112 Saul Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An attached three-bay two - and three-storey house with basement and semi-attic, built c.1840, remodelled and extended c.1880, and located to the north side of Saul Street, Downpatrick. Rectangular on plan with three storey right bay having full height projection fronted by a three-storey canted bay.

Pitched roof partially clad with fibre cement tiles, replaced with slate in part; angled clay ridge tiles (some replaced) and reconstructed brick chimneystacks. Plastic and cast iron rainwater goods to modern fascia. Ruled and lined cement rendered walling with stucco cill courses and pediment detail to right bay projection. Windows are generally original 6/6 sliding sash without horns throughout, except where stated otherwise.

Principal elevation faces south-east; left and central bays have regular openings arranged about central gabled porch having natural slate roof and elliptical opening containing original six-panelled door with bronze knob and remains of sidelights (fanlight removed at time of survey); lit to exposed left cheek by a tall four-light window. The projecting right bay has three vertically aligned sashed canted bays (from top: diminished 3/3, 6/6, 2/2 with cill at floor level).

South-west gable is blank, with cement render repair to chimney flue.

Rear (north-west) elevation has exposed basement and is abutted by a two-storey yellow brick lean-to addition (c.1900) carried on a segmental brick arch. Right bay is abutted to basement by a refurbished gabled pantry extension, and has a window to each floor. Left bay has two windows to each floor: 2/2 to basement, 1/1 to ground floor, 6/6 to first floor and small fixed casements to attic storey.

North-east gable abutted by adjoining house.

Setting:
The house is set slightly back from the road in a suburban
setting, flanked by a number of individually designed houses of a similar period. There is a small front garden set bounded by a rendered wall. To rear is a long steeply terraced garden, accessed from the house via a set of stone steps leading to a service passage having barreled roof, lime rendered walling and original quarry tiled floor; the passage is bounded to one side by an enclosed Victorian rainwater tank fed by a cast iron gutter from the terrace above (now a modern patio). There are remains of several small brick garden buildings, accessed via the passage; a former entrance leading to the area beneath the patio has been blocked, and may have been infilled.

Roof: Fibre cement slate
Walling: Cement render
Windows: Timber sash
RWG: uPVC and cast iron

Historical information

No. 112 Saul Street, a two-storey early-Victorian dwelling located to the northeast of Downpatrick town centre, was constructed in 1841 (according to deeds possessed by the current owners). The building is one of eight similarly designed dwellings that were erected along Saul Street in the mid-19th century as part of the north-eastern expansion of the town; the adjoining nos 108-122 Saul Street are contemporary to No. 112 and share many of its original features (only No. 116 significantly deviates from the remainder of the row as it is the only dwelling to stand three stories in height). Dunleath, Rankin and Rowan described Saul Street as ‘a long narrow street climbing steadily out of the town’ possessing dwellings from different periods; ‘there are some fine Georgian houses near the junction with Scotch Street … the remainder are pleasant though out-dated low terraces of houses changing to detached small Victorian villas on north side.’

When originally completed, No. 112 Saul Street adhered to a conventional early-Victorian style; the three-bay two-storey building did not possess its current three-storey extension or its entrance porch and would have more closely resembled the adjoining nos 108 and 110 Saul Street. Field inspection of the site has found that a number of interesting original features survive, including a cellar, coal bunker and a servants tunnel to the rear of the building. In 1863 Griffith’s Valuation recorded that No. 112 Saul Street was valued at £19 and was owned by a Mr. Hugh Croskery, a grocer and spirit merchant who was also one of Downpatrick’s town commissioners. Croskery also owned a number of the adjoining dwellings and leased No. 112 Saul Street to a Mr. Edward Gardner.

The value of No. 112 Saul Street was increased to £29 in 1864; however the valuer did not record the reason for the increase. Between Griffith’s Valuation in 1863 and the commencement of the Annual Revisions for the area in 1864 Hugh Croskery was replaced as owner of No. 112 Saul Street by a Ms. Mary White who continued to lease the site until the 1930s. Edward Gardner was described as a Gentleman in his will; residing at No. 112 Saul Street until his death in 1867, Gardner left his property to his son Edward Gardner Jnr. who was employed as a solicitor and also operated as a town commissioner. Edward Gardner Jnr. resided at Saul Street for over a decade but vacated the property shortly before his death in England in 1883 (PRONI Wills; Ulster Town Directories).

