Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half storey Edwardian gate-lodge built c.1905 to the designs of Henry Hobart. Rectangular plan form with abutments; projecting porch and large extension to the rear. Located within the grounds of the Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/14/011A) adjacent to the junction between Dromara Road and Circular Road.

Pitched rosemary tile roof with crested terracotta ridge tiles and moulded gable finials; moulded barge boards and exposed rafter ends; decorative red-brick chimneystack with incised corners and corbelled upper courses; terracotta pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Red-brick walling laid to Flemish bond; moulded plinth course to cill level; raised long-and-short brick quoins Timber casement leaded lattice windows; no cills with exception of projected masonry cills to upper floors. Double-leaf timber panelled door with round-headed alcove surrounds with impost moulding and decorative terracotta keyblock to voussoirs; round-headed lattice-leaded fanlight over moulded timber cornice.

The principal gable faces north and is symmetrically arranged; projected tripartite bay window with hipped roof. Single bipartite window to first floor with Timber Tudor-style apex.

The east elevation is asymmetrically arranged; the historic right side is abutted by a single-storey gabled side return comprising a canted bay window with timber Tudor-style gable head. The right cheek is abutted by the gabled entrance porch; entrance door to the gable; single window to the left cheek. The left forms part of the modern rear extension (Planning Application dated 1995) styled as the original house with bay windows and half-timbering detail; large uPVC conservatory; of no historic interest.

The rear elevation is no longer visible.

The west elevation is asymmetrically arranged; single small window located right of centre to the upper floor. The right forms part of the modern rear extension.

Setting

The dwelling was the former gate lodge to the Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/14/011A), which is located south east. The gate lodge is within the grounds of the hospital and located adjacent to the entrance accessed via decorative wrought-iron gates (HB17/11/014D). Gardens to the rear with a modern red brick garage (Planning Application dated 2000) further south.

Roofing: Rosemary tile
Walling: Red brick
Windows: Lattice leaded
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

No. 10 Dromara Road, a one-and-a-half-storey private dwelling, was formerly used as the gate lodge to the Cowan Heron Hospital which stands to the south-east of the site (HB17/14/011A). The hospital was constructed between 1898 and 1900; however the gate lodge was not constructed until c. 1903 when it first appears on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map for the area, as a small square-shaped structure.

The Irish Builder records that the gate lodge was designed by Henry William Edward Hobart (1858-1938), a local architect who also assisted in the construction of the hospital and designed the Ulster Bank in Church Street in 1920 (HB17/15/037) (Irish Builder, p. 406). Upon its completion in 1900 the Cowan Heron Hospital was valued at £75, a rate that was maintained until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930, despite the construction of the gate lodge in c. 1903. The gate lodge does not appear to have been valued separately from the main hospital in the Annual Revisions which jointly valued all the buildings on the site.

The 1911 Census records that the gate lodge was occupied by a Mr. Thomas Spence, a 35 year old Unitarian who was employed as a ‘Hospital servant;’ Spence resided at the gate lodge with his wife and family. The Census Building Return described the gate lodge as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of four rooms and possessed a shed as its sole out office.

Dean states that the gate lodge ‘nicely [reflects] the style of the 1898 hospital’ in Hobart’s use of an Arts-and-Craft-design. The gate lodge is architecturally significant as it is likely one of the first buildings designed by Hobart after he formed the Architectural partnership Hobart & Heron in 1904 with his business partner, Samuel Heron (1872-1957); the architectural practice Hobart created continues to operate under the name Hobart Heron (Dean, p. 70; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

It is not known when the building fell out of its use as a gate lodge, however it was prior to the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in c. 1970 which did not caption the building as a gate lodge but as ‘No. 10 Dromara Road.’ The former gate lodge was listed in 1994 (in the same year as the Cowan Heron Hospital) and continues to be occupied as a dwelling.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892 - 1898
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10E – Annual Revisions 1899 - 1908
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10F – Annual Revisions 1909 – 1930
7. Irish Builder (Vol. 50, 27 Jun 1908)
8. Ordnance Survey Map – 202-8SW (c. 1970)
9. First Survey Record – HB17/12/028D (1994)

Secondary Sources

1. Cosbie, J. E. M., ‘A tour of Mid and South Down: 1910-35’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush, 1992.
2. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
3. Doloughan, A., ‘Cowan Heron Hospital – A gift to the people of Dromore’ Dromore: Dromore and District Local Historical Group, 1991.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://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

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A one-and-a-half storey Edwardian gate-lodge built c.1905 to the designs of Henry Hobart. Formerly associated with the Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/14/011A), the gate-lodge is now a private dwelling. The historic character of the original lodge survives despite the large extension to the rear that detracts from its proportions and style. Much original fabric survives although compromised by the alterations and additions. The lodge remains a good example of the type and is of group value with the hospital.

General comments

Previously HB17/12/028D