Culloden Hotel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay sandstone Scots Baronial house, built c.1875 to designs by Young & Mackenzie, located on the north side of Bangor road on the shores of Belfast Lough. L-shaped on plan with three-stage entrance tower and series of two-storey rear returns: Attached early English-style single-storey chapel dating from 1910 to south. Substantial three-storey extensions to east and south.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles with finials; polygonal cluster chimneystacks arranged in groups of three. Gables have raised verges on kneeler stones detailed with ornate finials and figurative carving. Ogee rainwater goods on moulded sandstone eaves. Walling is Glaslough sandstone with white Scotch stone dressings; squared uncoursed rock-faced sandstone (coursed to projecting bays) over a projecting plinth; ashlar sandstone quoins (unless otherwise stated). Windows are1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns. Bead moulded ashlar sandstone surrounds with foliate carving to lintel soffits; flush chamfered sills to ground floor; projecting sandstone sills to first floor.

Principal (entrance) elevation faces west and is dominated by a three-stage entrance tower; full height canted bay to left, right bay is set back and has semi-circular ashlar sandstone oriel supported by ornately carved corbelled base over cusped stained glass window (formerly one of a pair; that to left now obscured by a single-storey extension to re-entrant angle).

Square-plan entrance tower chamfered to upper stages, detailed as house with castellated parapet over trefoil frieze detail; stages are separated by moulded strings. Entrance consists of pointed arch openings set in a double rebated ashlar sandstone surround inset with paired colonnettes having ornate capitals carved with foliate detailing. Sixteen panelled oak door with brass knob and central bell; fixed glazed tympanum, all accessed by three sandstone steps. First stage of tower has paired windows with sandstone balconette on base, supported by carved sandstone brackets.

The south elevation has a carved coat of arms plaque carved in deep relief with label mould. North elevation has narrow window. Second stage with triple round-headed window to west; single round-headed window to north and south.

North elevation has slightly projecting right bay, canted bay to left; left and central bays abutted at ground floor by modern conservatory extension; facade has been pierced and is open to conservatory. Right bay abutted by at ground floor by a semi-circular projecting bay surmounted by steel railings over a trefoil architrave. Ground floor windows are framed by paired colonnettes with ornate capitals and shared architraves. Triple window at first floor, diminutive paired window to attic.

East elevation is completely abutted by three-storey extension.

South elevation comprises, from left; two storey projecting canted end of L-shaped block; gabled stairwell return and, set further back at right, an additional two-storey return with lean-to extensions (obscured). Returns are obscured at ground floor by a single-storey chapel, set at an oblique angle and abutting canted bay end at right. Stairwell lit by double-height paired lancet each containing cusped sandstone tracery and surmounted by circular window, all in stained leaded glass.

Chapel has pitched natural slate roof with raised cement skews; walling detailed as house with cement plinth. Windows are diagonal lattice with in-situ cement surrounds.

South west elevation is three windows wide, linking block has a single window; abutted at south east end by modern linking extension to new wing.

Setting

Set in mature grounds overlooking Belfast Lough. Tarmacadam driveway and car-park to west and south. Former entrance to west now with polygonal ashlar sandstone piers with foliate carving and pointed caps (central pier removed). Curved boundary walls and entrance of rock-faced stone surmounted by cast-iron railings with large polished granite entrance signs to hotel. Hedge boundaries to other elevations. Original lodge at entrance now separate and used as offices (HB23/18/017B)

Roof: Natural Slate
Walling: sandstone
Windows: timber
RWG: cast-iron

Historical information

The construction of Culloden House in 1876-7 was announced in the ‘Architect’ of 8 December 1877. It is first listed in Annual Revisions in 1877 as a house, gate lodge, offices and land valued at £250 and leased from Robert S Kennedy. The occupier, William Auchinleck Robinson, had made his fortune as a stockbroker and named the house after his wife, whose maiden name was Culloden. The mansion was constructed to designs by Young & Mackenzie by contractor James Henry. Glasgow Blonde sandstone with white Giffnock stone dressings was used and staircase windows contain glass by Heaton, Butler & Bayne. Other windows are by Ballantine, Edinburgh. Dean states that, “Most of the stone came from Scotland by boat, landed at Portaferry and [was] brought by horse and cart to the Craigavad site. It took two years to build during which time the client resided in a small cottage in the gardens.” The house is shown on the third edition OS map of 1900-02 captioned ‘Culloden House’. (Architect, p.312; www.stonedatabase.com; Dean, p.72)

Robinson died in 1884 and after Elizabeth Robinson’s death in 1889 the house was taken over by the Church of Ireland for use as the Bishops’ Palace for Bishops of Down and Connor and Dromore. (Brett, p.142-3)

Rev. Thomas J Welland, who was bishop from 1892 until his death in 1907, is entered into valuation records in 1900. Brett states that he moved in in 1898 – in 1886 ‘the church had sold to the War office the previous palace in Holywood, on the site of which the Palace Barracks now stand, and Dr Welland’s predecessor, Dr William Reeves, had rented Conway House, Dunmurry...from the Barbour family until his death in 1892; after which Dr Welland had lived at Ardtullagh, near Redburn in Holywood.” Dr Welland, who was the son of the ecclesiastical architect Joseph Welland, died at Culloden in 1907 and was succeeded by the Right Rev. John Baptist Crozier, during whose residence at the palace a chapel was added to the south facade of the building. W J Fennell was the architect and timber was used from Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s pulpit at Magheralin. The chapel was dedicated on 7 August 1910. Percy French, the songwriter and entertainer, was a frequent visitor to the house during this period and the Bishop became godfather to one of his children. Bishop Crozier’s successor in 1911 was the Right Rev Charles F D’Arcy. He requested a review of the valuation and the resulting valuers’ report contains a plan and dimensions of the building, showing the new chapel. The valuation is reduced to £200 in 1912. (Brett, p.143, Clergy of Down and Dromore, p.24-5 (part III), www.hastingshotels.com)

