Killaire House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached multi-bay two-storey sandstone ashlar house, built c.1870 and located on the south shores of Belfast Lough, at the end of Killaire Road, Carnalea. Rectangular main block with gabled end wings; L-shaped block to rear. Single-storey canted bays to south and west; single- storey ashlar sandstone extension and outbuildings to east.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles. Ashlar chimneystacks with dentilled plinth and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting stones eaves; decorative bargeboard with fretwork panel to apex on timber brackets to gables. Walling is ashlar sandstone on chamfered plinth. Windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash with projecting sandstone sills; some with projecting entablature and moulded cornice. Canted bays with segmental-arched windows and dividing semi-engaged columns with acanthus leaf capitals; stilted segmental arches with continuous hood moulds; surmounted by parapet with decorative cast-iron railing.

The principal elevation faces south; gabled bays to left and right; that to left with bowed bay to ground floor and paired windows to first floor: that to right has a window to attic and first floor, with paired window to ground floor. Entrance bay has stilted segmental-arched stairwell window framed by an archivolt supported on semi-engaged columns to left, over two diminutive leaded stained glass windows to ground floor. To right of entrance is single window to first floor and paired windows below. Entrance comprises doorway with stilted segmental arch and archivolt; double-panelled timber door with brass door furniture surmounted by transom light; framed by semi-engaged columns with acanthus leaf capitals; surmounted by heavy cornice hood on twin corbels with panelled frieze and a pair of plain ball pinnacles on plinths. Above doorway is small square window insertion. Entrance accessed by two stone steps enclosed by dwarf walls with painted masonry lion to each side.

The west elevation has projecting gable to left containing bowed bay with paired window above. To right are two windows to ground and first floor.

The north elevation has slightly projecting gabled left end with tripartite mullioned window to ground floor and paired windows to first floor; each cheek has window to each floor. Remainder has two windows to each floor (that to ground floor right paired). Recessed bay to far left has three windows asymmetrically arranged; multi-paned half-panelled timber door with transom light to right.

The east elevation has a single window to gable; abutted to left and right by single-storey extensions; that to left has half-panelled timber door and replacement windows.

Setting

The house is set in mature grounds on the south shores of Belfast Lough; tarmacadamed driveway to southeast accessed via decorative sandstone gate piers and iron gates. The original coach house and gate lodge located to the east have been converted into dwellings and are in separate ownership. Lawned to front with substantial stone retaining wall to west and north having low decorative balustrade; decorated with free-standing stone urns. Garden to rear with mature trees.

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

Historical information

This area of the coast to the west of Bangor started to be developed following the construction of the Belfast, Holywood and Bangor Railway in 1865. The area is shown as open fields on the second edition OS map of 1858 but by 1901 several substantial mansions had appeared including ‘Killare Ho[use]’. These were able to avail of the railway station at Carnalea which had opened in 1877. (www.railbrit.co.uk)

The house first enters valuation records in 1871 as the residence of James Alexander Henderson who leases it from Richard R Cleland. The valuation is £53.10s. Building work appears to have been ongoing for some time and in 1873, offices, a gate lodge and a pleasure ground are added to the description and the valuation of the buildings is increased to £108.10s. In 1874 the valuation is raised again to £120.10s. (Annual Revisions) The architect is not known, but Dean suggests that the house ‘look[s] like the work of Glaswegian James Hamilton’. (Dean, p.62)

James Alexander Henderson was the first of several in the Henderson family to be managing proprietor of the Belfast Newsletter. He was appointed in 1845 at the age of 21 on the recommendation of his father who had been proprietor of the Newry Telegraph and oversaw a very successful phase in the newspaper’s history. He purchased a ‘new and elegant type’ in 1846 and increased the number of weekly editions from two to three in 1851. In 1852 he introduced the first pictures in an Ulster newspaper with the coverage of the Duke of Wellington’s state funeral. In 1854 the paper had grown in size to 32 columns and its first London correspondent was appointed in 1858. The paper moved premises to Donegall Street in 1861 where it remained for the next 140 years. (www.newsletter.co.uk)

Henderson was a very significant figure both in the newspaper business and more widely, becoming President of the Newspaper Society in 1862 and a founder of the Press Association in 1868. He was Mayor of Belfast in 1873 and 1874, at the time he was building ‘Killaire House’ and was a magistrate for Belfast and County Down. (www.newsletter.co.uk)

Henderson also owned ‘Norwood Tower’ in Strandtown and this is where he died in 1883, Killaire House then passing to other members of the Henderson family. Management of the Belfast Newsletter passed to his eldest son James (later Sir James Henderson). (Will of James Alexander Henderson; www.newsletter.co.uk)

For a period c1888, following the death of James Alexander, Killaire house was let to Samuel Davidson of the Sirocco Engineering Works who later moved to Seacourt (HB23/14/005A), but was otherwise occupied by members of the Henderson family until at least the 1920s. (Annual Revisions) In 1900 the occupant is noted to be H Trevor Henderson, grandson of James Alexander and later to be joint manager of the Newsletter with his brother. (Annual Revisions, www.newsletter.co.uk)

The 1901 census shows that the house is a substantial dwelling of 18 rooms, designated first class because of its size and construction. There are 12 outbuildings associated with the house; a stable, coach house, harness room, cow house, calf house, dairy, boiling house, turf house, potato house, shed, store and laundry. Alexander Henderson, a Justice of the Peace, is the head of the household and lives with his wife and son, who works as a clerk. They have a staff of three; a cook, a housemaid and a ‘general man’. Alexander Mackay Henderson had been a Major in the Royal Irish Rifles and died in 1904. His relationship to James Alexander Henderson is not clear – he was perhaps a younger son. Alexander Mackay’s monogram can be seen in the frosted glass of the inner door. (1901 census; Will of Alexander Mackay Henderson)

By 1906 Alexander‘s widow Susan M Henderson was the occupier. (Annual Revisions) She is listed in the 1911 census as a 60-year-old widow, living on the income from annuities. Her son Raymond Leslie Mackay Henderson lives with her and has entered the family business as a ‘newspaper proprietor’. A niece was also resident at the time and they had a somewhat reduced staff, a sixty-five year old cook. (1911 census)

The house continues in use as a private residence and although substantially renovated retains intact many original features.

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/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99)
5.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1894-1923)
6.PRONI Will of James Alexander Henderson, died 8th April 1883
7.PRONI Will of Alexander Mackay Henderson, died 6th September 1904

Secondary Sources

1.Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999
3.www.newsletter.co.uk – Belfast Newsletter online
4.www.railbrit.co.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

A detached multi-bay two-storey with attic sandstone ashlar house; built c.1870 This is a good example of the type of house Belfast’s wealthy merchants were building in the Bangor area in the mid 19th century aided by the arrival of the railway. The detailing is largely intact and of good quality. Its links to James Alexander Henderson who was managing proprietor of the Belfast Newsletter, a founder of the Press Association and a Mayor of Belfast adds to its interest. Its setting includes an ornate sandstone gate screen and a substantial stone retaining garden wall with balustrade. The stable block and gatehouse (HB23/15/001B) add interest and the whole represents a time of economic growth and the increasing wealth and status of the merchant and professional classes in the mid-nineteenth century.

General comments

Renumbered HB23/15/001A was previously HB23/15/001