5 Waverley Drive

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 1 ½ storey two-bay attached Victorian dwelling built c1890. Square plan with long return to the rear. Located in the suburban Ballyholme Ward, east of Bangor town centre and south of the Esplanade.

Natural slate pitched roof with clay ridge tile with skew table; decorative barge boards to dormers with finials. Cast-iron ogee moulded guttering with replacement uPVC circular downpipes; smooth render chimney with tall hexagonal clay pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling; channelled rusticated quoins; projected plinth and corbel course. Timber sliding sash windows with deep stone cills; round-arched 2/2 sliding sash windows to first floor level. Four-panel bolection moulded timber front door; brass ironmongery and round-arched fixed light over; embraced by plain surrounds with stucco moulded plinth blocks and cornice course; central chamfered key-block.

The principal elevation faces west and is asymmetrical with the front door located on the right hand side and a plain single-storey canted bay on the right; single continuous cill course around bay. Paired wall-headed dormers at first floor level; finial over left dormer only.

The left gable has a single window opening to the left hand side of the ground floor and a single replacement window opening to the right hand side at first floor. The broad chimney-stack rises from the gable apex.

The rear elevation has a single ground floor window and wall-head dormer window (with no barge-boards) to the right bay. The left bay is abutted by a two-storey gabled return. The return has various sized window openings, several of which have been replaced with single-glazed timber casement. The return has a further two-storey addition to the gable end (date unknown) with further single-storey flat-roofed timber enclosure.

The right gable is abutted by adjoining building 7 Waverley Drive (HB23/03/016B).

Setting

The site is bounded at the front by a rendered wall with concrete coping; timber gated access flanked by robust squared piers with pyramidal caps. The north side of the site is bounded by a rubble masonry wall; partially low level with smooth render coping with higher level enclosing the rear yard. The rear of the site is over looked by a two-storey dwelling built c.1930, located in what was formerly the rear garden; beyond which lies the former associated stables (now converted). The grounds to the front and side are principally gravelled and landscaped. The rear yard is accessed via a timber ledge-and-brace gate. The general
setting is two/three storey detached, semi-detached and apartment dwellings of various ages and styles.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron/uPVC

Historical information

The current house is one of a semi-detached pair that are first shown on the third edition OS map of 1901. Around the turn of the twentieth century, Bangor began to expand eastwards into Ballyholme with the appearance of numerous villas and small terraces at this time. Patton dates the two houses to c1890 and field inspection appears to support this view. (Patton, p.207) The current owners state that the houses were originally built as stewards’ houses for the Dufferin estate and an adjoining three-storey farmhouse, also shown on the 1901 map, was built at the same time. (Owner information)

Stables at the rear of the two houses are now in separate ownership and have been converted for domestic use.

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

Secondary Sources

1. Owner information
2. 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
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A 1 ½ storey two-bay semi-detached Victorian dwelling built c1890. Erected as a pair, these houses are some of the earliest built in the area. Typical in style and proportions of buildings of the period and of local and historic interest being former steward’s houses belonging to the Dufferin Estate. Much of historic character and value survives. The former stables and adjoining three-storey farmhouse, all form part of the original complex, although modified and of significantly less interest. This pair is a good example of the type and their association with a major Estate is of interest.

General comments

Within Bangor East Area of Townscape Character