'Dunida', 9 Lurgan Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4LU

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half-storey three-bay detached rendered house with landscaped
setting; built c.1890 to designs by Henry Hobart and located to the east side of Lurgan Road north of Banbridge town centre. L-shaped plan with projecting gabled left bay, two-storey canted bay to southeast, projecting gabled and columned semi-open porch and veranda to southwest, two-storey gabled return and single-storey flat-roof extension (later) to rear.

Steep hipped natural slate roof with terracotta crestings, replica decorative finials and rounded terracotta tiles to hips. Tall lozenge chimneystacks having replica terracotta pots and plain bargeboards to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting eaves with timber fascia boards; exposed rafter tails to open porch. Walling is ruled-and-lined render with stugged finish on a chamfered plinth with smooth rendered quoins and cavetto eaves course; decorative terracotta panels to first floor. Windows are a variety of timber casements and timber-framed sliding sash with horns, in chamfered reveals with projecting sandstone sills; those to first floor have moulded architraves with keyblock and continuous sills.

The principal elevation faces southwest and comprises projecting gabled bay to left and wider bay to right having gablet and timber semi-open porch at ground floor. Gabled left bay has four-paned window to first floor; paired 1/1 windows to ground floor. Right bay has four-paned window to first and ground floor; enclosed timber-framed porch to re-entrant angle is gabled and extends to a columned verandah at right. Porch sits on a chamfered sandstone plinth and has decorative bargeboards with finials, louvered aprons and timber brackets to gable. It contains four timber windows with etched glass margins surmounted by a three-paned leaded-and-stained glass window arranged in a triangle and surrounded by timber-sheeting. Opens to southeast with a double-leaf raised-and-pointed three-panel varnished oak door having brass door furniture. Verandah is laid with terracotta tiles and accessed by two granite steps; slated canopy is supported on square timber columns with carved brackets having trefoil detailing.

The northwest elevation has two windows to left at first floor; enlarged replacement window to ground floor left and 1/1 window to ground floor centre.

The northeast elevation is abutted at right by the two-storey return with two-storey lean-to extension (lower) at northwest elevation and single-storey flat-roof extension (of no interest) to northeast. Three-paned dormer window to rear pitch; four-paned window to first floor left breaks the eaves line; replacement stairwell window to centre.

The southeast elevation has two-storey canted bay at left; four-paned window to first floor breaks the eaves line and has a segmental-headed hood. Ground floor has double-leaf panelled-and-glazed timber doors surmounted by transom light and in a moulded surround with keyblock; 1/1 sashes, top panes divided into three to left and right cheeks. Right bay has a four-paned timber window to ground floor.

Setting

Set on an extensive mature site to the east side of Lurgan Road. Mature trees flank the driveway to southwest, accessed from the main road via a set of modern steel gates supported on rock-faced stone piers and cattle grid. Bounded to road by recent rock-faced stone wall with stone coping. Garage dating from mid-century. Lawned garden to front and rear with a variety of mature trees, bounded by mature hedgerow. Extensive lawned garden to rear is accessed via original wrought-iron gates to northwest and southeast.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Pitted render (painted)
Windows: Timber to main house
RWG: Cast-iron and uPVC

Historical information

‘Dunida’ is a Victorian villa and factory manager’s house and is first shown, captioned, on the third edition OS map of 1903. The house is entered into valuation records in 1891 as the home of Charles McCall who purchased the lease from the Representatives of William E E Reilly. The house, which sits on over an acre of land is valued at £17.10s and dimensions are given of 13x10 yards and 2½ storeys. The architect was Henry Hobart, author of several distinctive Victorian villas in the Banbridge area. The initial valuation was £17.10s but this was thought too low and was raised in 1896 to £28.10s. Valuer’s notes of this period state that the cost of construction had been over £800 and comment that the house is ‘very nice... in good position close to town, should let for £45 with grounds’. A plan is given showing the original layout of the house which appears to be largely unchanged. The single-storey flat-roofed extension to the rear is shown, however the section with a corrugated roof may have been added later. The porch and verandah are not shown, however, and may have been a later addition.

Lisburn-born Charles Hugh McCall was the manager of Frederick W Hayes mill at Seapatrick. This old-established firm, founded in 1834, passed from Frederick William Hayes to his son William who died in 1876. The heir to the firm, also called Frederick William Hayes, was a minor at the time and McCall, the son of Hugh McCall, a well-known linen historian of Lisburn, was hired as general mill manager to strengthen the management team. (Rankin) McCall is listed in the 1901 census as a managing director of a County Down linen thread manufacturer living with his wife and two children, an adult son working as a manager, perhaps also in the Edenderry factory, and a young son of 9. The family had two resident servants, a general domestic from Dublin and a cook from County Armagh. The thirteen room house was designated first class.

In the mid-1920s, following McCall’s death, the house was sold to F Charles Cowdy, John Jones Cowdy living there, followed by tenants of the Smyth family, both families prominent linen manufacturing dynasties in the Banbridge area. The general revaluation of the 1930s listed the accommodation at the house as four bedrooms, two receptions, a small sitting room, separate WC, two pantries, kitchen, scullery and an enclosed yard with servants’ WC. The house had electric light and town water. The valuer commented that it was a ‘very well built detached house in very good condition... Adjoins railway line (in deep cutting) and opposite bleach works from which the smoke during prevailing west winds blows right onto the house forming a serious disadvantage.’ The tenants at this time were Charlotte Anne and Ruth Eleanor Smyth. They were leaving to make way for Anthony Lloyd Cowdy, who had been living in South Africa. In 1951 A L Cowdy is listed as the occupier but the house was sold in the mid 1960s. (Rankin) The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7A-C Annual Revisions (1899-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/4 First General Revalution (1933-57)
6. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/2/A/9 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
7. PRONI Will of Charles H McCall died 28th October 1924
8. 1901 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Rankin, K “The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley, The story of their families” Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007

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
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Dunida is a one-and-a-half-storey three-bay detached, rendered house with landscaped setting; built c.1890 to designs by Henry Hobart. A good example of a late-Victorian villa by a noteworthy local architect. Well-proportioned, and with architectural detailing largely intact, it is situated on an unspoiled site with mature trees. There is local interest, being associated with McCall, a factory manager at Hayes Mill at Seapatrick (now demolished), and the nearby Hayes Park, built to accommodate factory workers. 'Dunida' was built in a similar style to the slightly later 'Clonaslee' (HB17/04/029) also to designs by Hobart and located on the opposite side of the Lurgan Road. Both are typical examples of Hobart’s preferred style, with both villas representing the ongoing expansion of Banbridge in the later Nineteenth century.