93 Victoria Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A semi-detached two-storey Picturesque style mid-Victorian house, originally constructed as an agricultural college c.1850, extended to form a pair of dwellings a short time later. Located at the east end of Victoria Road, Holywood, No 93 is rectangular on plan with slightly later perpendicular projecting west bay having double height canted bay to north gable, returns and large flat roofed extension to rear; there is a lean-to conservatory to west.

Roof is pitched natural slate with rendered chimneystacks having multiple terracotta pots. Fretted timber bargeboards and fascia with pointed finial to gable. Walling is rendered with stucco quoins and contrasting base. Windows are generally square-headed, those to canted bay are segmental-headed set within a square-headed frame. All appear to be sashes (see surveyor's comments).

Principal elevation faces north and has projecting gabled bay to right having full height canted bay window. The main portion of the elevation is three windows wide at each floor, arranged about an entrance contained within a gabled porch with fretted bargeboards.

The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining house (HB23/20/066B).

The rear elevation could not be inspected (see surveyor's comments).

The west elevation has two windows to first floor and is abutted by the conservatory at ground floor.

Setting:
The house is set back from the road within a mature garden
setting, having lawns to front and rear, and a tarmacadam driveway. The boundary is marked by mature trees and fencing, and the site is accessed via a large pair of modern security gates.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rendered
Windows: Timber
RWG: Not inspected

Historical information

This house forms part of a semi-detached pair, originally built in 1849 as a model agricultural school and later converted into dwellings. The structure first appears on the second edition OS map of 1858, each house separately captioned, ‘Burnleigh’ to the north and ‘Crofton’ to the south.

A model farm movement had begun in Ireland in the 1830s and by the late 1840s, the Irish Commissioners for National Education had divided the island into twenty-five districts, each of which received a government grant to establish an agricultural school with a model farm. The Model Agricultural School in Holywood was in operation by April 1849. However, these were the years of the Great Famine and the school failed to attract sufficient pupils, closing in 1852. The architect was Frederick Darley who designed a number of model schools and model agricultural schools throughout Ireland in the late 1840s and 1850s. (Auld, p.12; Commissioners Report, p.328, www.dia.ie)

After its closure as an agricultural school, the building was converted into two semi-detached dwellings, with the addition of bay-fronted wings to each end of the building and entrance porches to the front. The former entrance hall area remains in one house, while the first-storey over is in the other. The school formed two substantial residences which attracted a succession of prosperous mercantile and professional tenants.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) has ‘Crofton’ as the residence of James Combe, proprietor of the Falls Foundry, who leases it from John Simms. It is a house, yard and land, valued at £50. Dimensions are given and a small sketch plan of the house drawn in the margin. Combe founded the Falls Foundry in 1845 to provide for requirements of local railway companies. In 1851 he began to manufacture textile machinery and was soon employing three hundred and eighty men. The factory produced many improvements in flax, hemp and jute preparation and spinning machinery and the firm had a world-wide reputation. (McCutcheon, p.301)

‘Crofton’ passed to Sarah Moore in 1863 and c.1880 to the Munster family. The valuation drops over the years until c.1890 it is £35. Alfred Munster combined diplomatic and business interests and is listed in street directories as, variously, Danish Consul and Vice-Consul representing Sweden, Norway and Liberia. He is also head of Alfred Munster & Co, grain, wood, insurance brokers and commission merchants. (Belfast and Ulster street directory, 1861, 1901) His wife, Mary C.F. Monck was a well-known poet and a regular contributor to Dublin University Magazine, Bentley’s Miscellany, Household Words and Chambers’ Journal. She contributed two poems to a collection commemorating Robert Burns’ Centenary in 1859 and published her own collection of poetry shortly before moving to ‘Crofton’. The couple were married in 1858 and lived in Holywood for the rest of their lives. (Colman)

The 1901 census records Alfred M Munster as a widower, employed as a commission merchant at the age of 75. Elizabeth Monck, his sister-in-law is resident, as is his daughter, Ethel and a small staff comprising a cook and a housemaid. (1901 census) By 1911 Alfred Munster had died and his daughter and her aunt were living on the income from stocks and shares, employing a widow from Dublin as a general servant.

In 1902 the landlord of the property was recorded to be WJ Gilliland, a noted architect whose works included the Ormeau Bakery, who was active in public life, as a founder member of the Ulster Society of Architects and chairman of the Ulster Arts Club. He lectured on architectural and building subjects and became a city councillor for Victoria Ward in Belfast by 1912. (www.dia.ie)

In 1926 the occupier was Alfred E Isherwood and by 1929 the house was vacant. It has remained in use as a domestic dwelling.

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/3/18B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/53 – Annual Revisions Valuers’ Notebook (1903)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/123/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1860-c1866)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/123/2/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1867-1900)
10. “Reports of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland from the year 1846 to 1848 inclusive” Dublin: HM Stationery Office, 1851
11. Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1861, 1901)
12. 1901 census online
13. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Auld, C.”Forgotten Houses of Holywood, Co Down” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002
2. Munster, Mary C.F. “Waifs and Strays: verse” London and Belfast: Marcus Ward & Co, 1879
3. Colman, Anne Ulry “Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Irish Women Poets” Galway: Kenny’s Bookshop, 1996
4. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980.
5. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects 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 two-storey nineteenth century house built c.1850, currently comprising one half of a large semi-detached residence, originally constructed as one of a number of agricultural colleges built throughout the island of Ireland as part of the mid-nineteenth century model farm movement. The house is Picturesque in style, characterised by fretted bargeboards and finials. The integrity of the pair has survived and together they are a good example of the type.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered it was previously recorded as HB23/20/066, please also note the change off address is was previously known as 105 Victoria Road.