Ballyowan House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey redbrick and stucco house, built c.1860 with pair of full-height canted bays. Square on plan facing west with single-storey wing attached to south side elevation.

Hipped natural slate roof with rolled lead ridges, flat lead-lined central section and pair of redbrick chimneystacks with rendered coping and clay pots. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on corbelled eaves course. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with rusticated rendered quoins, continuous masonry sill course and moulded render plinth course. Square-headed window openings with masonry sills and timber sash windows.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with pair of two-storey three-sided canted bays and central doorcase. Lead-lined roofs to both canted bays with concrete walls having panelled aprons to the first floor, moulded pilasters to the ground floor and redbrick below ground floor sill course. 2/2 timber sash window to the first floor flanked by single-pane sashes, all single-pane timber sash windows to the ground floor. Above the doorcase is a bipartite window arrangement comprising a pair of single-pane timber sash windows with panelled stucco surround having arched overpanel and three corbels to the sill. Elliptical-headed door opening with double-leaf timber panelled door having raised and pointed panels flanked by pair of engaged Doric columns on plinth blocks, in turn flanked by pair of fixed-pane arched sidelights and outer pair of Doric corner pilasters to lintel architrave; plain glazed fanlight above with moulded architrave surround rising from impost mouldings and opening onto concrete paved step.

Three-bay two-storey north side elevation with a pair of 2/2 timber sash windows to the first floor flanking a bipartite window opening (as front elevation) and repeated off-centre to the ground floor. This elevation is abutted by a tall octagonal rendered pier supporting diagonally-sheeted timber gates to the rear yard.

Rear elevation is abutted by full-height lean-to projection and single-storey lean-to glazed rear entrance porch. 6/6 timber sash window to the ground floor with various timber sash and steel casement windows to the projection.

South side elevation abutted by 1 1/2-storey rendered block connected to the single-storey rendered wing. First floor windows as per north side elevation with the bipartite window to the ground floor partly blocked up and abutted by a mid-twentieth-century lean-to greenhouse.

The single-bay block to the south side elevation has a lucarne window to the upper floor with decorative bracketed surround and arched single-pane timber sash window. Hipped natural slate roof with lead ridges, plastic rainwater goods and cement rendered walling. The single-storey wing continues at an angle to the southeast with pitched natural slate roof, rendered walling and replacement steel casement windows.

Setting:
Set within its own landscaped grounds to the east of Drumbeg Road accessed via long bitmac avenue opening onto the road at the north end of the site via entrance screen and gate lodge (HB19/23/036B). Rear yard enclosed by two-storey lime rendered range of outbuildings with pitched natural slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods, square-headed window and door openings with sheeted timber half-doors and shutters with the upper floor accessed by external stone steps and round pillars and wrought iron gates to the east. The north of the rear yard is enclosed by a two-storey rendered former house in a ruinous state with pitched natural slate roof, redbrick chimneystack and a tripartite vernacular style entrance to the front west gable. Selection of 20th Century farm buildings north and east of the main yard.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick
Windows Original timber sash

Historical information

Ballygowan House was constructed c. 1860 by a Mr. George Macklin; this two-storey redbrick dwelling replaced an earlier house named Drum Cottage which had been constructed c. 1800 and was the home of George Macklin’s father William. Drum Cottage appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 as a 1 ½ storey dwelling with a large rear return. Griffith’s Valuation records that the cottage and its outbuildings were owned by George Macklin and were valued at £26 in 1861. Dean and William Macklin tell us that Drum Cottage was demolished in 1864 when the current two-storey Victorian dwelling renamed ‘Ballygowan house’ was constructed with the west gate lodge; however the current north-east outbuilding had already been constructed by 1858 when it appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey (Dean, p. 62; Macklin)

George Macklin occupied Ballygowan house until it passed to his son William prior to 1894. In that year William Macklin sold the house and its outbuildings to a Mr. Robert Johnston who was recorded as occupant in 1901. The current single-storey rear return to Ballygowan house had been constructed by 1901 when it appeared on the Ordnance Survey map of that year. The late Victorian north-west gate lodge had also been constructed by that time (HB 19/23/036B); Dean tells us that this lodge was constructed c. 1894 when Johnston came into possession (Dean, p. 62). Robert Johnston had vacated the house by the 1901 when it came into possession of a Mr. Lindsey Barrett Johnston, a Dairy farmer, who resided there with his wife Ann Jane (28). The census building return records the property as a 1st class dwelling which possessed a large number of out offices including three cow houses and a Dairy house associated with Johnston’s business; there was little change in the record by 1911 when Lindsey Johnston continued to occupy the house.

By 1932 the house had passed to a Mr. and Mrs. J. Quee who were members of Drumbeg Parish Church, however by 1937 Dr. W. A. Anderson had come into possession of the house which he renamed ‘Ballyowan House’ to avoid confusion with another dwelling of this name (situated in the village of Ballygowan in Ards Borough). Dr. Anderson was a well respected eye surgeon and a member of Drumbeg Parish Church; Neil tells us that his wife Phoebe Anderson allowed Ballyowan House and its gardens to be used for garden fetes and charity events for the church during the 1960s and 1970s (Neil).

Ballygowan house has been unoccupied since the first survey of the property in 1983; a replacement dwelling has been constructed to the north of the current house although the site continues to be owned by a member of the Anderson family, a former managing director of Anderson and McAuley Department Store (Royal Avenue, Belfast) which closed in 1994. The interior of the house has fallen into a state of some disrepair; the single-storey rear return of Ballyowan house is the only portion of the house to remain occupied and is let by the current owner.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/9/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/9/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/9/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/9/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-1921
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/25C – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. Ulster Towns Directory (1901; 1910)
7. Campbell College Register 1894-1954 (Lennon Wylie website http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk)

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Macklin, W., ‘The Macklin’s of Ireland’ Florida: The Drew Press, c. 1900-20.
3. Neill, M., ‘Recollections of the parish of Drumbeg, Diocese of Down’ (Church pamphlet, 1996).
4. First Survey card - HB 19/23/036 (1983).

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

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey redbrick and stucco house, built c.1860 with pair of full-height canted bays. Square on plan facing west with single-storey wing attached to south side elevation. A well detailed and proportioned Victorian residence that retains all its external and most of its internal features, set on an extensive landscaped site complete with earlier outbuildings and gate lodge (HB19/23/036B), with which it has group value.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.