3 Ardmore Terrace

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay, two-storey symmetrical terrace house built c.1850, located to the west of Ardmore Road, south east of Holywood. Rectangular on plan with two two-storey returns to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with rectangular-on-plan chimneystacks having stone plinth and terracotta pots; further chimneystacks to rear gable; square brick chimney rising from ridgeline. Half-round rainwater goods on painted masonry eaves; PVC rainwater goods to rear returns. Walling is painted render to principal elevation with simple rustication to ground floor; quoins, raised and chamfered plinth and smooth render string course between upper floors. Windows to principal elevation are; to ground floor 2/1 timber-framed sliding sash in canted bays; 2/2 to first floor with continuous sill and moulded architrave with projecting moulded cornice. Variety of timber-framed sash windows to rear elevation, including a round-headed multi-pane opening to first floor.
The principal elevation faces north and is three windows wide; ground floor having central single panelled timber door with recessed moulded surround and round-headed plain transom light, accessed by three stone steps.

East gable is abutted by adjoining building; HB 23/20/065D.

Rear elevation comprises two-storey return to left and right with window openings to exposed sections; both abutted by similar returns to neighbouring properties (creating the full gable). Left return with roller shutter garage door; adjoining wall abuts each gable end with further roller shutter garage door at centre.

West elevation is abutted by adjoining building, HB 23/20/065B.

Setting

Lawned front garden with paved pathway accessed by stone steps, enclosed by tall hedgerow with conifer trees to west. To rear there is a communal pathway separating the house and garden; the garden containing rendered garage and bounded by tall hedgerow.

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

Historical information

Ardmore Terrace was built in the late 1840’s and the houses were let, either as bathing villas or on more permanent terms, to the professional classes who were beginning to be attracted to Holywood, following the opening of the railway. (Merrick, p.56-9)

The terrace is shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 captioned “Ardmore Terrace”. The Griffith’s Valuation fieldbook for the period (1856-64) lists the buildings initially with the name of “Ormeau Terrace”. It also carries an undated newspaper clipping advertising the renamed villas for rent, “Villas in Holywood at reduced rent. To let and immediate possession given, two houses in Ardmore Terrace. The houses have each a garden and the use of extensive grounds and contain Dining room, Drawing room and Seven Bedrooms with Hot and Cold Baths &c., and a never-failing supply of Water, without pumping. For a permanent tenant, very moderate terms would be made…An Omnibus plies from every Train, Fare 2d. Apply on the premises; or to James Greenfield, Post Office, Holywood.” Although the lessor, John Simms, may have sought to let the houses to a ‘permanent tenant’, it appears that the houses may have, on occasion, been used as bathing villas and rented seasonally, and if so the valuation records may not reflect every change in tenancy.

At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64), number three is occupied by Henry Charley and is leased from John Simms with a valuation of £41. A plan and dimensions of the house are given. The valuer comments, “Each of these small houses has 1st storey: D.Room, parlour, closet, pantry and kitchen, 2nd storey: 2 large bedrooms, bathroom, closet and servants room, Return: scullery, store rooms and servants rooms.” Between 1880 and 1887 the valuations were dropped slightly but no reason for this is given.

By 1867 the occupier is Miss Milford and then by 1887, the occupier became William Donnan and his family, which would have included his son Frederick George Donnan, the internationally celebrated physical chemist, best known for his theory of membrane equilibrium. The theory had important applications in the technologies of leather and gelatine, but particularly to the understanding of living cells, and how ions and molecules are transported within them and between the cell and its environment. At the time Frederick was living in Ardmore Terrace, he was a student at Belfast Royal Academy. However, he went on to hold the Chair of Physical Chemistry at Liverpool University and was then a professor at University College, London. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and was awarded the Longstaff Medal of the Chemical Society (1924) and the Davy medal (1928). The Donnan family went on to occupy a house in Riverston Terrace in 1907 (HB23/20/40B). (www.oxforddnb.com)

Number three was occupied by Sydney Erskine by 1919 and also experienced some periods of vacancy. In 1902 the immediate lessor becomes William Gilliland, who also occupied one of the houses. He was an architect, engaged mainly in commercial and industrial projects such as the Ormeau Bakery, Belfast, and was also active in public life as a founder member of the Ulster Society of Architects and a city councillor for Victoria Ward. (www.dia.ie)

References:
Primary Sources
1.PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
2.PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
3.PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
4.PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
5.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/1 – Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
6.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/18B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
8.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)

Secondary Sources
1.Merrick, Tony “Buildings of Holywood” Holywood: Holywood Advertiser, 1986
2.www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online
3.www.oxforddnb.com- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three bay Victorian terrace house, one of a terrace of seven built in palace form. A substantial house reflecting the development of Holywood after the arrival of the railway. Most historic fabric remains intact and it is, along with the rest of the terrace, a fine example of the type. The setting has been compromised with the construction of modern housing (Ardmore Park) on the approach to Ardmore Court and further construction to the rear.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered it was previously recorded as HB23/20/065