5 Millisle Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached seven-bay two-storey roughcast rendered and painted former police barracks, built c.1939 to the standard designs by Ministry of Finance architect, T.F.O. Rippingham. Rectangular on plan with three single-storey flat-roofed extensions abutting to rear. Linear range of outbuildings lining western side of rear yard. Set back on the south-west side of Millisle Road in the town of Donaghadee.

Hipped natural slate roof having mitred hips and rendered chimneystacks with painted concrete coping and red clay pots (mostly replacements); those to north and south are connected by gablets to main roof. Pair of velux windows to rear pitch. Largely uPVC rainwater goods to overhanging eaves with timber sheeted soffits over moulded eaves cornice; overhanging eaves terminate to central bay of north and south elevations, flanking recessed chimneystacks. Cast-iron downpipe and hopper remain to north-end of rear elevation. Walling is painted roughcast rendered over projecting smooth rendered and painted plinth, with continuous moulded sill course to first floor level. Largely square-headed window openings, with projecting painted masonry sills to ground floor, first floor openings extend to eaves cornice. uPVC casement windows throughout. Square-headed door openings, largely with modern flush timber doors.

Principal elevation faces east, comprising seven equally spaced openings on first floor and six irregular spaced openings to ground floor. Shallow breakfront to three left bays of ground floor; outer two are window openings set within shallow round-arched recesses and linked by a continuous painted masonry blocking course at impost level, which is interrupted by a later gable-fronted single-storey porch addition with fibre-cement tiled roof, single window with painted concrete sill to east elevation and main entrance door to left cheek.

South elevation comprises three window openings to ground floor only.

Rear (west) elevation contains seven bays to first floor; four bays remain visible to ground floor while the remainder is abutted by three single-storey flat-roofed extensions, all with painted concrete sills and plainly detailed flush timber doors; that to left-of centre features a parapet with painted concrete coping over. Outer sides of main building are abutted by single-storey walls (enclosing rear yard) with painted masonry coping over; with former gate to right-side now removed and door opening to left-side with modern flush timber door.

North elevation contains a single window opening to right-of-centre at first floor level, over a square-headed door opening (formerly separate access to the self-contained constable’s quarters), with moulded architrave, set within a shallow round-arched recess with a continuous painted masonry blocking course at impost level and a timber-panelled door.

Linear range of single-storey flat-roofed outbuildings to rear yard, facing east, having square-headed plainly detailed openings with uPVC windows, painted masonry sills and modern timber doors. Openings concentrated to eastern elevation but two window openings to right-side of western elevation.

Steel fence to west of site enclosing a communications mast and a single-storey outbuilding with pitched fibre-cement tiled roof and no openings except for a square-headed opening to south concealed behind a steel roller shutter (no further interest).

Single-storey flat-roofed red brick outbuilding to south-west corner of site; walls laid to English garden wall bond, with concrete coping to parapet and having two door openings with modern flush timber doors.

Setting
Located on the western side of Millisle Road, to the south-eastern outskirts of Donaghadee town and Conservation Area. Set back from the road with a painted and rendered dwarf boundary wall to east lining Millisle Road, having shallow angled coping with ramped intervals. Two pedestrian entrances and a vehicular entrance are flanked by square-plan painted rendered piers with pyramidal coping over and largely modern steel gates; those to north-end are cast-iron (elements heavily eroded). Partially enclosed yard to rear, bound by a linear range of single-storey outbuildings to the west; former gates to south-side have been removed. Site bound by historic rubblestone walls to south and west, perimeter enclosed by a modern palisade fence, erected c.2014. Small garden to front (east) and largely bitmac hardstandings with concrete steps or ramps providing access to most door openings.

