14 VICTORIA SQUARE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End-of-terrace three-bay two-storey with attic Victorian rendered and painted house built in 1880 to designs by David Mahood, local builder and contractor. ‘T-shaped’ plan form facing southeast with two-storey return centred at the rear. No. 14 Victoria Square is one of five similar houses which together form a terrace overlooking the formally designed Victorian Square (HB16.06.064B-E inclusive). Originally named Albert Terrace, these five houses line the northwest side of Victoria Square, which is arranged on three sides around a central green, primarily accessed from Shore Road to the southwest.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-top terracotta ridge tiles and mortared verge tiles. Red brick chimney to south-west gable having corbelled coping; similar chimney to north-east, shared with No. 16 Victoria Square (HB16.06.064B). Scrolled brackets on painted timber eaves board support painted timber soffit to roof overhang. uPVC ogee moulded gutter discharging to circular downpipe. Pair of dormers to southeast with hipped slate roof, lead flashing, terracotta ridges tiles and finial.

Generally smooth rendered walling to ground floor and rough-cast rendered walling to first floor. Smooth raised rendered sill course to first floor. Square-headed window openings having roll moulded lip to reveal edge at timber box frame and three over three margin-paned timber sliding sash windows, unless otherwise stated.

Principal front elevation is symmetrical and faces southeast with central entrance flanked by single-storey canted bays having hipped natural slate roof and half-round uPVC gutters. Depressed-arched opening to entrance with projecting roll-moulded edge to rendered reveal; square headed six-panelled timber door, flanked by side-lights with scrolled pilasters. Fan-light over with with glazed circular inset. Square-headed timber casement windows to dormers. Concrete pathway flanked by formal lawn with pair of concrete steps leading to entrance.

Southwest gable end consists of pair of projecting chimney breasts to ground and first floor joining in pointed arch at attic level with crow-stepped gables having stone copings. Side elevation of rear return is two-bay two-storey with cat-slide roof. Square-headed openings throughout with three over three margin-paned timber sliding sash windows to first floor; timber casement window to ground floor and timber panelled door with fanlight over.

Rear elevation faces northwest and is three-bay two-storey with projecting central rear return having cat-slide northwest roof. Rear return has single-bay single-storey abutment to northwest with slated mono-pitch roof. Square-headed openings throughout with that to right side of return on ground floor having three-part timber casement window with multi-paned fixed upper lights and arched central pane; uPVC casement window to left side of return on ground floor. Three small modern rooflights to attic level.

North-east elevation is attached to No.16 Victoria Square (HB16.06.64B). Side elevation of rear return is two-bay two-storey with square-headed openings, uPVC casement window and timber sheeted door. Timber sheeted door to single-storey extension. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods and vented soil stack.

SETTING
No. 14 is part of a terrace of five houses forming the northwest boundary of a formal square composed of two terraces arranged around a central green with semi-detached and detached villas forming boundary to the south-east. The house is set back from the road behind a low smooth rendered boundary wall with curved coping, square-plan piers with domed coping and decorative timber gate, all painted. Rear garden is enclosed with high rendered wall with square-headed opening to north-west. Single-storey rendered outbuilding within rear yard having mono-pitch slate roof abuts house at 90 degrees and is attached to boundary wall of No. 16 Victoria Square (HB16.06.64B)

MATERIALS
Roof: Natural slate
RWGs: uPVC (some cast-iron to rear)
Walling: Smooth and roughcast render, painted
Windows: Timber sliding sash (SE, rear return & 1st fl NW), timber casement & uPVC (GF, NW)

Historical information

Due to its picturesque setting on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough with the Mountains of Mourne rising up behind it, Rostrevor became a popular resort in the nineteenth century. The development of what is now known as Victoria Square on the southern outskirts of the town began in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps of 1834 and 1859 show that this area, located close to the shoreline, was unoccupied. Furthermore, the present stretch of the Shore Road south of Victoria Square was not in existence at this time.

The listed buildings in Victoria Square comprise a terrace of five houses (nos 14-22), a terrace of three houses (nos 34-38) and a pair of semi-detached houses (nos 42-44). Originally nos 14-22 were known as Albert Terrace, nos. 34-38 as Victoria Terrace, and nos. 42-44 as Glenmore Terrace. They are named as such on the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map revised in 1901-02 and published in 1904, and again on the map revised in 1919 and published in 1930. It is not until the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map revised in 1950-52 and published in 1954 that the address for these properties is given as Victoria Square. Similarly it is not until 1955 that the Revaluation Records amend the address to Victoria Square.

However, it is clear that Victoria Square had been used as the address for this development for some time before this. It appears as an address in street directories and probate records from the 1920s, while in an article in The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine in 1927 the author refers to ‘the grassy square called Victoria Square’ at Rostrevor where he carried out research in 1926.

The initiative to develop these dwellings seems largely to have come from members of the Mahood family. The son of Alexander Mahood, David Mahood was born in County Down around 1830. In 1859 he married Sarah Jane Mahood of Donaghmore, County Down, in Donaghmore Church of Ireland. At this time he was listed as a carpenter resident in Newcastle, County Down, while his father’s occupation was given as farm steward. His bride was the daughter of John Mahood, a farmer. In 1871, when a widower, David Mahood, then a builder of Newry, married Eliza Jane McMurray of Warrenpoint in Warrenpoint Presbyterian Church. On this record David’s father was listed as a forester, while the bride’s father Robert McMurray was a farmer. In 1881 he was based in Upper Edward Street in Newry, though by 1898 his address was Monaghan Street. In that year Mahood was a subscriber to George Lister Sutcliffe (ed.), The Principles and Practice of Modern House-Construction (London, 1898).

