Albertville

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay rendered house with attic, built c.1840, located on the north side of Bangor Road, Groomsport. Rectangular on plan with later single-storey porch and full-height return to rear, both built c.1900.

Pitched natural slate roof with cement rendered gable chimneystacks having multiple terracotta pots. Ogee cast-iron rainwater goods on drive-in brackets over corbelled eaves. Walling is ruled-and-lined cement rendered with plinth and rendered quoins. Windows are 6/6 timber sliding sashes (no horns) with projecting sandstone sills (unless otherwise stated).

Principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged with a single opening to each bay about a later central gabled porch. The porch has a timber sheeted door to either cheek, each accessed by two sandstone steps; that to right is plainly detailed with glazed transom; that to left has original brass door furniture. The main face has a pair of windows.

Left (west) gable has three windows to ground floor (those to left are six-pane fixed windows); first floor has a single window and attic storey has a diminutive 6/6 timber sliding sash window.

Rear (north) elevation is painted to first floor level and is almost completely abutted by the return, with the exception of the exposed right side, which has a window to each floor. The return has a variety of openings including two diminutive fixed two-pane windows to north, 3/6 timber sliding sashes with horns to half-landing level and a sliding sash set into a wall-head dormer at west; there are enlarged window openings to west and east and a timber sheeted door with bronze knocker set into a gabled windbreak porch at east.

Right (east) gable has two windows to ground and first floor, and a diminutive window to attic.

Setting

The house is set in mature gardens, although the rear portion of the site and the left hand portion of the front garden have been developed with modern homes. Directly to rear is a former stable block with monopitched artificial slate roof, painted rendered walling and timber sheeted openings. The house is accessed by a gravel lane and bounded to the road by a rubble stone boundary wall with soldier coping and sandstone gate piers.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

‘Albertville’ was built as a residence by the first minister of Groomsport Presbyterian Church, most likely in the 1840s, and subsequently became the Church of Ireland ‘rectory’.

The house is first shown, captioned ‘Rose Lodge’, on the second edition OS map of 1858. It is shown as a rectangular building with a rear return and an outbuilding to the north. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the house as the residence of Revd. Isaac Mack, leased from John Waring Maxwell. At that time, the property including house, offices and land was valued at £12, later rising to £15. Dimensions of 14x8x2 storeys for the main house and 6x5x1½ storeys for the return are recorded.

Presbyterian church history identifies Isaac Mack as the first minister of Groomsport Presbyterian congregation, appointed in 1841. He is said to have used his own funds to construct the present house, which therefore did not serve as an official Presbyterian manse. Mack later raised money for the construction of the church, schools, tower and the first church-owned manse which, built in the 1860s beside the church on the site of an earlier dwelling. This manse was divided into two: Mack occupied the ‘side-manse’, while the ‘front manse’ was let to a tenant. The building was demolished in the 1960s leaving only a single gable wall. (History of Congregations, p.517; Nelson, p.24; Irwin, p36-7, 113; Belfast Newsletter 1920)

Annual Revisions record the name of the present house as ‘Albertvilla’ from 1866 and the valuation was raised in the same year to £20 reflecting improvements, which consisted of a significant extension to the rear. The third edition of 1901, which captions the house ‘Albertville’. shows the extension and a new front porch.

Rev Mack continued to occupy both the current house and the side manse until his death in 1877, when he left Albertville to his brother (Will of Isaac Mack). His successor, Rev Latimer, built a new manse in Ballymacormick townland on land previously acquired by Mack while still using the side manse. Around 1880, the current dwelling house was taken over by the Church of Ireland.

Although Groomsport had its own church from 1842, it initially operated as a chapel of ease to Bangor. The post was a district or perpetual curacy within Bangor parish; incumbents, were appointed directly to Groomsport, and received their stipend from the Maxwell family, the patrons (and later trustees). Following disestablishment in 1871, Groomsport’s status was broadly equivalent to that of a parish, although the title ‘parish’ does not appear in any official documentation that has so far come to light, until the mid-1890s (Clergy of Down and Dromore, p.117 (Part I) and p.124 (Part II); Irish Church Directory; Knox, p.548; Groomsport marriage register).

The benefice initially provided no residence for clergy. ‘The Lodge’ (c1870) opposite Groomsport church may have been built with the Rev McCausland, incumbent from 1853 to 1880, in mind. His successor, Frederick John Hearne, is recorded as living at ‘Albertville’ from 1881. At this toint the house was renamed ‘The Rectory’ and became the official residence for clergy of Groomsport’s Church of Ireland for upwards of 85 years.

The Church of Ireland offered the house for sale in the late 1960s and it now functions as a private residence (Belfast Newsletter, 20th October 1894).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
4. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
5. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/2 – Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/1C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-1923)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1894-1923)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/17A – Annual Revisions (1923-30)
11. PRONI, Will of Isaac Mack, died 12th July, 1877
12. Belfast Commercial Chronicle, 10th December 1842
13. Belfast Newsletter, 15th June 1849
14. Newry Telegraph, 9th April 1850
15. Belfast Newsletter, 20th October 1894
16. Belfast Telegraph, 21st October 1901
17. Belfast Newsletter, 16th September 1920
18. Belfast Newsletter, 6th September 1968
19. Groomsport Church marriage register, 1894-1896
20. Irish Church Directory (1862, 1863, 1869, 1870, 1871) Dublin: James Charles

Secondary Sources

1. A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982 (1982) authorised by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland (available at www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Irwin, D (1994) Tides and Times in the ‘Port: a narrative history of the Co Down village of Groomsport with particular reference to the 150 years of Groomsport Presbyterian Church. Groomsport: Groomsport Presbyterian Church
3. Knox, A (1875 (reprinted 1982)) A History of the County of Down. Ballynahinch: Davidson Books
4. Nelson, Rev Walter (1963) An Historical Sketch of Groomsport Presbyterian Church 1841-1963. Belfast: Belfast Newsletter Ltd
5. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. (1996) Clergy of Down and Dromore. Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Albertville is a symmetrical two-storey three-bay rendered house with attic, built c.1840. This former manse was composed as a standard symmetrical plan form and characterised by good proportions. Detailing is plain, but appropriate to the period and much historic fabric survives. The house is a good example of the type and it is of note that it served both as a Presbyterian manse and as the local Church of Ireland rectory. The modern housing in the vicinity has detracted from its setting.