Materials
Roof: Natural slate
Rainwater goods: uPVC, some cast-iron
Walls: Roughcast render; painted
Windows: uPVC

Historical information

A two-storey former Police Station, built c. 1939 to the standardised designs of the English-born architect T.F.O. Rippingham. The building is first shown on the fifth edition OS map (1939) captioned “RUC Barracks”, rectangular on plan with linear range of outbuildings running parallel to the rear. The Annual Revisions (1936-57) show that the site previously formed part of the garden of G.L. Delacherois, which had a rateable value of £3. Constructed c. 1939, the Police Barracks was added to the Annual Revision records in 1940, with the Ministry of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland repaying George L. Delacherois, who remained in ownership of the site. Prior to construction, previous RUC barracks (formerly the RIC) were located at No.4 Shore Street during the First World War and at the Bridewell on High Street at the turn of the 20th century (Allen; Dixon).

Thomas F. O. Rippingham was an London-based architect who moved to Belfast in 1922, first working as assistant architect to the newly formed Government of Northern Ireland Works Division, and then succeeding C.S. Agnew as chief architect in the mid 1940s, a post which he retained until his retirement in 1956 (DIA). Commissioned by the Ministry of Finance to design a series of RUC stations in the decade following the partition of Ireland, Rippingham was responsible for generating their basic design, which was then adapted in size to suit the requirements of each individual site, ranging from three windows wide to eight or nine. The style of this highly successfully scheme drew influence from earlier building types found within Ulster; Dixon (2008) notes that the hipped roof and tall end-wall chimneys hark back to the early 18th century while the arched recessed openings of the front door and flanking windows echo the refined proportions characteristic of the Late-Georgian or Regency periods. The station at Donghadee was one of a number of those built which included separate quarters for married officers. Further examples of Rippingham’s RUC stations exist in Seaforde Co. Down and Belleek Co. Fermanagh. In conjunction with R. Ingleby-Smith, Rippingham was also responsible for the design of Stranmillis College in 1929, which was also carried out for the Ministry of Finance.

Contemporary OS maps show that the footprint of the main building complex has remained largely unchanged since construction, however site evidence shows that a gabled porch has been added to the main entrance bay and additions made to the rear. Donaghadee Police Station operated as an R. U. C. station until 2001 when the current national police force, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (P.S.N.I.) was created. However, under a government ‘estate strategy’ implemented in 2005 (which aimed to streamline the operation costs of the police service) the station was closed in October 2012. Planning records show that 3m high palisade fence and entrance gate were erected c.2014. The building is currently vacant and for sale.

Resources

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/3/3 Third edition OS map (1901)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/3/4 Fourth edition OS map (1919-20)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/3/5 Fifth edition OS map (1939)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/15B Annual Revisions (1916-30)
5. PRONI VAL/3/B/4/17 First General Revaluations (1935)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/11 First General Revaluations Annual Revisions (1936-57)
7. PRONI CAB/9/G/12/2 Police Barracks Reconstruction Scheme (1929-53)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1901-1918)

Secondary Sources

1. Dixon, Hugh “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture” UAHS (2008)
2. Allen, Harry “Donaghadee; An Illustrated History” White Row Press, Dundonald (2006)
3. Dixon, Hugh “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Buildings of Architectural Importance in Donaghadee and Portpatrick” UAHS (1977)
4. Ulster Star – 30 January 2009

Online Sources

1. DIA (www.dia.ie)
2. Planning Records
(http://epicpublic.planningni.gov.uk/publicaccess/caseDetails.do?caseType=Application&keyVal=MZCFG5SV30000)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An inter-war neo-Georgian former police station, one of a number of surviving police barracks designed by Ministry of Finance architect T. F. O. Rippingham during the 1920s, when security in the recently partitioned six-counties was a chief concern. The well-balanced façade of Rippingham’s design drew influence from existing building types in Ulster and successfully harmonised with the existing urban context but was equally adaptable to more rural settings. Notably the seperation between the main barracks and the constable's quarters (to the northern proportion) has been largely maintained in this example of his work. Located within the outskirts of Donaghadee Conservation Area, the former barracks makes a positive contribution to the local streetscape, however the architectural character has been degraded by incremental alterations and insertions of modern fabric. Whilst this building represents the work of a renowned architect, and constitutes an early example of a modular building, loss of detailing diminishes its character to such an exent that it is not considered to be of special architectural and historic interest.

General comments

Also HB24/LQ068