Princetown Villa

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay two-storey with attic stucco house, built c.1900 to designs by JC McCandliss, situated to the east of Princetown Road overlooking Bangor bay. Square on plan with two-storey canted bays to front and south.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and finials; painted rendered chimney stacks having clay pots; decorative barge board to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on decorative corbelled eaves. Walling is painted render with vermiculated quoins; cornice decorated with stars; moulded string course between floors. Windows are segmental-headed (unless otherwise stated) and infilled with concrete blocks; canted bays with moulded surround having keyblock.

The principal elevation faces north-east and is three openings wide. Two-storey canted bays with balustraded and dentilled parapets. Portico to centre having squared Doric columns and plain entablature; to first floor is single window opening surmounted by stucco panel having ivy leaf design.

The south-east elevation has two-storey canted bay to left (as described in main elevation) with square-headed windows; two windows to attic floor; single window to right at ground and first floor.

The south-west elevation is blank.

The north-west elevation is partially concealed; two window to attic and two square-headed windows to first floor.

Setting

The house is sea-facing positioned on a raised site overlooking Bangor Marina, accessed by a lane to the east of Princetown Road; stone boundary wall to east.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Infilled
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Princetown Villa is dated 1900 and forms part of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century development of the Princetown Road area, which contains some of the finest and most substantial villas in Bangor. The second edition OS map of 1858 shows the area as completely undeveloped, Princetown Road itself not having yet been laid out. By the time of the third edition (1901), villas and terraces, including the current house, stretch as far as Wilson’s Point and well into the interior of the headland.

The house first enters valuation records in 1901 as a vacant, newly-built dwelling with offices, yard and garden, valued at £69.9s and surrounded by land valued at £11. The developer of the site is James Campbell, a retired farmer, who died a wealthy man in 1915. Campbell built two houses on the plot; the current house and a residence for himself (68 Princetown Road) both to designs by J C McCandliss. (Will of James Campbell; 1911 Census; Patton, p.161; Annual Revisions)

By 1907 the house had been let to William Marshall and remained in the Marshall family at least until the 1930’s. The 1911 census shows a twelve-room house that was considered to be of the first class due to its size and construction. William Marshall was a flour merchant and occupied the house with his wife, daughter and two sons, one of whom was an apprentice in the flour business. They had a small staff of domestics, comprising a trained nurse, a housemaid and a cook. William Marshall and Co Ltd were tea dealers, flour and general merchants with premises in Victoria Street and Townhall Street, Belfast. (Annual Revisions; 1911 Census; Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1901)

The valuation of the house was raised to £74.9s in 1920, due to the addition of a ‘motor house’ and by 1930 Elizabeth S Marshall, William’s widow, was the occupier. At the time of the first survey in 1974 the house appeared to be still inhabited but it has since become vacant and has suffered some damage including the loss of the rear return. (First survey information)

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.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930)
5.PRONI VAL/12/E/129/2 – Annual Revisions Town Plans (1898-c.1916)
6.PRONI Will of James Campbell, 29th January 1915
7.Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1901
8.1901 census online
9.1911 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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-bay two-storey with attic stucco house, built c.1900 to designs by JC McCandliss for the developer James Campbell, situated to the east of Princetown Road overlooking Bangor bay. It is currently vacant and has suffered some damage including the loss of the rear return, however, the architectural detailing is of good quality and typical of the period. It is an example of the type of Victorian villas that were developed along the Esplanade, built for the wealthy merchants and professional classes, and illustrating the growth of Bangor as a seaside resort town during the 19th century and early 20th century.