Rubane House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Rubane House [HB24/02/033A] is a large Italianate gentleman’s residence, constructed in the 1850s around the fabric of an earlier, house of c.1725, which in turn was built around a seventeenth century dwelling. It is situated approximately two miles SE of Kircubbin and set within its own, partially wooded estate of c.9 hectares. It is two storey over a semi basement and has a hipped Bangor blue slated roof.

The plan is roughly rectangular with a single storey wing (now a snooker room) to the NW side. Generally the walls are finished in lined and painted render. Windows are mainly double hung, timber sliding sash and case with horizontal and vertical astragals.

The main entrance is sited on the side of a projecting two storey bay located in the middle of the SW elevation. The entrance facade (SW) and some portions of the adjoining facades (NW and SE) have rusticated and heavily chamfered moulded quoins to window openings and corners of ground and first floors. The walls to the semi-basement are slightly battered and form a simple plinth which supports the upper floors. Generally the ground and first floor windows rest on a projecting cill course. At eaves level a cornice effect is achieved by
setting a large cast iron ogee gutter on a moulded eaves course which is supported on dentils.

On the SE side a modern corridor link extension was recently demolished. Work is still on going at this side, however, and a new entrance porch has been constructed, with a steeply pitched and hipped roof which is supported on plain screen walls, with pilasters to the ends. Low screen walls project forward to meet urns (with planting). The screen walls enclose steps which lead down to a patio area.

The single storey wing is largely eighteenth century and began life as a library, then became a chapel and is now used as a snooker room. This wing has been altered and extended in recent times and is now a double garage as well as the snooker room. To the right hand side of the SW facade of this wing, windows are framed with Ionic pilasters. Windows have round heads with moulded decorative keystones in Coade Stone ceramic.

Historical information

Within the inner walls of Rubane House lie sections of the fabric of a much older building built c.1725, which itself was probably constructed around a house of seventeenth century origin.

The original house, known as ‘Echlinville’, was built by one of the descendants of Dr. Robert Echlin, an early seventeenth century Bishop of Down and Connor. It remained in possession of this family until c.1848, when it appears to have been sold to a James Cleland who, in c.1850, rebuilt the house in the Italianate form we see today and changed the name to ‘Rubane House’ (the former name of the townland of Echlinville). The old house was ‘Jacobean/Queen Anne’ in style with two two storey ogee gabled bays flanking the main entrance and was added to throughout the later eighteenth century. Of these additions most significant was the library to the NW, an element of the older structure which remained in place after the rebuilding of the main house.

Rubane later passed into the hands of the Maxwell family, and, by 1880 was in possession of the Warnock family, relations of the Maxwells, who may have embellished the property [?and added the quoins]. During the first half of the twentieth century the house played host to a number of different occupants, among them the Belfast timber merchant, J.P Corry.

In 1950 Rubane and its accompanying lands were purchased by the De La Salle Brothers and between this date and 1985, the house was run as a home and school for orphaned and special needs boys. During this period extensive building work was carried out in the immediate grounds of the house with the construction of modern classrooms, gymnasiums, wood and metalworking rooms and chalets to the immediate NW, SW and NE, with playing fields and tennis courts laid out to the N and NW. A small section of the modern ‘school’ buildings were occupied briefly by another religious order c.1990, but for most of the late 1980s and early 1990s the entire site was left mainly vacant and Rubane House itself fell prey to vandals, who caused some minor damage.

The property was bought in 1992 by the present owner (1997) who since then has demolished almost all trace of the modern classrooms etc. around the house and carried out extensive restoration work to the house itself. This work is now almost complete and much of the grounds to the south have been landscaped. Restoration of the stables to the north is to begin soon.

The small garden pavilion was built in the later eighteenth century with originally open arches. In c.1800, with the building of the stable block to the NE, walls were placed to the NW and NE of the pavilion, the arches blocked, a new entrance opened to the NE. As well as this an internal wall, fireplaces and, presumably, the small chimney stack installed. Windows were also added to the SE and NW ‘arches’.

References- Primary sources
1 Walter Harris 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 48
2 PRONI D.891 Title deeds to lands in Echlinville and Kircubbin, Co. Down, Echlin and Blakely families 1800-1927
3 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Co. Down 18.
4 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p. 84-5. [c.1834]
5 PRONI VAL 1B/312 1st valuation, St. Andrews, c.1835.
6 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st revision, 1860, Co. Down 18.
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, St. Andrews, c.1863.
8 Alexander Knox 'A history of Down from the most remote period to the present day' (Dublin 1875), p.462.

Secondary sources
1 'Ulster Journal of Archaeology' vol.23 (1960), pp. 124-5, plate XXII.
2 'Archaeological Survey of County Down' (Belfast, 1966), pp. 382-85, plate 189.
3 Brother Albert F.S.C. ‘Decorative stonework in disguise: plaques and medallions in Coadestone’ in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society, No. '1 (1977), p. 18
4 Brother Albert F.S.C. ‘Rubane House: The present reality’ in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society, No. 2' (1978), p. 11.
5 Dr. F. Duff ‘The Echlin Story’ in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.3' (1979), pp. 4-10.
6 Anne Taggart ‘The two Eleanor’s and the Coade stone: A brief account of 18th/19th C. Coade Stone’ in Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.21' (1997), p. 11.
7 A.J. Hughes and R.J. Hannan 'Place-Names of Northern Ireland Vol. Two, County Down II- The Ards', pp. 107-8, 110.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Large, two storey, Italianate, gentleman’s residence of c.1850, built around sections of the fabric of a house of seventeenth and eighteenth century construction.
Close to the main house is a small garden pavillion or summer house of c.1780-1800, which has had its once open archways filled in at some point.