12 St. Johns Avenue

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey semi-detached house of 1908 attached to no. 40 St John’s Park.,(HB26.01.075A); Square on plan with double-pitched roof, side entrance porch and a single-storey return and enclosed yard to the rear. Located near the Ormeau Road approx. 3 km from the city centre, it is set on the corner of St John’s Avenue and St John’s Park; A residential area consisting of mainly early-mid 20th century semi-detached red-brick housing with double canted bay fronts.

Materials:
Roof: Replacement red concrete roof tiles
RWG: Painted cast iron
Walls: Red-brick to ground level in Flemish bond/painted rough-cast render to first floor level.
Windows: Single-glazed painted timber sliding sash generally 6/1.

Front elevation (E)
The front elevation faces E and has a gabled 3-storey projecting bay to the right-hand side. To the left is a projecting bay at ground level flush with the right gable. The right-hand side projecting gable at ground level has a canted bay with 3 no. windows, plain brick piers and a high parapet roof with scallop detail and slim concrete copings. The projecting bay on the left has a pair of windows and mono-pitch roof with red concrete tiles. Window openings are square-headed with plain painted concrete lintels and concrete cills. Walls are finished in smooth red-clay brick in Flemish bond. At first floor level there are 2 no. similar segmental-arch headed ‘Wyatt’ style windows centrally located above each bay. They have a central 6/1 window flanked by 2 no. 2/1 side lights and have red-brick surrounds with reveals in the style of quoins. On the right projecting gable at second floor level is a centrally located, oval window opening with red-brick surround. It has a painted timber oval window with central pivot opening. There is a single square flat roofed dormer with lead covering and painted timber square window centrally located over the left-hand side projecting bay. Walls are slap dash render, painted off white. There are deep over-hanging eaves with painted timber exposed rafter ends and moulded fascia and cast-iron guttering. Roof is double-pitched with replacement red concrete roof tiles and ridge tiles. To the left is a slim red-brick chimney with slim moulded concrete cap and red-clay pots.

Rear elevation (W)
The rear elevation faces W and has a gabled 3-storey projecting bay to the left-hand side. To the right at ground level is a window opening with 6/1 sliding sash window and a similar window at first floor level; both openings have flat segmental arched heads and painted concrete cills. To the left at ground level is a small window opening with flat segmental arched head and a 1/1 sliding sash window. To the left of this and attached is a single-storey return. The left-hand side projecting gable, at first floor level, has 3 no. similar square headed stairwell openings with sliding-sash windows with stained glass lower sections (1 no. 4/1 and 2 no. 6/1). At second floor level, to the right is a round-headed arched window opening with arched overlight and 4/1 sliding sash window (lower section in stained glass). To the left is a segmental headed arched window with 6/2 sliding sash window opening. Walls to the right are red-brick in Flemish bond and to the left are slap dash render, painted off white; cills are painted concrete. There are deep over-hanging eaves with painted timber moulded fascia, exposed rafter ends, boarded timber soffit and cast-iron guttering. Roof is double-pitched with replacement red concrete roof tiles and ridge tiles. On the apex of the gable is a tall moulded ventilation pipe. To the right is a red-brick chimney with slim moulded concrete cap and red-clay pots.

Side elevation (N)
The side elevation (N) and has slightly projecting porch almost in the centre and a pair of narrow windows to the right-hand side. The windows have flat segmental arched heads, concrete cills and 4/2 single-glazed sliding sash windows with obscure glass. The projecting porch has a door opening to the right and a window opening to the left. The window is a bi-partite painted timber stained glass casement with top lights (all fixed). The door is original varnished timber with 2-panelled lower section and 3 no. upper glazed panels with stained glass. There is a painted timber canopy over both openings; it is supported on carved painted timber brackets and has a painted timber boarded soffit. The openings have segmental-arch heads with a painted concrete tympanum with a circular indent. There are painted concrete courses at impost and cill level; ogee moulded in doorway at cill level. There is a metal lamp fixed to the wall to the left of the door. There is a large cast iron downpipe with original hopper to the right of the porch. Walls are finished in smooth red-clay brick in Flemish bond. At first floor level, to the right, there are 2 no. similar flat segmental-arch headed windows (1 no. 6/2 and 1 no. 4/2); they have red-brick surrounds with reveals in the style of quoins. Walls are slap dash render, painted off white. There are deep over-hanging eaves with painted timber exposed rafter ends and moulded fascia and cast-iron guttering. There is a ‘gablet’ with slatted painted timber inset where the gable of the main roof intersects the ridge. Roof is double-pitched with replacement red concrete roof tiles and ridge tiles. To the centre is a slim red-brick chimney with slim moulded concrete cap and red-clay pots. To W of side elevation is single-storey return adjoining the gable of a single-storey garage extension. The return has original flat segmental-headed door opening with painted boarded timber yard door to the left. They have double-pitched roofs with replacement red concrete roof tiles and ridge tiles and cast metal rain water goods.