In both the 1901 and 1911 David Mahood is recorded as a resident of Warrenpoint – in the former his age is given as 70 and in the latter as 79. He died on 14 October 1911. Referencing an obituary in Building News, the Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that he was ‘responsible for the erection of Newry town hall and the bridge on which it stands, the Great Northern railway stations at Warrenpoint, Navan and Newry, railway works at Dundalk, the Warrenpoint and Rostrevor tramways, and Warrenpoint waterworks.’ David Mahood seems to have been responsible for Albert Terrace on his own initiative, but worked in conjunction with James McMurray in the development of Victoria Terrace. McMurray may well have been related to Mahood through the latter’s second marriage – they may even have been brothers-in-law though this has not been confirmed. McMurray might well be the James McMurray, a 68-year-old retired master painter, resident in Warrenpoint according to the 1901 census, who died on 8 February 1904. The construction of Glenmore Terrace was the work of John Mahood. Born around 1820, he was possibly David Mahood’s older brother. He was a painter and decorator in Rostrevor who died on 24 February 1890.

The first of the three blocks to be built was Glenmore Terrace which makes an appearance in the Valuation Revision Books in 1882. The earliest mention of the name of the terrace appears in John Mahood’s will of 8 April 1886 in which he refers to his two houses in Glenmore Terrace. Victoria Terrace came next, appearing in the Valuation Revision Books in 1887, while finally Albert Terrace was constructed between 1898 and 1903, both no doubt named after the Queen and her late consort. (Albert Terrace also appears in street directories as Cloughmore Terrace.) While Victoria Terrace had a relatively stable occupancy, Albert Terrace had a very high turnover of occupants in its early years, suggesting its houses may have been used primarily as a holiday homes.

14 Victoria Square is a dwelling in a terrace that was originally known as Albert Terrace. In Valuation and Revaluation records it was identified as property no. 4 Albert Terrace. It appears as a new entry in the Valuation Revision Books in 1903 when it was listed as a house and yard with a rateable valuation of £30. When first listed the property was vacant. Over the next quarter of a century there was a succession of different occupiers. The last occupier listed in the Valuation Revision Books, which go up to 1930, was Emma Burns who was in possession by 1921, having succeeded Annie Burns.

The First General Revaluation of 1935 lists the name of this property as Inisfail (also spelled Inishfail/Innisfail) and that it was in the occupation of Mary Roberta Chambers. The valuation placed on the property at this time was £35. By 1953 Conn O’Hare had come into possession of the property. In the 1960s Patrick Carvill (by 1965) and George McKee (1969) were the occupiers. By 1979 it had acquired by the Price family.

HB Records indicate that repainting and some repairs were carried out to the house in 1984-5. In 1989-90 repairs to the roof, windows, water goods, were carried out – this work had been completed satisfactorily by September 1990. In 1994 further repairs to the windows were undertaken.

References

Primary sources
1. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1834, OS/6/3/54/1
2. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, revised 1859, OS/6/3/54/2
3. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, revised 1901-2, published 1904, OS/6/3/54/3
4. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, revised 1919, published 1930, OS/6/3/54/4
4. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, revised 1950 and 1952, published 1954, OS/6/3/54/6
6. PRONI, Valuation 6-inch map, c. 1884-c. 1901, VAL/12/D/3/54D
7. PRONI, Valuation 6-inch map, c. 1895-c. 1914, VAL/12/D/3/54E
8. PRONI, Valuation 6-inch map, c. 1905-c. 1928, VAL/12/D/3/54G
9. PRONI, Valuation 1:1056 map, 1932-1956, VAL/3/G/92/1/2
10. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, Electoral Division of Rostrevor, 1865-1930 (VAL/12/B/19/21A-F)
11. PRONI, First General Revaluation, Rural District of Kilkeel Vol. 2, 1935, VAL/3/B/4/12
12. PRONI, Annual Revisions List of the First General Revaluation, Rural District of Kilkeel, Vol. 2, 1936-1957, VAL/3/C/4/23
13. PRONI, Annual Revisions List of the Second General Revaluation, Rural District of South Down, 1956-1972, VAL/4/B/3/81
14. Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory (1852 onwards)
15. Belfast Newsletter, 29 January 1892
16. NIEA, HB Records

Secondary sources
1. W. H. Crowe, Village in Seven Hills: The Story and Stories of Rostrevor, Co. Down (1972)
2. The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, vol. 63 (1927)

Online sources

1. National Archives of Ireland, 1901 and 1911 census returns (www.census.nationalarchives.ie)
2. PRONI, Will Calendars (www.proni.gov.uk)
3. Dictionary of Irish Architects (www.dia.ie)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
R. Age

Evaluation

A well proportioned and detailed end of terrace Victorian house dating from 1880 and built to designs by David Mahood, local builder and contractor. It has group value with four similar houses (HB16.06.064B-E inclusive) once known as Albert Terrace that line the northwest side of Victoria Square, south of Rostrevor town centre. Largely characterised by a symmetrical formal composition, including canted bays, hipped dormers and scrolled brackets to overhanging eaves, a good amount of historic detailing consistent for its time survives. The three-centred arched doorcase and margin paned windows are particularly elegant and this is matched by a fine interior, where the original layout and a substantial proportion of original features remain. Single-storey outbuildings to the rear, together with the front boundary wall and decorative timber gate augment its character, as does the formal setting around the central green.

General comments

.Previously recorded as HB16/06/064