139 Whiterock Bay

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey International Style house of 1936 by Philip Bell set on a slight rise on the S side of Whiterock Bay (road) overlooking Strangford Lough, roughly a mile W of Killinchy.

This house is roughly square in plan and ‘cubist’ in form with a full height projecting bay to front and lower projecting section at the rear. The entrance is located roughly in the centre of the front N facade and consists of a recent glazed door set within a small flat roofed porch (supported on a thin metal pole), with small fixed light window to the W face. Directly to the right of the porch is a small porthole window with two square windows to the first floor. To the left is the projecting bay with large corner windows to each floor.
The W facade are two first floor windows and to the left on the ground floor on either side of a PVC door. Partly attached to the far right of this facade is a flat roofed garage with timber sheeted and glazed double doors.

The E facade has a window to the centre on the ground and first floors. The far right portion of this facade projects with corner windows to each floor.

The rear has two windows to the ground floor which have retained their original metal frames (as opposed to all the other windows which now have PVC frames). Between these windows is a partly glazed door. There is a single window to the first floor.
The facade is finished in rough cast and painted. The roofs are flat with large overhangs. Metal and PVC rw goods. Rendered chimney stack to E, other stack to W has been removed.

This house was originally one of four built to compliment the adjacent Strangford Lough Yacht Club. However, two of its companions have since been unsympathetically altered and the yacht club has been replaced with a contemporary clubhouse.

Historical information

This house and its three neighbours to the east were built in c.1936 to designs by Philip Bell, who was at that time in the midst of the construction of the adjacent club house for Strangford Yacht Club. The modernist styling of the house matched that of the yacht club and the properties are said to have been constructed when the high tide prohibited work on the club house itself. The houses were intended by Bell as weekend accommodation for those visiting the area for sailing and were originally without running water or any kind of power.

Most of the original window frames were replaced with PVC before the first survey.

It is likely that this house was the same size as No 135 Whiterock Bay but was extended in a similar style later in the mid-twentieth century.

References- Primary sources
1 'Irish Builder and Engineer' 6 August 1938, p.647.
2 'The Builder' 14 February 1941, pp.180-181.

Secondary sources
1 RSUA Yearbook 1983, pp.20-23. [Obituary of Philip Bell.]
2. Dictionary of Irish Architects http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/417/BELL%2C+GEORGE+PHILIP

The above primary source
references refer mainly to the Yacht Club.

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

V. Authorship
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey International Style house of c.1935 by Philip Bell, a pioneer of modern movement architecture in the province, it enjoys a water side setting. The house is a series of interlocking flat roofed and rendered blocks with corner windows much influenced by the style of the modern movement in early twentieth century Germany. Although the original window frames and glazing pattern were altered before the time of listing, the exterior remains relatively intact. Originally designed by the architect as part of a group four holiday homes to compliment the adjacent Strangford Lough Yacht Club, only one other house remains relatively unaltered at no. 135 Whiterock Bay (HB24.17.085). It is a good example of this style of architecture, now rare in the province.