Side elevation (S)
The side elevation (S) abuts No 40 St John’s Park. Within the enclosed yard to the rear of the house there is a single-storey red-brick return to the N adjoining a modern single-storey red-brick garage to the W. There are 2 no. replacement varnished timber glazed doors on the return (1 no. single and 1 no. double door) and a replacement varnished timber glazed door with side-light on the garage.

There is a small front garden, lawned and bound with hedgerow to St John’s Park. On St John’s Ave., to the left, there is a small replacement 20th century gateway with metal gates, mounted on plain square red-brick piers with concrete caps. To the right is a larger vehicular gateway with double gates and piers in a similar style. Through pedestrian gateway are concrete paviors leading to entrance porch on N façade. Concrete surface finish extends W towards single-storey garage.

Historical information

No.12 St. John's Avenue and its attached mirror image neighbour - present no.40 St. John's Park - first appear in the valuation book in 1908, so were presumably completed within this year or that immediately preceding. At this point St. John's Avenue only stretched as far as the newly-built houses themselves, Rosetta Parade was just in the process of being laid out, and the land to the south of the pair as far as the boundaries of the properties along the north side of Annadale Avenue (a plot which for much of the 19th century appears to have been part of the grounds of either Annadale or Annadale Cottage, two of the small country villas that characterised the Ormeau and Ravenhill area for much of the 1800s), undeveloped. The authorship of the houses themselves is not certain; however, the name 'W.G.' or 'W.J.' Gilliland appears as the immediate lessor in the aforementioned valuation book. If 'W.J.', then it is highly probable that this is William John Gilliland (1855-1929) the Belfast architect who is known to have worked on various buildings in this vicinity, including houses and shops along Ormeau Road in 1896, an extension to Ormeau Bakery in 1906, and a bakery for the United Co-op Baking Society in Ravenhill in 1911.

Due to the position of both houses at the junction of the various streets, it is difficult to trace their early history, as they do not seem to be recorded consistently in the street directories. In the 1911 census only one of the properties is noted, that occupied by Patrick McGlade, his wife Eleanor (named 'Iley'in the census return), eight of their children and a domestic servant, with the building itself noted as a 'first class' dwelling with 12 rooms. Mr. McGlade was a Belfast publican, who came to own bars in Donegall Street and Castle Street, as well as a Café in Queen's Arcade, a number of hotels among them the Grand Metropole Hotel in Donegall / York Streets, and a petrol station and the several shops on nearby Ormeau Road next to the modern petrol station. The census suggests that he and his family were living at the present no.12 St John's Avenue at that time, but family history and the later valuation returns suggest their home was that to the south - no.40 St. John's Park, originally known as 'Evermore'. This is also supported by the fact that Mr. McGlade also owned the large holding to the south, much of which (by at least 1927) he was renting out to several local tennis clubs, with a small section immediately south of Evermore populated with garages. Most of this land was sold off for the development of St. John's Park in the mid-1930s, but the garages remained until the construction of St. John's Court c.1990.

The northern property, which seems to have been named 'Kingslea', appears to have remained vacant for several years after its completion, but around 1916 it had been leased by a J or Harold Tomlinson, who remained there until around 1930. After this both houses were occupied by members of the McGlade family (Mr & Mrs. McGlade had 28 children in total!). Both semis remained in their occupation until the late 1960s when no.12 was acquired by (or leased to) T.A. Norrie ('company director'), who was followed in the later 1970s by an R. Lewis and Henry H. McConkey by 1986.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43K/4, annual valuation revision book, 1906-15
2 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1908
to 1996
3 OS maps, 1920-21, 1931, 1938, 1956, 1967
4 Census of Ireland, 1911 [online]
5 PRONI VAL12B/43K/7, annual valuation revision book, 1915-30

Secondary sources
1 Information from owner of no.40 St. John's Park [2017]

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
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Three-storey semi-detached house dated 1908 attached to no. 40 St John’s Park.,(HB26.01.075A); Square on plan with double-pitched roof, side entrance porch and a single-storey return and enclosed yard to the rear. Located near the Ormeau Road approx. 3 km from the city centre, it is situated at the corner of St John’s Avenue and St John’s Park; A residential area consisting of mainly early-mid 20th century semi-detached red-brick housing. Arts and Crafts in style the house retains its original features externally and internally including multi-paned sliding sash windows, porch canopy and a remarkably intact interior with unusual side entry. Originally set within a rural hinterland the original owners sold off the adjacent lands for development of St John's Park in the early-mid 20th century. An unusual house type for the period and the oldest houses in the St John's area, the pair occupy a prominent corner site and are of special interest.