1 The Crescent

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay polychrome brick end-terrace house, built 1864, located to the south of High Street, close to the centre of Holywood. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with rectangular brick chimneystacks having stone plinth and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with drive-in brackets. Walling to principal elevation is Flemish bonded polychromatic brick with dentilled string course to ground and cornice to first floor; north elevation is smooth rendered; rear elevation is painted smooth render. Windows are timber-framed 2/2 sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars and stone sills; yellow brick surrounds, variously detailed.

The principal elevation faces west, symmetrically arranged and three openings wide. Ground floor has paired window openings with brick pilasters and dentilled cornice over continuous with string course. Central entrance up two bull-nosed stone steps; door is double panelled with brass door furniture having transom light and side lights.

North gable is blank.

East (rear) elevation is abutted by two-storey gabled return. Rear garden is enclosed with brick and rubble wall. No access to garden.

South elevation is abutted by adjoining building, HB 23/20/033B.

Setting

The terrace is located in a secluded square with mature trees, enclosed by a brick wall with cast-iron electric gates to north. Small garden to front with lawn and shrubbery enclosed by a polychromatic brick wall; accessed by four stone steps with a central paved pathway. The rear garden is enclosed by rubble stone wall.

Roof: natural slate
Walling: brick/render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron ogee

Historical information

These houses are newly drawn on the valuation town plan dating from c1860 to c1866 and are listed in the fieldbook in 1864 as ‘four new houses, nearly finished’. Each has dimensions of 12x9x2x1a with returns of 4x1½x2x1a and 5x3x2x1a. They are all houses and yards valued at £24 and leased from Hugh Stewart, possibly the grandson of Hugh Stewart, the developer of numbers 5 to 8, the Crescent in the 1820s. The will of Hugh Stewart senior appears to indicate that his grandson took over the management of 5 to 8 the Crescent after his grandfather’s death, and he may, therefore, be the Hugh Stewart who built the new terrace.

By 1867 the occupier is Mrs Weston Grimshaw and by 1890, Margaret Frackleton. A succession of tenants followed; Thomas Johnston (1900), Samuel Browne (1906), John Hodge (1913) and Catherine Hodge (1926) to name but a few. In 1884, the valuation of the property was dropped to £20, but no further changes in value take place in Annual Revisions.

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/3/53 – Valuer’s Notebook (1900-6)
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/123/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1860-c1866)
8.PRONI VAL/12/E/123/2/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1867-1900)
9.PRONI T1342/5 – Will of Hugh Stewart dated 12th March 1858

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A mid-Victorian three bay two storey end-terrace polychromatic brick house, c. 1860 situated in an informal square. The architectural detailing on this terrace is of quality and is largely intact. External inspection of the interior indicates that the original floor plan survives. Polychromatic brick is of note in this area. The house is a good example of the type in original condition and has group value within its own terrace, which combines with an earlier terrace (HB23/20/034A-D) located at right angles to this one to form the square. The setting of an informal square is of note and survives in relatively original form.

General comments

This record was previously recorded as HB23/20/033