95 Victoria Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A semi-detached two-storey Picturesque-styled mid-Victorian house, originally constructed as an agricultural college c.1850, extended slightly later to form two dwellings. Located at the east end of Victoria Road, Holywood, as the left hand dwelling of the pair, No 95 is rectangular on plan with slightly later perpendicular projecting east bay having double height canted bay to north gable, rear return and rear extension. The centre of the main elevation is articulated by a gabled bay; this central bay is shared, with No. 95 having the front portion of the ground floor, No 93 (HB23/20/066A) having the remainder.

Roof is pitched natural slate with rendered chimneystacks having moulded caps and multiple terracotta pots. Fretted timber bargeboards and fascia with pointed finials to gables. Rainwater goods are cast iron. Walling is ruled-and-lined rendered with stucco quoins and contrasting base. Windows are generally square-headed 4/4 sashes, those to canted bay are segmental-headed 2/4 and 1 /2 set within a square-headed frame. Reveals are plain; ground floor windows and those to central gabled bay have label moulds; all cills are projecting painted masonry.

Principal elevation faces north and has a projecting gabled bay to left having full height canted bay window. The main portion of the elevation is four openings wide at each floor (first floor window to central gabled bay is part of adjoining house). The four-centred arched entrance is offset to left of centre; it is surmounted by a hood moulding and is set within a gabled porch with replacement timber bargeboards and finial. The timber entrance door comprises two elongated bolection moulded panels flanking a beaded muntin; cast-iron door furniture and boot scraper. The porch has a narrow 2/2 (horizontally divided) window to each cheek.

The east elevation has two windows to first floor and a single window to ground floor.

The rear elevation has a gabled right bay and is variously abutted; to left is a return shared with adjoining building, abutted at ground floor by a late twentieth-century sandlime brick extension and containing shed and utility space to ground floor; to centre is an original return which was substantially extended c.2000 and is detailed as house; sandwiched between the two is a narrow full-height gabled projection with modern rear entrance door and window enlargement above. Irregular fenestration throughout.

The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining house (HB23/20/066A).

Setting:
The house is set slightly back from the road within a garden
setting, having lawns to front and rear, and a tarmacadamed driveway and forecourt. The boundary is marked by mature trees and rendered boundary wall, and the entrance is marked by a pair of rendered gate piers with flat caps and orb finials.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rendered
Windows: Timber framed sashes
RWG: Cast iron

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 ‘Burnleigh’ as the residence of John Simms who leases it from John Hunter. The landlord, John Hunter junior, was a Town Commissioner in Holywood in 1877 and is listed in the 1861 street directory as combining business and diplomatic interests. He held the position of Vice Consul for Portugal and was also head of the firm John Hunter junior & Co, general merchants and agents for Liverpool and London Fire and Life Insurance Co, with premises in Waring Street. (Belfast and Ulster street directory, 1861, 1877)

Dimensions are given for the house and outbuildings and a porch, water closet and pigeon house are mentioned. It is valued at £54. John Simms, the first known occupier of the house, may have been a partner in Simms and McIntyre, publishers of Donegall Street, Belfast. John Simms of that company is listed in a street directory of 1852 as resident in Holywood. (Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1852)

An undated newspaper advertisement of the period contained in Griffiths’ fieldbook states, “Villas in Holywood at Reduced Rent…To be Let, Furnished, the semi-detached Villa of Burnleigh, with separate Grounds, commanding a beautiful view of the Bay, and within ten minutes’ walk of the sea. An Omnibus plies from every Train, Fare 2d. Apply on the Premises; or to James Greenfield, Post Office, Holywood.” (Greenfield was postmaster between 1842 and 1865). (Griffith’s Valuation, Merrick)

‘Burnleigh’ sees several changes in occupier and a drop in valuation until c.1890 when the valuation is also £35. Valuers notes of 1903 remark that the house is ‘old and liable to non-occupancy’ so that although a new bathroom has just been installed on the first floor and part of the house has been ‘raised and improved’, there is no rise in valuation. Dimensions and a plan of the property, including a conservatory, are given in these notes and it can be seen that the property has since been extended to the rear.

Notable among the occupants are Alfred M Munster and his wife, who appears briefly to have lived at Burnleigh c1880 before moving to Crofton, the adjoining house. (Belfast and Ulster street directory, 1880) Alfred Munster was also a man who combined diplomatic and business interests. He 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 the occupier as Jemmina Hunter, a widow, possibly of the landlord, John Hunter. She is living with her daughter and two sons, the sons working as a ‘packer’ and architect, respectively. Also resident at the house is a cook from County Monaghan. (1901 census)

Between 1903 and 1909 John W Kempster is noted to be in residence. John Westbeech Kempster is described as the head electrical engineer of Harland and Wolff in a street directory of 1910. He was present at the launch of the Titanic in 1911 where he spoke of his pride at a luncheon for pressmen. Following the tragic loss of the liner, Mr Kempster, now described as a Director of Harland & Wolff, again addressed the press and said, “it seemed only the other day that he was speaking to Captain Smith, and asked him if the old British pluck remained in the seamen of to-day. Captain Smith was seated at the time, and he got up and raised his hand, declaring that if any disaster such as the loss of the Birkenhead occurred again the seamen would go down as those men went down. He had lived to prove his words.” (Belfast Newsletter, June 1st 1911; Times, 22nd April 1912)

By the time of the 1911 census, the occupier is John Wilkinson, a linen collar manufacturer and his adult son who follows the same trade. They have one domestic servant, a widow of 45. (1911 census)

The building 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, 1852, 1861, 1880, 1901
12. Belfast Newsletter, June 1st 1911
13. Times, 22nd April 1912
14. 1901 census online
15. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Auld, C.”Forgotten Houses of Holywood, Co Down” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002
2. Colman, Anne Ulry “Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Irish Women Poets” Galway: Kenny’s Bookshop, 1996

3. Merrick, Tony “Buildings of Holywood” Holywood: Holywood Advertiser, 1986
4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
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 evolution of the building from college to dwelling is evident though the presence of thick exterior walls in the interior. 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 107 Victoria Road.

This Record has been renumbered from HB23/20/066 C