7 The Crescent

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-storey two-bay Georgian terraced townhouse, built c.1830, located to the south of High Street, close to the centre of Holywood. Rectangular on plan with two-storey gabled return and extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with rectangular brick chimneystacks having stone plinth and terracotta pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods with drive-in brackets; uPVC rainwater goods to rear extension. Walling is painted smooth render with quoins and plinth; plat band between ground and first floor. Windows are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash (unless otherwise stated) with projecting stone sills.

The principal elevation faces north and is two windows wide with diminutive 3/3 windows to second floor. Entrance to left accessed by two stone steps; door is double-panelled with brass furniture and slender transom light; to right canted bay window 2/2 sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars and dividing Doric pilasters.

The east elevation is abutted by neighbouring building (HB23/20/034B).

Rear elevation has a window opening to each floor and is abutted to left by two-storey gabled return, with single openings to each floor of exposed section. The return is further abutted by a small single storey extension with diminutive 4/2 sash window and pent roof with modern skylights.

The west elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB 23/15/034D).

Setting

The terrace is located in a secluded square with mature trees, enclosed by a brick wall with modern electric gates to north, and by mature hedges to east and west. To the rear of the property there are two outbuildings of no real interest.

Roof: natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: timber
RWG: cast-iron

Historical information

According to Merrick, this terrace began life as a single farmhouse in the late eighteenth century, which would have been situated at the edge of the village of Holywood. In the 1820s the plot was taken over by Hugh Stewart and redeveloped to create a terrace of four houses. Hugh Stewart had been appointed Post Master in Holywood in 1822 and was responsible for a number of housing developments including Holywood’s first public baths. (Merrick, p.3, 54)

In the Townland Valuation (1828-40) all the houses are listed as the property of Hugh Stewart and this house is valued at £11.8s. In Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house is occupied by Alex Grumfield, later John Forrester and valued at £17. Dimensions are given for the house and stables and carriage houses are listed to the rear of the terrace. The valuation town plan dating from c1860 to c1866 notes that the plot in front of the houses is ‘in potatoes’.

In Hugh Stewart’s will of 1858 he bequeaths the houses in the Crescent to his daughter Harriet Kennedy “ for her own sole use and benefit independently of her present or any future husband and I direct that they be subject to her own control nevertheless that she be not at liberty to sell alien or mortgage or anticipate the same during her life but that at her death she may will them to whom she pleases”. He further directed that a £12 annuity be paid to his daughter Susan Greenfield “out of the rents derived from the Crescent lying behind the house in which I at present dwell”. Hugh Stewart’s grandson becomes the immediate lessor after his grandfather’s death.

By 1863 Mrs McCormick is the occupier and John Anderson and others, the immediate lessor. The valuation is reduced, in stages, to £14 by 1874, when James Greenfield is the occupier, and then £12 in 1884 and £11 in 1892. The house is subject to a large number of changes in occupier, Bridget Wiber (1887), Robert Price (1900), James Parkhill (1905) and James J Greene (1925) to name but a few. In 1903 the valuation of the house is raised slightly to £13 because a bathroom has been installed and an ‘alteration made’. Valuer’s notes give a plan and dimensions.

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/1/B/318 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/18A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8.PRONI VAL/12/A/3/53 – Valuer’s Notebook (1900-6)
9.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
10.PRONI VAL/12/E/123/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1860-c1866)
11.PRONI VAL/12/E/123/2/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1867-1900)
12.PRONI T1342/5 – Will of Hugh Stewart dated 12th March 1858

Secondary Sources

1.Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
2.Merrick, Tony “Buildings of Holywood” Holywood: Holywood Advertiser, 1986

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An attractive three-storey two-bay Georgian terraced townhouse, situated in a pretty and secluded garden close to the heart of Holywood. The architectural detailing is of quality and largely intact, with Regency glazing bars in canted bay and Georgian glazing patterns to upper floors. Although the original floor plan has survived much of the detailing has been lost and finishes are largely modern. However, the house is a good example of the type in fairly original condition and has group value within its own terrace, which combines with a Victorian terrace (HB23/20/033A-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

Renumbered from HB23/20/034 G