The Old Rectory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached three-bay two-storey brick and roughcast former rectory with attic, built 1896 in the Arts and Crafts style, located at north side of Circular Road. Rectangular on plan, facing south; left bay is gabled with perpendicular ridge; remaining central and right bays have first floor contained within attic; that to centre is lit by a raised canted bay with castellated parapet; that to right is lit by a dormer. Modern extension and conservatory to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof, perforated red clay cresting; left bay has angled ridge tiles. There are painted timber bargeboards with carved brackets, exposed rafter ends and half-round uPVC gutters; the front pitch has a crow-stepped raised sandstone parapet and a red brick chimneystack at ridge between centre and right bay. The dormers have leaded flat roofs and cheeks with moulded painted timber cornices and tripartite 3/1-light casements (to front right bay and rear left bay), additional diminished dormer to centre bay attic.

The walling is Flemish-bonded red brick over a chamfered plinth, dentilled stringcourse at eaves-level, painted roughcast above ground floor. Left bay apexes have decorative half-timbering. Windows are square-headed painted timber 1/1 sashes (top sash has margined lights) with smooth-rendered reveals and stone sills; ground floor has dressed sandstone lintels.

South elevation left bay has single-storey splayed projection with parapet sandstone coping (with raised ends); ground floor has bipartite window, left bay has bipartite in a segmental arch-headed recess; attic is lit by bipartite 6/1 sash. Centre bay has elliptical-arch-headed painted timber and glazed door in moulded surround with carved tympanum on shouldered corbels; to left of door is a small elliptical-arch-headed stained glass casement. Right bay has a single tripartite window.

West elevation is two windows wide and two stories tall.

North elevation ground floor is abutted to left end by extension, remainder is abutted by conservatory. Exposed section has two windows on first floor and one bipartite 6/1 sash on second floor. Extension detailed as house but without stringcourse and windows are 6/1 sashes; north elevation is blank, left cheek has one window, right cheek has two windows flanking a central square-headed painted timber vertically sheeted door. Conservatory has a slated lean-to roof with rooflights, central gablet with red clay crested ridge tiles over square-headed painted timber and glazed double-leaf door with glazed tympanum. Walling is glazed over a red brick plinth.

East gable is abutted at left end by a canted bay with three windows and a hipped-roof. Exposed section has a single window to ground and first floors, ocular vent to gable apex.

Setting

The house is situated in lawned gardens with mature trees and box hedges. Access via a decorative wrought-iron double gate hinged to square brick pillars with ornate terracotta caps and a modern tiled drive leading to a rear tiled patio and a detached modern garage.

Roof: natural slate
Walling: red brick
Windows: painted timber
Rainwater goods: uPVC

Historical information

The building is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1902 and is captioned ‘Rectory’.

A date of construction is provided by Valuation Revisions of 1860 to 1900; an entry dated 1897 records a ‘house, shed and land’, occupied by the Rev. James Read. The building is valued at £32, and a valuers note records ‘…estimated cost [is] about £1000’.

The current owner stated that the house had not been architect designed and that previous owner had removed some internal fireplaces. The rectory served St Patrick's Church of Ireland in Jordanstown (HB21/11/001), built 1868.

References:

Primary Sources:

1. PRONI OS/6/1/57/1 -First edition OS map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/57/2 - Second edition OS map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/57/3 – Third Edition OS map (1902)
4. PRONI VAL/2/A/1/57 -Griffiths Valuation Map (1859)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/13A+B-Griffiths Valuation Fieldbook (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/D/1/57 - Valuation Revision Map (1859-1876)
7. PRONI VAL/12/D/1/57K -Valuation Revisions Map (1918-1935)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/1/12 A-K – Valuation Revision Fieldbook (1860-1909)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A detached three-bay two-storey brick and roughcast former rectory. An robustly detailed three-bay two-storey Arts & Crafts style house built 1897 to service St. Patrick's Church of Ireland, Jordanstown (HB21/11/001), and contrasting stylistically to it. The Old Rectory has some attractive detailing although the interior is quite pedestrian and not consistent with the Arts & Crafts tradition. Its value is reflected in the external composition and it is a good example of a modest suburban villa representing a time of expansion into the suburbs around Belfast.