4 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 heart of Holywood town. Rectangular on plan with two-storey gabled 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 brick 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 yellow brick surrounds, variously detailed.

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

North elevation is abutted by adjoining building, HB 23/20/033C.

East (rear) elevation has single window openings to first and ground floor; abutted to centre by two-storey gabled return being three windows wide. Window openings to first and ground floor at exposed sections. Rear garden is enclosed with rubble stone wall.

South gable is blank.

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 with a central paved pathway. The rear garden is enclosed by rubble and brick wall.

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

Historical information

These houses are newly drawn onto 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, probably 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 house is occupied by William Praeger, a linen merchant who arrived from Holland in about 1861. His children were Robert Praeger (1865-1953) and Rosamund Praeger (1867-1954), who were probably both born at the house. Robert Lloyd Praeger was a naturalist and author who had an international reputation as a botanist and was also known to a more general readership through his 1937 topographical survey of Ireland, based on personal experiences, “The Way That I Went”. He became president of the Royal Irish Academy, the British Ecological Society, the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, the Geographical Society of Ireland and the Bibliographical Society of Ireland and published several works on botany, natural history and his foreign travels. In 1948 he was the first President of the National Trust for Ireland. (www.oxforddnb.com, Newmann, p.222)

Rosamund Sophia Praeger wrote and illustrated children’s books but achieved fame with her sculpture of a baby, ‘The Philosopher’ which was exhibited at the Royal Academy and then bought by an American collector. She exhibited in London and Paris, at the Royal Hibernian Academy and at the Irish Decorative Art Association Exhibitions. Her works include ‘Johnny the Jig’ in High Street, Holywood (HB23/20/73), ‘Fionnula, the Daughter of Lir’ for the Causeway School in Co Antrim; a heraldic figure for the Northern Bank in Donegall Square West; bronze plaques on the door of the Carnegie Library, Falls Road, Belfast; angels on Andrews Memorial Hall, Comber and some work in St Anne’s Cathedral. She illustrated three books for her brother Robert. She was President of the Royal Ulster Academy and was awarded the MBE in 1939. (Newmann, p.222-3)

By 1900 the occupier is Hugh C Atkinson and there follow a succession of tenants, William John McCluggage (1910), Susannah Anderson (1912) and Robert Geddis (1930) to name but a few. The valuation is reduced in stages to £20 in 1884 but no reason for this is given. However there is a rise in value to £30 in 1904, due to the addition of a bathroom. Dimensions and a plan are given in the valuer’s notes, and a wood and glass structure to the rear is shown.

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

Secondary Sources

1.Newmann, K “Dictionary of Ulster Biography” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, 1993
2.www.oxforddnb.com – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online

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