14 ROSETTA PARK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey single-fronted, late Victorian, red brick semi-detached house built in 1888. Rectangular on plan with a 2-storey return and an attached conservatory. It is located in the centre of Rosetta Park a quiet U-shaped street connecting Ravenhill Road to the main part of Rosetta Park – approximately 2.5 miles from the centre of Belfast.

Materials:

Roof: Natural slate
Windows : Generally painted-timber 1/1 sliding sash single glazed – except where noted
RWGs: Generally Cast iron– except where noted
Walls: Red clay brick (English garden wall bond)

Front elevation (W)
The front elevation at ground level has a painted door to the right with 2 panels below, a stained-glass panel in the upper section and a stained-glass rectangular over-light. Protecting above is a mono-pitched open porch canopy with fish scale slated roof covering, supported on painted timber brackets, shared with no.16 To the left is a single-storey canted bay with painted timber single-glazed 1/1 sliding-sash windows with painted masonry heads; Decorative sawtooth brick detail at eaves and leaded flat roof. At first floor level above the door is a narrow square-headed painted-timber 1/1sliding-sash window, paired with one to No16 – both with decorative brick hood moulds and sitting under a raised eaves with a double-pitched roof with fish scale pattern. Above the canted bay is a round-headed arched tripartite window with painted timber single-glazed 1/1 sliding-sash windows and a semi-circular stained-glass over-light. This window is half-dormer with arched opening detailed with decorative brick keystone feature. Gablet to half-dormer has decorative fret cut bargeboards. Decorative sawtooth corbelled brick to first floor eaves supporting cast metal ogee profile guttering. The roof of the main house is double-pitched roof with a red clay ridge tiles and red-brick chimney stack with projecting brick courses and red-clay pots on the South gable.

Side elevation (N)
Side elevation at ground level has a canted bay on the left-hand side, with same details as the one on the front with 1/1 sliding sash windows and a flat roof. Attached to W opening on right-hand side of bay is a rectangular single-storey glazed conservatory. Constructed in painted timber single-glazed window panels, with a mono-pitched painted timber single-glazed roof and set on a dwarf red-brick plinth with concrete cills. There is a painted timber half panelled door with glazed upper panel in stained-glass and 2 no. brick steps with concrete treads to W elevation of conservatory.(Conservatory roof covered with tarpaulin). The rear yard wall is attached to N elevation at ground level. At first floor above canted bay is 1 no. square-headed window with painted timber single-glazed 1/1 sliding-sash window. The gable has fret cut barge boards.

Side Elevation (S)
Abuts No 16 Rosetta Park HB26 01 005B

Rear elevation of return (E)
There is a large 2-storey red-brick return attached to the left-hand side of the rear elevation shared with no. 16. The right-hand side is painted rendered and blank on both levels with corbelled red-brick eves and large red-brick chimney stack, with projecting brick courses at the top and red-clay pots.
Side elevation to return (N) at ground level has a painted timber panelled door with upper glazed section with margin-panes in stained glass and plain rectangular overlight and 2 no. square-headed painted-timber sliding-sash windows -1 no. 8/8 and 1 no. 2/2. At first floor level there are 3 no. square-headed painted-timber 2/2 sliding-sash windows. Some painted uPVC rwgs and soil stack. Rear elevation to return (E) is painted render. At ground level has 1 no. square-headed ‘Wyatt’ style tri-partite painted-timber 1/1 sliding-sash window with margin panes and at first floor level 1 no. narrow square-headed painted-timber 2/2 sliding-sash window. Eaves to return gable (E) are clipped with no soffit or bargeboard. Return has double-pitched roof with 1 no. small glazed roof-light and 1 no. red-brick corbelled chimney with red-clay pots. 2 no. possible blocked up doorways were detected on close inspection of brickwork at ground level on side elevation to return (N).

There is a small enclosed yard directly to the N, enclosed by a single-storey red-brick wall with double-pitched masonry coping stone and 2 no. painted boarded timber doors leading to garden area. There is a painted boarded-timber flat-roof shed with boarded-timber door to W corner of yard enclosure. Rear yard is paved in quarry tiles.

The front of the house is set back from the road and there is a small front garden to W and a large rear lawned area with mature shrubs and trees to NE. The front garden facing Rosetta Park is bounded by a hedgerow with a narrow gap for entry with a tarmac pathway leading to doorway; Hedgerow continues along N boundary enclosing lawned area. There is a modern stained timber fence on a dwarf red-brick wall to front boundary between nos. 14 and 16 and a full-height boarded stained timber fence to E and rear boundary between nos. 14 and 16. Beyond the rear garden to E are Cherryvale Playing fields separated from Rosetta Park with a belt of mature trees.

Historical information

Rosetta Park lies within what were previously the grounds of Rosetta House, a pre-1807 residence probably built by the Coulson family, one of the several medium-sized semi-rural gentleman's’ abodes that characterised the Ormeau and Ravenhill areas before the spread of suburban growth in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. The street itself was developed by R.J. McConnell & Co. and laid out in 1887, with most of the red brick detached and semi-detached dwellings constructed between this date and the early 1890s and most of the remainder added post-1945. The northern and eastern sections were originally known as ‘Rosetta Park – First Avenue’, with that to the south constituting ‘Rosetta Park – Second Avenue’, distinctions which appear to have been dropped around 1930.

No.14 Rosetta Park and its attached neighbour no.16 (known respectively as ‘Clonlee’ and ‘Oakbank’) were built in 1888. The identity of the architect is not known. The first occupant of no.14 appears to have been R.J. Dawson, followed (before 1892) by A. Ferguson, listed in the street directories as a solicitor’s assistant, with Mrs. Ferguson is named as the householder in 1896. Henry Robinson, a wholesale woollen draper, succeeded the Fergusons the following year, and in the 1901 census he is recorded as living there with his wife, Ellen, and a domestic servant, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 10 rooms in occupation. The next resident (from 1904) was Arthur Percy Hoskins, an English-born analytical chemist who worked for the Belfast Corporation’s gas department and who in the 1911 census was occupying the house with his Dublin-born wife, Edith, and their daughter, Mona. Mr. Hoskins - who refused to install electricity in the building on principal - died in 1947 and Edith in the mid-1950s. Mona Hoskins continued to live there (still without electricity) until 1978 after which the house was sold to Marcus Patton. The present owner acquired the property in 2001.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43A/18, annual valuation revision book, 1882-96
2 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1890 to 1996
3 PRONI OS8/30/4/59, 60 1896
4 PRONI VAL12B/43A/34, annual valuation revision book, 1897-1905
9 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online]
10 PRONI OS8/30/5/59, 60 1903

Secondary sources
1 NMBRNI First survey record card for HB26.01.005A-B
2 Royle, Stephen A., ‘Irish Historic Towns Atlas No.17 – Belfast, Part II, 1840 to 1900’ (Irish Royal Academy, 2007)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An very good example of a late Victorian red-brick semi-detached house, dating 1888. The house has many original external details, including sliding sash windows, porch canopy, gablet with stained glass window and decorative fretwork. Displaying some fine red-brick detailing, typical of the period the house also has an intact interior with original gas lamp fittings. It is reported to be the last house in Belfast to substitute electric lighting for gas lights. Attached to no. 16 Rosetta Park (HB26/01/005B), and retaining its mature garden setting, the pair form a very distinct group on the street. Located in a suburban area consisting mainly of late 19th century/ early 20th century houses, the buildings are among the best examples of late Victorian middling size houses in the Rosetta area.