Maxwell Court,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Maxwell Court is a two storey residence, probably originally dating from the mid to later 18th century, but greatly renovated and extended at various times in the later 1800s and early 1900s, so that it now possesses a somewhat late Victorian/Edwardian appearance. The house is set on a slight rise in semi-rural surroundings, to the W of the Ballygowan Road, SW of Comber town centre. To the S of the house is an overgrown walled garden with farm buildings and a farm manager’s house of c.1900.

The front (E) façade of Maxwell Court is symmetrical with a main (original) two storey central gabled section with (possibly) later single storey gabled wings to the N and S. To the S side of the rear there is a further two storey gabled section and to N side of the rear is a large, split-level, gabled return.

In the centre of the E façade of the main central section is a two storey gabled projecting bay. To the ground floor of the front (E) of this bay are panelled double doors. The door is flanked by tall narrow ‘sidelights’ both fixed light with a transom and small diamond (lattice) pattern leaded panes. Directly above the doorway is a first floor canted oriel window with a slated hipped roof. There is a sash window with horizontal glazing bars to each face of this oriel. To both the shallow N and S sides of the bay there is a window (like the front ‘sidelights’) to each floor. The ground floor windows still possess their leaded panes, those to the first floor do not. The roof of the projecting bay has a slight overhang with plain barge boards.

To either side of the bay (on the main front façade of the central section) are two ground floor windows and two to the first floor. All have sash frames as the above oriel with a moulded surround and keystone to those to the ground floor, and a keystone and cill course to those to the first floor.

To the N and S of the main central section are the single storey wings. The E façade of each wing has a central canted bay window with lead covered hipped roof. To each side of each bay is a segmental arch head window opening with simple moulding and sash frame. Each wing has similar windows flanking the bay, but with the addition of a moulded keystone. The S gable of the S wing has a canted entrance bay with a slated hipped roof. To the S face of the bay is a large glazed door screen with ‘French’ doors and diamond paned sidelights and fanlight. To the outer faces of the bay are windows similar to the ‘sidelights’ of the main entrance.

The rear of the house has a complex appearance and appears to have been added to in stages. To the rear of the main central section is another large two storey gabled section. This section is not in line with the S gable of the main house but stretches further to the S, where the gap between it, the S gable of the main house, and the rear (W) façade of the S single storey wing, is filled by a small single storey flat roofed ‘porch’. This ‘porch’ has panelled and glazed double doors with a lattice-paned fanlight.

The S gable of the large two storey rear section has a two storey canted bay with a slated hipped roof and windows to each face of the bay at each floor. The frames of these windows appear modern (they have small top openers). The rear (W) façade of this section has four sash windows to the ground floor (that to the right having vertical glazing bars and lattice panes to the top two frames). To the first floor there are three sash windows, the two to the left with horizontal glazing bars, with that to the right having an ‘Edwardian’ style sash frame with glazing bars forming square panes in the squat top sash, with a single vertical glazing bar to the tall bottom sash. The panes of the bottom sash have many small square leaded lights. Between the second and third sash window is a small single pane (?fixed light) window.

At its N end, the large two storey rear section is intersected by a large split-level return with a part gabled, part hipped, roof. To the E side (where it intersects the rest of the building) the return is two storey, but as the ground rises to the W, it becomes single storey. To the ground floor (i.e. the right side) on the S façade there is a doorway with panelled and glazed double doors with a plain fanlight. To the left of this doorway is an ‘Edwardian’ style sash window similar to that described above but with leaded lattice work to the panes in the top sash. This window has slight chamfering to its reveal. To the left of this window the ground rises. To the ‘upper’ level of the return there are three sash windows as ground floor, but with coloured glass to upper sash. Between the first and second window is a very large square bay, almost totally glazed with mullioned and transomed frames. The small upper frames of this large window have leaded lattices with coloured glass, whilst the tall lower panes many small square leaded lights.

The N façade of the large return has a more complex appearance. To the left side the return links to the main house via a large uneven gable (which faces N) and which itself culminates in a smaller gabled section (to its right side). The large gable is two-three storey, the smaller gable two storey with the remainder of the return to the right (W) single storey. The reason for the sharp change in ground level to this N side has resulted from fact that the bank has been cut into at some point to form a yard.

The large uneven gable has two windows to the ground floor. The window to the left is sash, but that to the right (which was largely obscured by greenery when visited) may have a more modern frame. To the left of these windows there is a doorway with a panelled and glazed door (actually situated within the ground floor of the smaller gable). To the right of the windows are what appear to be panelled and glazed doors (this opening was obscured by greenery also). To the first floor are five ‘Edwardian’ style sash windows (as before- see above) the far left of which is contained within the smaller gable. To the second floor of the large gable are two sash windows, as previous but slightly smaller.

To the far left of the large uneven gable is the N façade of the return ‘proper’. This façade, which projects further to the N than the gable, has three sash windows as previous. Where the large uneven gable intersects this N façade of the return there is a water tank supported on steel beams. The (W) gable of the return appears to have two attic level sash windows as previous but with semicircular arch heads. To the ground floor there is at least one window with a similar frame but with a flat arch head to the opening.

The exposed section of the S gable of the main section of the house has a small flat roofed oriel window to the left on the first floor, with a fixed light window to the right at attic level. The rear façades of both single storey side wings are blank.