According to Brett, the house was sold during the episcopate of Dr Grierson, who became bishop in 1919. In about 1923, it became the property of Sir John Campbell, a Belfast consultant surgeon and gynaecologist. He was senior surgeon at the Samaritan Hospital for Women, consulting surgeon at the Belfast Maternity Hospital and author of a textbook on obstetrics and gynaecology. He was one of the first doctors in Belfast to carry out caesareans on his patients, at a time (in 1911) when the maternal mortality rate from the operation was 13.2% in Ireland. He was Ulster Unionist MP for Queen’s University between 1921 and 1929 and was knighted in 1925. After his death in 1929 his widow and children continued to live in the house until 1959. (Brett, p.143, British Medical Journal, p.521, Ulster Medical Journal, p.6)

In 1933, valuers list the house as Culloden House occupied by Lady Emily F Campbell and leased from Sir Robert Kennedy. The valuer comments, “Substantially built stone house – old fashioned – Gas lighting throughout. No electricity. Well water. Close to main Bangor Road adjoining Cultra Station. Nice views of Lough. Well timbered grounds screening railway from view. Owner wishes to sell – only offer to date £2000”. The accommodation is listed as follows, on the ground floor: a hall, drawing, study, dining and writing rooms, the chapel (by this time dismantled), a store, service pantry, maid’s bedroom and kitchen, rooms for boots and coals, a larder, scullery, pantry, morning room and butler’s pantry and a cloak room with WC and washbasin. The main staircase of pitch pine led to a large landing. On the first floor there were five bedrooms, a writing room, dressing room, bathroom and WC. Down ten steps were a maid’s bedroom, HM (?) closet, a bathroom and WC and down a further seven steps, a billiard room, playroom, bedroom and maid’s bedroom. On the second floor there was an attic, tank room and a room in the tower with spiral stairs to the tower roof. A plan and dimensions are given showing the house, chapel and several outbuildings including greenhouses, a byre, a stable, motor house and vinery.

Valuation records show that the house was requisitioned by the war department in the 1940’s and in 1945 it is noted that they retained some of the grounds, after derequisitioning the buildings.

In April 1959 the house was purchased for £10,000 by Ulster Farmer, Mr Thomas C. Reid who was then Chairman of the Northern Irish Ploughing Association. Mr Rutledge White of White’s Home Bakery Ltd and White’s Milk Bar in Rosemary Street, Belfast, bought Culloden in 1962 for £18,500 and opened it as a hotel. It was at this time that the chapel was turned into a bar. However, Mr White found the running of the hotel onerous and it was acquired by William Hastings in 1967. (www.hastingshotels.com)

In 1981 a large extension was added to the rear of the hotel to designs by Alan Jones of Belfast. This comprised two floors of 21 double rooms each and an additional four deluxe suites. This was joined to the lower foyer of hotel by a glazed link garden way. Extensions to the kitchen, dining room, function lounge and bar area and grill bar took place at the same time. The contractors were J Kennedy and Co, Coleraine. (Specify)

An octagonal pool and fitness suite known as the Elysium Leisure Complex was added by designer Ken Scott in 1990. (Ulster Architect, 1990)

In 1994, Alan Jones was the architect for a further refurbishment, creating a new feature staircase, more spacious lounge, new cloakrooms, reception area and an extension to the kitchens. In 1995 they were to add 20 new bedrooms and provide new conference facilities. The contractors were Savage Brothers. (Ulster Architect, 1994)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
4. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/21 – Annual Revisions Valuers Notebook
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/12/E/93/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1919-c1935)
8. PRONI VAL/3D/4/4A/1 – Valuers RV Binder (1933-57)
9. Architect 18, 8 Dec 1877, suppl. p.312 (illus.)
10. Specify, October 1981, pp13-15
11. Ulster Architect, Vol 7, Issue 4, October 1990, pp4-11
12. Ulster Architect, Vol 12, Issue 1, Nov/Dec, 1994, pp23-5

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
2. British Medical Journal, September 14th 1929
3. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. Perspective, Vol 4, Issue 1, March/April 1996, pp56-61
5. Ulster Medical Journal, Vol 59, No1, pp1-10, April 1990
6. www.hastingshotels.com
7. www.stonedatabase.com
8. www.dia.ie

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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay sandstone Scots Baronial house, built c.1870 to designs by Young & Mackenzie, located on the shores of Belfast Lough. The house, originally built for William Auchinleck Robinson, was first converted into a hotel in 1962 and was acquired by William Hastings in 1967, since which time substantial alterations have been made and extensions added, the original house dwarfed to some extent by the additions to east and south. Its architectural detailing is largely intact; incorporating the Gothic and Scottish Baronial styles, and the stone carving is of superior quality. Internally, although the layout has been altered somewhat, the original floor-plan is still discernable, and the historic fabric to the principal ground floor rooms survives. The original layout and historic fabric of the first floor has, however, been compromised. Prominently situated, the original grounds on the Lough side have been retained and the setting is largely unspoilt from that aspect. The gate lodge (HB23/18/017B) located to the south west has survived, together forming a significant group. Despite the alterations and the extensions, the Culloden remains a fine example of a Scots Baronial mansion house.

General comments

Previously recorded as HB23/18/017