Over the following decade the occupants of No. 112 Saul Street changed with great frequency. In 1883 the Rev. William Napier, a former minister of Clough Meeting House in Dundrum, briefly resided at the property, however he was replaced in 1885 by a Mr. Charles Wilson. In 1888 Samuel C. N. Lowry, the manager of the Ulster Bank located on Irish Street took over the house for two years before a Mr. William Egan took possession in 1890. No. 112 Saul Street briefly fell vacant in 1892, however in the following year the Misses Martha and Elizabeth Johnston took over the property, ending the sporadic tenancy of the house by residing there for two decades.

Although No. 112 Saul Street was originally constructed in a distinctly early-Victorian style, the building is currently characterised by its eclectic appearance, resulting from the construction of a large three-storey canted bay extension (a similar canted bay extension can be found on the adjoining No. 114 Saul Street). It is not known with certainty when this extension was added to the c. 1840 house; a detailed town plan of Downpatrick records that when originally constructed No. 112 Saul Street was a simple rectangular building without returns or projections. The town plan is dated between c. 1864 and c. 1906 and shows that the current entrance porch and the three-storey canted extension were constructed at some point during this forty year period. Stylistically, the extension appears to date from the late-19th century. The changing value of the house over this period may offer a clue as the value of No. 112 Saul Street was greatly changed in 1884 suggesting an alteration to the site, however the value of the site was actually decreased at this time (to £21), not the change that would be expected after the construction of a large extension. The yellow-brick rear extension was added to the house in c. 1900; this extension was added by the Johnston sisters and contained bathrooms.

The 1901 Ulster Town Directory shows that No. 112 Saul Street was also known as ‘Ardcuan;’ the contemporary census of that year records that Martha (71, Unitarian) and Elizabeth J. Johnston (69, Unitarian) were unmarried and unemployed and resided at Ardcuan with the aid of a sole domestic servant. The census building return described Ardcuan House as a 1st class private dwelling that consisted of nine rooms and possessed no major outbuildings.

By 1911 Martha Johnston resided at Ardcuan alone; the census described her as a ‘gentlewoman;’ however the census building return recorded that her building had been lowered to a 2nd class dwelling since 1901. Martha Johnston continued to reside at No. 112 Saul Street until her death in September 1912 (PRONI Wills). Upon her death, Ardcuan passed to the Rev. J. G. Graham, however by 1918 it had again changed hands when the Rev. F. B. Aldwell of Down Cathedral occupied the site. The occupants continued to change with frequency; in 1920 the house was the home of William Tweedie, a tobacconist with premises on Market Street, and from 1925 a Mr. William J. Dickson came into possession of the site.

The value of No. 112 Saul Street was further decreased to £19 10s. in 1927, however under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the house was greatly increased to £27. In that year the valuer noted that a Mr. William Martin had taken over ownership of No. 112 Saul Street from the estate of Mary White; Martin continued to lease the house out to William J. Dickson and also owned the adjoining nos 114, 118 and 120 Saul Street. There was no further revaluation carried out for over two decades due to the outbreak of the Second World War, however in 1956 the Second General Revaluation noted that the value of the site remained at £27 and that William Martin remained the lessor. William J. Dickson had vacated the site by the 1950s when a Mr. J. Doris resided at No. 112 Saul Street; however in 1967 his relative, a Ms. Rose Doris, took possession, residing there until the end of the revaluation in 1972.

References
Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/37/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/37/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/37/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901
4. PRONI OS/6/3/37/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/78A – Griffiths Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/18/7A-H – Annual Revisions 1864-1894
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/18/8A-C- Annual Revisions 1895-1929
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/120/1/11 – Annual Revisions Town Plan c. 1864 - c. 1906
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/4/3 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1935
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/3/31 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1956-72
11. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (12 Nov 1867; 3 Dec 1883; 24 Sept 1912)
14. Listing Query Files – HB18/LQ118

Secondary Sources

1. Lady Dunleath; Rankin, P. J; Rowan, A. J., ‘Buildings of Downpatrick’ (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A split-level three-bay two-and three-storey house, with semi-attic and basement, built c.1840 as part of the expanding development of Downpatrick to the north east, along Saul Street. The house is characterised by an unusual mix of styles; the lower part of the house is conventionally early Victorian in appearance, while the taller right bay employs more decorative detailing which is later Victorian in style, representative of a period of remodelling c.1880. Whilst it retains much original fabric and detailing the later Victorian extensions have created an unusually proportioned house that is not of sufficient architectural interest to meet the listing criteria.