The entire façade is finished in lined render and unpainted. Chamfered quoins to front of main section of house. Eaves course to front façade. The central two storey entrance bay (and much of the main front façade around it) is covered in creeper growth. All sections of the roof are covered in Bangor blue slates. Slight overhang to all sections of the roof apart from the single storey side wings. The return roof has exposed rafter tails (in rustic Edwardian fashion). To the front of the main section of the house are two gabled dormers with sash windows, pilaster-like jambs, and shaped barge boards and finials.

There are two chimney stacks to the main section of the house, one to the gable of the N single storey wing, a tall one to the rear of the S single storey wing, one to the large two storey rear section, and two to the return. All are similar in style, rendered with corbelling and having (in the main) yellow clay octagonal chimney pots. PVC rw goods.

To the W and S of Maxwell Court is a large collection of farm outbuildings, some rubble built and probably of considerable age. There is also an early 20th century looking green house and a two storey farm manager’s house of c.1900, whose styling matches that of the main house itself. There is also a walled garden, now largely overgrown.

Historical information

In origin Maxwell Court may date from the mid to later 18th century. It was probably built by a family named Wilson, possibly David Wilson who later became a merchant and ship owner in Belfast, and who gave his name to Wilson’s Court in that city. The house is noted in Pigot’s Directory’ of 1824 under the name ‘Maxwell Court’, the property of Mr. William Wilson-Maxwell, who may have given it the name. By 1835 the house passed to a James Kearns (sometimes written as Cairns), who lived there until at least 1846. By 1856 it was home to a James Anderson but by 1863 was apparently vacant, with ownership in the hands of ‘the representatives of George Crea’. The property seems to have been devoid of a permanent resident until at least 1870, but by 1883 the house and its farm had been bought by John Andrews & Company, the owners of the nearby Spinning mill.

One of the Andrews family who lived at Maxwell Court, John Miller Andrews, served as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland between 1940-43.

Tracing the architectural history of Maxwell Court is slightly more complex than its human history. The 1834 OS map shows the main central section of the house along with the side wings. The contemporary valuation records shed more light on the shape of the property, telling us that it consisted of a ‘house’ which measured 45ft x 25½ x 21, a ‘return’ of 20 x 12½ x 7½ with another ‘return’ of 24 x 12½ x 16½. The measurements of the ‘house’ (in which the valuers included half the height of the attic level) appear to match the dimensions of the present main central section, however the side wing (‘return’) to the south was larger than that to the north and was either two storey, or may have contained an attic level, all of which suggests that the present wings are(in part at least) later rebuilds.

The 1858 map shows a building of much the same plan but with a projection to the centre of the front façade, which later photographic evidence suggests was a single storey entrance porch.

Thus what can be conjectured about the development of Maxwell Court? Firstly, given the evidence of the 1835 valuation it seems that the present two and a half storey central section is the original house, a house which the valuers graded ‘B’-, that is possibly fifty years old (or more) and therefore possibly 18th century. The side wings may have been original, or added early in the building’s life, but discrepancies in the dimensions compiled in 1835, and their present appearance, suggests that they were completely altered (or rebuilt) in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The major changes to the house, however, appear to have been effected by the Andrews family, when they acquired the property c.1883. At the rear the gabled two storey section may have been added (or extended) in the late 1800s or opening years of the 20th century along with the dormers. A photograph of the house dating from the post 1883 period shows the dormers and indicates the presence of the rear section, however the central gabled bay and the bays to the side wings are not present, indicating that the major Andrews’ modifications to the property were carried out at different stages. The long rear return probably dates from c.1915-20, date much of the interior appears to have been renovated also. The front bays may have been added at this point.

The farm buildings to the south and west of the main house are in part pre 1834, but most appear to date from the late 1800s (they are not on the 1858 map) and are probably all of ‘Andrews’ construction. The corn mill to the south of the house was once part of the greater Maxwell Court ‘estate’, but was sold off and converted to a dwelling in the 1980s

References- Primary sources
1 Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 8 May 1795. [Notice of the marriage of David Wilson Esq. To Miss Andrews of Comber. Miss Mary Andrews was actually a distant relative of the members of the Andrews family who later came to reside at Maxwell Court.]
2 Linen Hall Library ‘Pigot & Co.’s Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory’ (Manchester 1824).
3 PRONI OS/1/3/10 OS map, 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
4 PRONI VAL 1B/316A p.52 1st valuation, Comber.
5 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), p.442.
6 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), p.505.
7 PRONI OS/6/3/10/3 OS map, 1st rev. 1858, Down 10.
8 PRONI 2nd valuation, Comber.
9 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870).
10 PRONI D.4189/E/2/1-15 Andrews Papers Maxwell Court cash books- Feb.1883-1919.
11 PRONI D.4189/E/3/1-9 Andrews Papers Maxwell Court ledgers- Feb.1883-1922.
12 PRONI D.4189/E/4/1 Andrews Papers Maxwell Court weekly farm journal- 1884-1900.
13 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.303-305.
14 PRONI D.3655/A/7/7 James Andrews Papers- photograph of Maxwell Court [?c.1890].
14 PRONI OS/2/3/10 OS map, 2nd ed. 1901, Down 10.

Secondary sources
1 Sydney Andrews (ed. John Burls), ‘Nine Generations- A History of the Andrews Family, Millers of Comber’ (Isaac Andrews & Sons, 1958).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Large and interestingly developed mainly two storey gentleman farmer’s residence, with central gabled bay, single storey side wings and large extensions to the rear. This house, with its gabled dormers and oriels has a late Victorian/Edwardian appearance, but the main two and a half storey central section is probably originally 18th century.