Whitehead Railway Station

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay single-storey Victorian railway station, built c. 1860 to designs by John Lanyon, located to the south of Chester Avenue, with main station to the east side of the railway. Station consists of a number of adjoining buildings, from left, former station master’s house, former waiting room, entrance vestibule, porter’s office, waiting room and signal tower. Enclosed yard with single-cell gabled former toilet block to north.

Roofs are pitched and natural slated with deep overhanging eaves supported by timber brackets; fretted timber bargeboards, clay ridge tiles and decorative iron finials to gables; ornate red and yellow brick corbelled chimneys. Walls are stretcher bonded red brick over projecting plinth; blue brick string courses and diapering. Windows are segmental-headed timber framed 1/1 sliding sash at ground floor; flush sandstone chamfered sills; round-arched-headed timber framed 3/2 sliding sash at first floor; projecting cavetto moulded brick sills.

Former Station Master’s house
East elevation consists of two-bay single-storey section at left containing vertically sheeted timber entrance door with brick voussoirs to left and right (that to left surmounted by wall-head-dormer); single window to centre. Two-bay two-storey section at right; each bay is gabled containing pair of windows at ground floor; single window at first floor. Abutted at left by wall containing segmental-headed vertically sheeted timber entrance door to enclosed yard.

South elevation abutted by former waiting room.

West elevation is two-bay two-storey at left; roughcast at ground floor; two square-headed windows at ground floor and single window at first floor to south. Two-bay single-storey section at right contains round-arched-headed window at centre; square-headed timber vertically sheeted entrance door with semi-circular fanlight at left.

North elevation is roughcast at ground floor, brickwork above; blind window at ground floor left with plain brick voussoirs; two windows at first floor. Abutted at right by blank single-storey section.

Former waiting room
Single-bay single-storey former waiting room. West elevation has timber framed walling over rendered plinth; diagonal timber aproning to sill height, plain glazing to door height; stained glass above; abutted at centre by canted gabled porch; timber panelled entrance door to north and south; glazed top panels.

South elevation abutted by entrance vestibule.

East elevation contains square-headed timber door with transom light at centre; four square-headed replacement timber casement windows to left; two to right.

North elevation abutted by former Station Masters House.

Entrance vestibule and porter’s office
One-and-a-half storey gabled entrance bay. West elevation contains segmental-headed double-leaf vertically sheeted timber entrance doors with brick voussoirs; window at right.

South elevation abutted by waiting room.

East elevation is roughcast over brick to sill height containing two square-headed windows at left. To right, two projecting bays; single round-arched-headed window to left, flanked at right by one-and-a-half storey gabled bay, with round-arched-headed window.

North elevation abutted by former waiting room.

Waiting room
Three-bay single-storey waiting room (bays separated by brick piers); timber framed glazing over diagonal timber aproning to sill height; timber panelled double-leaf entrance doors with glazed top panels to central bay; abutted to platform by timber framed pitched canopy supported on square timber columns.

South elevation abutted by signal tower.

East elevation consists of five bays; horizontal timber walling above brick to sill height; each bay contains group of nine glazed lights surmounted by central light

North elevation abutted by entrance vestibule.

Signal tower
Single-bay three-storey signal tower. West elevation consists of brick walling to first floor, timber framed above (openings now blocked); two windows at ground floor.

South elevation consists of signal tower to left; segmental-headed window at ground and first floor; remains of timber platform access to tower at second floor, supported on decorative cast-iron brackets; exposed wall of waiting room at right contains window detailed as east elevation.

East elevation consists of rendered walling between brick piers to first floor, timber framed above (openings now blocked).

North elevation abutted by waiting room.

To west side of railway, secondary single-cell waiting room is rendered to sill height; timber framed above. Roof is pitched, detailed as main station. Principal elevation faces east and consists of two square-headed entrance openings separated by timber framed plain glazing to door height; timber boarding to eaves above. Other elevations are blank.

Station is set within the town centre, with entrance through modern square brick pillars from north-east and north-west; level crossing to north, ironwork footbridge to south (HB22/05/008B). Platforms are modern with tarmac and paved surface; original brick boundary walling with recessed panels to east and west. Enclosed yard to north contains single-cell red brick shed (former toilet block); entrance to south through square-headed timber sheeted door.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Stretcher bonded red brick
Windows: Segmental-headed timber framed 1/1 sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron ogee gutters and square downpipes

Historical information

Whitehead Railway station first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902. The Valuation Revisions book from 1864-1879 lists a Railway house, occupied by the Carrickfergus & Larne Railway Company, lessor in fee. In 1875 the word ‘station’ is added to the description. The building valuation is £20.

In 1891 the occupier is recorded as the Northern Counties Railway Company. A refreshment room is first listed in 1893, valued at £4. The valuation for the station is revised in 1893 to £16, but the total property is still valued at £20. Hamond notes that the citation is entered as ‘station house’ until 1896 when this becomes ‘Whitehead Station’; he suggests that this signifies the addition of the platform canopy.

Fred Hamond’s 1991 report on the station is summarised below:

The station lies on the Belfast-Larne line, and in 1862 the Carrickfergus-Larne section was opened by the Carrickfergus & Larne Railway. At the time Whitehead was a small settlement, and was not particularly in need of a station. In 1864 a platform was added on the Whitehead side of the tunnel. This halt was replaced in 1877 by a station close to the village. The station was designed by the CLR’s consultant architect John Lanyon. Characteristic features of Lanyon’s work include the use of red brick, decorative stringing, terracotta chimney pots, pointed ridge tiles, platform facing gables etc, features which are in evidence at Whitehead.
The BCNR (Belfast & Northern Counties Railway) bought out the CLR, and in the mid 1890s ‘substantial additions’ were made to Whitehead Station.
The architect John Hanna undertook this work (he also re-designed Carrickfergus Station in 1895). This improvement was part of the effort by the BCNR to develop Whitehead as a seaside resort. The company took the unusual step of offering ten years of free first class rail travel to anyone building a residence within a mile radius of the station.
The station master’s house was erected in 1870s to Lanyon’s design, the waiting room built in the 1890s by Hanna.

References

Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/47/2 –Second Edition OS Map (1857)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/47/3- Third Edition OS Map (1902)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/7/18A-F –Valuation Revisions (1864-1929)

Secondary Sources:
1. Hamond, F.W. Unpublished Report, 1991.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A detached multi-bay single-storey Victorian railway station, built c. 1860, located to the south of Chester Avenue, this building presents a well preserved example of railway architecture in N Ireland. The elements of the station come together to create a well-conceived grouping. Although, internally, the station has been subdivided, public areas remain intact with original ornate Victorian detailing and timberwork. The building is evidence of substantial development of the railway line from Belfast to Larne during the latter half of the nineteenth century and is one of the more impreesive buildngs within the Whitehead Conservation Area.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group. It was previously HB22/05/008.