haydock.

Nos 1-6 Brick Row were included in the Rostrevor Conservation Area in 1979 and were subsequently listed in 1981. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 2 Brick Row underwent an extensive renovation in 1995 which included the reslating of its roof (in Bangor Blue slates), the installation of cast iron rainwater goods, the repointing of its brickwork and the installation of new window frames throughout (NIEA HB Records).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/2/54/2 – Second edition Ordnance Survey map (1859)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/54/3 – Third edition Ordnance Survey map (1901-02)
3. PRONI OS/6/2/54/4 – Fourth edition Ordnance Survey map (1919-30)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/19/21A-F – Annual Revisions (1865-1930
5. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/23 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/3/81 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Irish Builder (15 Sep 1872; 15 May 1874)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1918)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. First Survey Record – HB16/06/038 (1969)
11. NIEA HB Record – HB16/06/038B
Secondary Sources

1. ‘Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment (N. I.), 1979.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects – www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
Z. Rarity
T. Historic Importance
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A modest one-and-a-half-storey two-bay Victorian red-brick terraced house with blue brick and red sandstone dressings, built c.1872-74, most likely to designs by William James Watson. L-shaped on plan, No. 2 Brick Row exhibits much character externally and is well proportioned and robustly detailed. The addition of a flat roofed dormer to the rear roof slope detracts from the building's original architectural quality; however, as part of a coherent row of six similar dwellings (HB16.06.038A & C-F inclusive) it represents a good example of small scaled domestic architecture from the Victorian era. A continuous rubblestone wall that forms the boundary to the terrace on Horner's Lane further augments the character of its setting within the Rostrevor Conservation Area.