8 Marine Parade

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached end-of-terrace two-bay two-storey house, built 1870, located to west of Marine Parade. L-shaped on plan with lower two-storey rear return to south-west; attached modern timber-sheeted garage to south.

Roofs are pitched and hipped natural slate with deep overhanging eaves on exposed rafter tails; terracotta ridge tiles; timber bargeboards supported on corbelled brackets; replacement concrete chimneys with clay pots; roughcast chimney to return. Walls are smooth rendered over projecting plinth. Windows are square-headed timber framed 1/1 sliding sash; painted masonry sills.

Principal elevation faces east. At right, projecting gabled bay contains pair of round-arched-headed windows at ground floor (divided by rendered collonette) in chamfered surround; pair of segmental-headed windows at first floor (shared sill). Left bay is recessed and contains single window at first floor; re-entrant angle has timber framed canted porch on rendered plinth; overhanging hipped roof supported on decorative timber supports; double-leaf timber panelled entrance doors; porch glazed above timber panelled aproning.

South elevation contains pair of windows (shared sills) at first floor; abutted at ground floor by garage. Abutted at left by return.

West elevation is pebble-dashed contains single window at each floor left. Abutted at right by return.

North elevation abutted by HB22.06.023B.

Return
South elevation of return contains replacement timber entrance door flanked to either side by window at ground floor; three windows at first floor. West elevation contains single window at ground floor right. North elevation contains central replacement vertically sheeted timber door flanked at left by two windows at each floor, at right, timber door surmounted by window at first floor; exposed wall.

Set within garden to south and east bounded to road by timber fencing. Enclosed yard to rear accessed through segmental-headed vertically sheeted timber door from shared rear alley. Further garden beyond alley to west.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Smooth render
Windows Square-headed timber-framed 1/1 sliding sash; painted masonry sills
RWG Cast-iron half-round gutters with round downpipes

Historical information

This house belongs to a block of four built in 1870, under the direction of Timothy Hevey (the architect or his father), as the first stage of the development of the new seaside town of Whitehead (Irish Architectural Archive).

The road from Carrickfergus to Larne was completed in 1854 and the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway extended to Larne ten years later, with a halt at Whitehead to serve the local community. These developments provided the impetus for Whitehead’s development in the late-nineteenth century. According to the Department of the Environment: ‘The arrival of the line and the realisation by 'entrepreneurs' of the area's scenic attraction and leisure potential heralded the development boom to come.’ (p.5).

The buildings are first shown on the third edition OS map of 1902.

The Valuation Revision map for Whitehead town of 1907-13, numbers the row of houses differently than at present, i.e. No’s 6, 7, 8 and 9 instead of the current numbering system No’s 8, 9, 10 and11.

Valuation Revisions from the 1920s record No.8 as a ‘house and yard’, occupied by Susan McAlery (1928) and leased from J. M McAllery, the house being valued at £20.

Valuation Revisions from the 1920s record No.9 as a ‘house and yard’, occupied by Jennie M.Dagwell (1928) and leased from S.A Looge, the house being valued at £20.

Valuation Revisions from the 1920s record No.10 as a ‘house and yard’, occupied by Francis Gordon (1928) and leased from the representatives of J. Raphael, the house being valued at £17.

Valuation revisions from the 1920s record No.11 as a ‘house and yard, occupied by Willie Lavery in 1928 (revised to Robert Hutchinson in 1931), and leased from J.C Hayes, the house being valued at £20.

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/E/52/1 - Valuation Revision Map (1907-1913)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/7/19 A - Valuation Revisions (1926)
5. PRONI VAL/12/F/1/16/1/1 - 25” map of Whitehead (1931-5)

Secondary Sources

1. Department of the Environment Northern Ireland. ‘Whitehead Conservation Area.’ Department of the Environment Northern Ireland 2. Irish Architectural Archive. ‘Dictionary of Irish Architects’ [Internet source] Available from:
(Accessed 20/05/09)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An attached end-of-terrace two-bay two-storey house, built 1870, located to west of Marine Parade. The group is well-conceived and retains original unity. This one retains original features both internally and externally. Interest is provided by the ornate timberwork porch which enlivens an otherwise plainly detailed exterior. The building, along with the remainder of the terrace, presents an attractive frontage to the picturesque seafront promenade of Whitehead, contributes positively to the Conservation Area. This building is not of sufficient interest to list on its own and unfortunately the other buildings in the group have been altered to an extent that listing them all under group value is not appropriate.