Cloona House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial, well-proportioned, two-storey gentleman's residence of 1868-69 in typical mid-Victorian Italianate fashion, with red brick walls and stone dressings, some canted and full-height square bays, a projecting single-storey porch, and a slated hipped roof with overhang on brackets. Originally built for mill-owner William Grimshaw the property was in the hands of the army for much of the 20th century, but is now a community centre. It is set to on gently sloping ground to the east of Colin Road, roughly 6.8km south-west of Belfast town centre, 6.4km north of the centre of Lisburn, midst what is now a relatively densely packed modern housing development with business units to the west. A not insubstantial section of the original grounds has been has been retained to the south of the building, with a car park to the immediate west. The site is accessed from a curving public road (the original drive) which leads to a recently constructed gateway to the south-east of the building.

The footprint of the core of Cloona House is approximately rectangular with the projecting flat-roofed porch to the centre of the front (south) elevation, a full-height hipped roof canted bay to the southern end of both the east and west elevations, and a broad full-height hipped roof square bay to the north end of that to the east. To the rear (north) are two returns, a short two-storey one to the east and a longer part two part three-storey one to the west. There is a yard to the rear enclosed by a tall brick wall. Within the yard are several single-storey extensions.

The walls of the building are finished with red clay facing brick and rest on a bevelled rock-faced sandstone plinth. The quoins are dressed sandstone, as is the string course set between the floors, however, the eaves course is rendered. The relatively shallow-pitched hipped roof is covered with natural slate with dark grey clay ridge tiles. To the east, south and west the roof overhangs and is supported on brackets. The eaves to the north side are clipped with a canted brick eaves course. The roofs of the canted bays have lead ridges. The gutters have an ogee profile and are cast-iron, as are the circular downspouts. Several chimneystacks have survived; these are relatively tall, constructed in red brick with a straw-coloured brick string course, rendered base, sandstone caps and clay pots.

The window openings are mainly flat-headed with flat brick arches. The ground floor openings rest on the bevelled plinth whilst the first floor openings have cut sandstone sills. Reveals are plain, and the frames are timber sash, mainly 2/2 (vertical glazing bars). To the rear there is a large semicircular arched window opening to the stairwell, whose frame is 2/1 timber sash with margin panes.

The main entrance is on the front (south) side of the porch and is set within a semicircular-headed recess. A sandstone keystone is embossed with the decorative monogram ‘W C. G’ [presuambly William Grimshaw]. The timber door has fielded panels and there is a plain semicircular fanlight which is framed with a cut sandstone surround.

The front façade is symmetrical with the central single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to the centre. The porch is topped with a projecting sandstone cornice and has window openings to each cheek. Either side of the porch there are two window openings whilst to the first floor there are five openings, all evenly arranged. A short flight of cut sandstone steps rise to a platform in front of the door, and a modern wheelchair ramp rises to the left side of the platform.

To the right-hand side of the west façade is a two-storey canted bay with windows to each facet on both floors. The window to the centre of the ground floor of the bay has been converted to a doorway. To the left of the bay there are four, fairly evenly spaced, window openings to both ground and first floors. The left side of the west façade merges with that belonging to the three-storey rear return; openings here are flat-headed, one to each floor; however that to the ground floor has been converted to a doorway -with modern, multi-paned, timber glazed door- whilst those to the upper floors have side hung timber frames. The two and three-storey sections which make up the west elevation rise to a common eaves line.

To the left side of the east façade is a two-storey canted bay, the same as that to the west façade. To the right side is the broad square bay. The latter has two window openings to each floor, with two window openings to each floor set between the bays, all evenly distributed.

The rear elevation comprises the rear of the main house and various faces of rear returns and single-storey extensions. There is one semi-circular-arched window (see above), but otherwise openings are flat-headed. The majority have retained their timber sash frames but a small number have been replaced with casement or top hung frames.

The rear yard is enclosed with a high brick wall. Within the yard there are four small single storey extensions. The first is set to the east side of the western return; this has two small additions, one to the south side and one to the east. The space between the two main returns is built over, half with a flat-roofed extension and half with a corrugated Perspex roof. On the eastern side of the western return is a recent steel fire escape. The yard is paved and contains a number of oil tanks.

Historical information

This house was built in 1868-69 by Nicholas William Grimshaw, a member of the family who had been prominent in the development of the textile industry in the Belfast area since the late 18th century. The identity of the architect is not known, although the design is reminiscent of the work of Thomas Jackson.

The Grimshaw family continued to live at Cloona until 1888 when the house was leased to Alfred Jaffe, another linen merchant and the elder brother of (Sir) Otto Jaffe, the later Lord Mayor of Belfast. In 1898, William Augustus Ferran leased the property, subsequently acquiring the freehold. After Ferran's death in 1930 Cloona passed to his wife Isabella, who sold it the following year to William Henry 'of the York Street Flax Spinning Mill'. After the outbreak of WWII, Henry leased Cloona to the War Department (ie Ministry of Defence), and the house became the home of the General Officer Commanding the forces in Northern Ireland. It continued to serve this role throughout much of The Troubles, with 'Operation Motorman', among other things planned at Cloona.

In 1981 the MOD, (who by this stage owned the building outright), sold the property to the local RC parish, who converted it to a Community centre.

The house was the birthplace of Beatrice Ethel Grimshaw (1870-1953), a noted early 20th century travel writer and novelist, with a particular interest in the South Pacific islands.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/8/15B Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1868-76
2 PRONI VAL12B/8/15C Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1877-84
3 PRONI VAL12B/8/15D Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1885-92
4 PRONI VAL12B/8/15E Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1892-97
5 PRONI VAL12B/8/15F Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1898-1908
6 PRONI OS6/1/64/3 OS map, Co. Antrim sheet 64, 1901
7 PRONI VAL12B/8/15G Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1909-18
8 PRONI VAL12B/8/15H Annual valuation revision book, Malone ED, 1919-28
9 PRONI VAL3B/1/14 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Derryaghy ED, 1935
10 PRONI VAL3C/1/26 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Derraghy ED, 1936-57
11 PRONI VAL4B/1/47 Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Derryaghy ED, 1957-72

Secondary sources
1 Information supplied by the Manager, Cloona Oasis Centre, September 2009-09-10

Websites
1 www.grimshaworigin.org/WebPages/BeatGrim1.htm [This has been printed out and put on file.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

This house was built in 1868-69 by Nicholas William Grimshaw, a member of the family who had been prominent in the development of the textile industry in the Belfast area since the late 18th century. Cloona House is a, large, attractive, mid-Victorian residence, which has retained much of its original appearance externally, as well as much of its internal layout and a substantial amount of original good quality detailing. The surrounding area has largely been given over to modern housing development, however, a not insignificant portion of the grounds to the south of the building have survived. The house has an interesting history, as welll as being associated with the Grimshaw family and their involvement in the development of the textile industry it was the birthplace of Beatrice Grimshaw, a noted early 20th century travel writer and novelist. At the height of the 'Troubles', it was the home of the Army GOC. In an area which has been given over to particularly dense housing development in recent years, this building is a rare 19th century survivor and stands out as a building of substantial architectural and historic interest.