16 ROSETTA PARK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two storey single fronted, late Victorian, red brick semi-detached house built in1888. Rectangular on plan with a 2 storey return, an attached conservatory and a detached garage to the South. 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 1/1 sliding sash single glazed – except where noted
RWGs; Cast iron
Walls: Red clay brick

Front elevation (W)
The front elevation has a painted door to the left with 2 panels below, an etched glass panel in the upper section and a rectangular overlight. Protecting it above and shared with its neighbour, is a mono-pitched open porch with fish scale slated roof, supported on painted timber brackets. To the right is a single storey canted bay with painted timber single glazed 1/1 sliding sash windows – also with a slate roof. Above the door is a narrow 1/1sliding sash window, paired with one to No14 – both sitting under a raised eaves with a double pitched roof with fish scale pattern. Above the canted bay is a painted timber tripartite window with a semi-circular plain glazed light above. This window again breaks the decorative corbelled eaves, and has a gablet above with decorative fret cut bargeboards. The roof of the main house is double pitched with a red brick chimney stack on the South gable.

Side elevation (N) Abuts No 14 Rosetta Park HB26 01 005A

Side Elevation (S)
This elevation has a canted bay on the right-hand side, similar to the one on the front with 1/1 sliding sash windows and a slated roof. This bay gives access internally to a canted conservatory constructed in painted timber with single glazing and set on a waist high red brick plinth. It was constructed c1983 and replaced an earlier one in the same location. The gable has fret cut barge boards. Beyond the main section of the house is a 2 storey return, also built in red clay brick to the upper floor of the South elevation and rendered to the ground floor and to its gable facing East. To the left and attached to the main part of the house is a lean-to rendered utility room accessed from the exterior – this replaced an earlier lightweight outbuilding of similar dimensions. To the right are timber French doors with full height side panels and further to the right a top hung timber window. There are three windows to the first floor – two are painted timber sliding sash and the other is top hung uPVC.

Rear elevation of return (E)
The rendered gable, with flush verge, has a single 1/1 painted timber sliding sash window to the first floor and is otherwise blank.
The front of the house is set back from the road and is entered through a replacement steel pedestrian gate hung on red brick square pillars with concrete copings. The main boundary is modern stained timber boarding set above painted canted bricks. The front garden has mature shrubs and extends around the side and through a timber gate to the rear of the house. There is a short drive leading to a rebuilt brick and rendered garage. It’s original flat roof was replaced with a natural double pitched roof by the current owners. The side garden is mainly grassed with a raised patio adjacent to the return and to the rear. Beyond the rear garden 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 semidetached 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.16 Rosetta Park and its attached neighbour no.14 (known respectively as ‘Oakbank’ and ‘Clonlee’) were built in 1888. The identity of the architect is not known. The first occupant of no.16 appears to have been J.D. Stuart, followed (before 1892) by T.E. McConnell, a rent agent, with Joseph Lyness, a solicitor, named as the householder in 1896. H. Aikin, another rent agent, succeeded Mr. Lyness in 1899 and in the 1901 census he is recorded as living there with his wife, Margerite, mother-in-law, and a domestic servant, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 12 rooms in occupation. The next resident (from c.1905) was John Kearns, a ‘manufacturer’ who in 1910 was succeeded by Charles McDade, an insurance agent, who in the 1911 census was occupying the house with his daughter, Sarah, and a domestic servant. John Courtney became householder c.1920, with Miss S. Courtney noted resident by 1943. John P. Wilson, a seedsman, is named as the occupant in 1951, remaining until the mid-1960s with G.J. Dolan, a teacher, living there from c.1963 until at least 1974. After this the house appears to have been acquired by an R.R. Wallace, before being sold to the present owner c.1982.

There have been several recent changes to the house, with most notable being the replacement of the conservatory (c.1980s) taking down of the yard wall to create the patio area. The garage to the south was built c.

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 (1982)
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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A 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 arched window and decorative fretwork. Displaying some fine red-brick detailing, typical of the period the house also has many intact internal features. Attached to no. 14 Rosetta Park(HB26/01/005A), 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.