Mosella

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half-storey three bay detached house built c.1870 and located to the north side of Station Road, Craigavad. Rectangular on plan with full-height return to rear; return abutted by small extensions to northwest and southeast; sunroom and conservatory to south east, projecting porch to front.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and decorative bargeboards to gables; four rendered chimneystacks to main block; large chimneystack having three tall decorative clay pots to rear return. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is painted smooth render. Windows are 2/2 timber sliding sash with horns in chamfered reveals having decorative long-and-short surround to ground floor; pointed-headed with bargeboard and continuous bracketed sill to attic floor.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is five openings wide to ground floor; three wall-head dormers to centre of first floor; central gabled porch having two-panelled double-leaf timber door with brass door furniture, sidelights and transom light (replacement).

The northwest elevation has two windows to first floor.

The northeast elevation has a half-dormer window to right and is abutted to centre by a full-height return. To right is a small single-storey extension with lean-to roof containing uPVC door. The return has a modern timber-framed window to ground and first floor; the northwest elevation with diminutive window to first floor and a window to ground floor; the southeast elevation has a modern glazed door to right with slated canopy having tall terracotta ridge tiles, decorative bargeboard and timber brackets: To left is a sunroom surmounted by a gabled window; to far left is one-and-a-half-storey gabled return with a window to each floor.

The southeast elevation has two windows to attic floor; abutted to ground floor by modern timber conservatory.

Setting

Situated on an leafy road to the north side of Bangor Road near Craigavad. Set back from Station Road with a gravelled driveway to East. Lawned garden to north and south enclosed by hedgerow and mature trees to all sides with rubble stone boundary wall and timber gate to east.

Roof: slate
Walling: render
Windows: timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

With the opening of the railway to Bangor in 1865 this area of the North Down coast, previously studded with mansions and gentlemen’s residences, became more accessible to increasing numbers of middle-ranking professional and mercantile families and began to be developed more intensively. A large number of villas were constructed up and down the coast, usually on vacant plots in spacious grounds. ‘Mosella’ and its neighbour ‘The Ivies’, unusually, were built on a site previously occupied, by simpler, perhaps vernacular structures.

The current house is first entered into valuation records in 1872 as a newly-built vacant house and yard valued at £24. OS maps show that there had previously been a house on the site which is shown on both the first and second editions, but the current house appears to be a complete rebuild or remodel of the earlier structure. The developer of the house together with its neighbour ‘The Ivies’ is James McCutcheon. The current house is first shown on the third edition of 1900-02 where it is captioned ‘Mosella’.

The first recorded tenant of the current house, is James Ingles in 1880. He is followed, in 1887, by John M Johnston of W J Johnston and Sons, tea and sugar merchants with premises in Pottinger’s Entry, Belfast. (Belfast and Ulster Street Directory; Annual Revisions) By 1901 John M Johnston had married Hannah McCutcheon, the daughter of the neighbouring family and lived with his parents-in-law in the adjacent house. (1901 census) The house passed to Henry McKisack MD in 1900. By the time of the 1901 census Thomas J King, a Quaker coal merchant, was in residence. He lived with his wife and his eight-year-old son and the family had a single domestic servant. (Annual Revisions; 1901 census) The house was vacant for a time around 1908 and then passed to the Arthurs family in 1909. The 1911 census records Saidee Arthurs, 43-year-old spinster, as the head of the family. She lives from the income generated by property and her brother George is a wine agent. They have a 32-year-old maid. The Arthurs family remained in residence until at least 1930. (Annual Revisions; 1911 census)

The porch, a later addition, was present at the time of the first survey in 1973, but was thought at that time to have been added recently. (First survey information) The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling, with some recent, sympathetic additions to the rear.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
4. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
5. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)
8. Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1910
9. 1901 census online
10. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. First Survey Information

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Mosella is a picturesque one-and-a-half-storey three bay detached house, built c.1870. It has some good architectural detailing to the exterior including decorative bargeboards, chimneystacks and window surrounds. This is an example of the suburban-style houses built as part of the development of the south side of Belfast Lough during the middle part of the 19th century. However, it is of a relatively late date and not among the best examples of the type.