2 Godfrey Avenue

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 1 ½ storey detached Edwardian dwelling built c.1905; square plan with return and abutment to the rear. Located in suburban Ballyholme Ward east of Bangor town centre and behind the esplanade.

Pitched slate roof with terracotta roll top ridge tiles. Overhanging timber barge boards with exposed decorative collar ties and protruding purlins to gabled ends (collar tie to south gable removed). Exposed overhanging rafters with timber fascia; uPVC rainwater goods. Smooth rendered chimney stack with stucco moulded cornice; various terracotta and yellow clay pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling with stucco moulded string course with moulded stops; projected plinth course and continuous cill course at ground floor. uPVC replacement windows primarily to ground floor; 1/1 round-arched timber sliding sash to first floor. Bolection moulded six-panelled timber front door with brass ironmongery; rectangular fixed light over; plain surrounds.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged. The front door is central and sheltered by a single-storey leaded lean-to veranda, extended over the flanking bays. Central section of veranda is supported on stucco moulded columns/wall brackets. The veranda flooring is raised by a single step with modern finish and partially enclosed by a wall rising to cill level; stucco moulded panels and deep coping. Matching pair of ground floor projecting canted bays clasping NW and SW corners have single window to each face; continuous cill course; pair of symmetrically arranged wall-head dormers at first floor.

Left gable has a single modern window to the ground floor left hand side with projecting bay to right of symmetrically arranged first floor windows with hood-mouldings tied into moulded string course. Central stepped, projecting chimney stack rising to the underside of the soffit and breaking through at ridge level.

The rear elevation has no openings with the exception of two modern roof lights added to the rear pitch of the roof. Central two-storey lean-to return; single square-headed opening at first floor level on the south face; and a single-storey lean-to modern extension to the right; tiled roof with large roof light and large modern openings. Small single-storey lean-to projection at the re-entrant of the central return and modern extension. Cast-iron SVP breaks through at eaves level and follows the pitch of the roof terminating at ridge level.

Right gable as north with the exception of a timber sliding sash window located on the right at ground floor level.

Setting

A narrow garden to the front and side extending to a large rear garden; well vegetated and screened. The site is bounded at front by a hedge with a central wrought-iron gate fixed to thin stucco moulded piers. The north side is bounded by a modern masonry and timber wall with modern gate. The weather-boarded garage to the rear of the site has slated roof with clay ridge tiles and wrought-iron strap hinges to door. The rear of the site is bounded by two rubble masonry stable blocks, now modernized internally, which previously served houses on adjacent road. The general
setting is primarily detached and semi-detached two-storey residential, varying in age and style.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Rendered
Windows: Timber / uPVC
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

This area of Ballyholme first began to be developed around the turn of the twentieth century with several terraces appearing along the seafront at around this time. The current house, set back from the shore, is not shown on the OS map of 1901, first appearing on the fourth edition of 1919-26. A construction date within the first two decades of the twentieth century is therefore likely. Patton dates the house to c1905 and field inspection supports this assessment. (Patton, p.84)

In the 1911 census, Godfrey Avenue is listed as a street of two dwellings, one of which is likely to be the current house. The houses are occupied by Hugh and William McCullough with their wives and sons. The two men, who were perhaps brothers, are both employed in the linen business, one as a commercial clerk and the other as a ‘traveller’. No live-in servants are listed, suggesting a modest petty bourgeois household. (1911 census)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
4. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A 1 ½ storey detached Edwardian dwelling built c.1905; symmetrically arranged with neat proportions and distinguished by an attractive leaded veranda to the front. Unique within its suburban context, this characteristic gives a distinct appearance to what is otherwise a detached house, typical in style and proportion of this period. Although the replacement windows detract somewhat from its appearance, generally much of its character has survived. It is a good and distinctive example of the small seaside/suburban villa that is becoming increasingly rare.

General comments

Within Bangor East Area of Townscape Character