36 The Mount

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A five-bay two-storey over basement Georgian-style end of terrace townhouse erected c.1860. Rectangular plan with single-storey over basement return. Located on the south west portion of The Mount (off Castlereagh Street), east of Belfast City Centre the house is currently unoccupied and in a state of decay.

Hipped natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles. Cast-iron ogee moulded rainwater goods, some uPVC replacement. Smooth rendered chimneystacks; pots removed. Ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling with long-and-short quoins; moulded masonry corbel course. 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal glazing bars; no horns; masonry cills; moulded surrounds to first floor only (glazing largely removed and boarded up). The front door is boarded up; moulded panelled surrounds rising to scrolled console brackets supporting an entablature canopy surmounted by a pediment.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is symmetrically arranged. The front door is centrally located with two windows to either side; first floor windows directly over; basement windows below (view obscured). Quoins to the right.

The northwest elevation is abutted by no.34 The Mount (HB26/06/001).

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged and comprises various window sizes located at ground and first floor. Existing windows are 6/6 timber sliding sash although are in very poor condition. Metal framed bi-partite roof light. (View obscured)

The southeast elevation is blank. Two chimneystacks breaking through eaves level.

Setting:
The site is currently bounded by corrugated sheet metal obscuring the view to the buildings. The land immediately to the rear has been left vacant. The immediate surroundings are largely 19th and 20th century red brick 2 and 3 storey housing. Some structures immediately abutting the basement level at the rear but cannot be identified.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

An early valuation map published shows that nos 32 and 34 The Mount (HB26/06/001) and the rest of the houses on the square had been built c. 1860, although the map depicts that No. 36 was still under construction at that time. No. 36 the Mount was originally let by a Mr. William B. Ritchie, who also owned the rest of the buildings on The Mount and resided at The Grove on the Shore Road. The Annual Revisions initially valued No. 36 at £24 and recorded the original occupant as a Mr. Nathaniel Ferguson. Ferguson had vacated the address by c. 1874 when a Mr. E. J. Munster came into possession of the site; the Belfast Street Directories record that Munster was the Danish Consul for Ireland. In 1880 during Munster’s occupancy the value of No. 36 The Mount was reduced to £22, although it is uncertain why this reduction occurred nos 32 and 34 The Mount were similarly devalued in the same year. In 1894 the house was first recorded as the property of Francis Ritchie & Sons, a felt company and manure works on the Mountpottinger Road which was operated by William B. Ritchie (Belfast Street Directories – 1880).

The Annual Revisions also indicate that a Mr. James McQuoid had come into possession of the house by 1894. The 1901 Census records that McQuoid resided at No. 36 The Mount with his wife and their children; Haines notes that McQuoid was employed as an estate agent and had a number of sons, one of whom was killed in the First World War, one who developed McQuoid’s estate agency after his father’s death and another who became assistant deputy commissioner in British West Africa (Haines, p. 47).

In 1900 the value of the house was decreased from £30 to £22 although it is not known why the decrease occurred. The Belfast Revaluation of 1900 recorded that James McQuoid let No. 36 The Mount from Thomas Hay Ritchie who he worked for as manager of his estate; the valuer noted that as manager of Ritchie’s Estate James McQuoid occupied No. 36 The Mount at a cheap annual rent of £35 and that any normal tenant would be expected to pay rent of well over £35. The revaluation recorded that No. 36 measured 40 by 32 ft and was 24 ft in height possessing a basement level; the house consisted of nine rooms excluding the kitchen, possessed a bathroom and was installed with gas utilities. At that time the house was described as one of a small number of old properties (during the revaluation most of the original houses on the square had been replaced with new redbrick houses).

James McQuoid continued to reside at No. 36 The Mount until sometime between 1915 and 1918 when a Mrs. Elizabeth Hannen came into possession of the house; Hannen lived at this address until the 1950s (Belfast Street Directories). In 1935 the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland was carried out at which time the value of No. 36 The Mount had increased to £28; by the second revaluation in 1956 this had increased slightly to £29; however the house lay vacant at that time, Elizabeth Hannen having died in 1954 at the age of 73 (Belfast Burial Records). A joiner, Arthur Howard occupied No. 36 The Mount from the 1970s until his own death in 1984; after Howard’s death the house was acquired by Simon Community Northern Ireland who utilised it for a number of years as a hostel and homeless shelter (Belfast Burial Records; Belfast Street Directories).

The Mount square was constructed c. 1860 on the site of Mount Pottinger, a former gentleman’s residence which belonged to the Pottinger family. The Pottingers purchased the entire townland of Ballymacarrett in 1672 and built their first house on the site of The Mount by 1705; a later house continued to occupy the site by the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1834. However by 1858 the second edition of the map showed that the house had been taken down and the site laid out in the form of the current square (Robb). One of the Pottinger family’s most prominent members, Sir. Thomas Pottinger was the first Governor of Hong Kong and is commemorated by a Ulster History Circle plaque close to No. 36 The Mount.

No. 36, along with nos 32 and 34 The Mount, is the oldest example of terraced housing in the townland of Ballymacarrett which is now greatly characterised by the redbrick terraces that were constructed from the mid-to-late 1800s. Haines wrote that ‘virtually all the houses built after 1857 were still standing a century later [but by the] start of the twentieth century ... the whole of inner East Belfast had submitted to the terrace, and only The Mount, the original focus of the district, even then starting to fade, reflected the more prosperous years of Ballymacarrett’ (Haines, p. 79). Nos 16-26 The Mount were quite similar to the southern terrace, however these were delisted and demolished, leaving nos 32-36 as the last surviving original buildings. In recent years the three houses have fallen into a state of dilapidation (No. 32 is essentially a ruin), however No. 36 The Mount was sold in 2005 and is currently undergoing renovation work (Buildings at Risk, p. 36).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21
5. PRONI OS/6/3/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1931
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/7 – Annual Revisions 1862-1873
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/9 – Annual Revisions 1874-1881
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/15 – Annual Revisions 1882-1897
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/31 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/K/2 – Annual Revisions 1906-1915
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/K/5 – Annual Revisions 1916-1930
12. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/24 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
13. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/23 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
14. Census of Ireland (1901)
15. Belfast Street Directories (1877; 1880; 1901; 1907; 1908; 1910; 1918; 1921-22; 1930; 1940; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980; 1990)
16. Belfast Burial Records (1954; 1984)

Secondary Sources

1. ‘Buildings at Risk Vol. 7’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2005
2. Haines, K., ‘Images of East Belfast’ Belfast: The History Press, 1997.
3. Haines, K., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A five bay two- storey over basement Georgian-style end of terrace townhouse erected c.1860. Following the delisting and demolition of nos. 16-26 The Mount, erected around the same time, nos. 32 (HB26/06/001A) and no.34 (HB26/06/001B) are the only remaining examples of early housing in the area. Currently in a state of decay, the house has lost some historic detailing including windows and roofing, however the general overall proportions and style can still be identified. The house has significant historical importance due to its association with the Pottinger family and remains one of the oldest surviving examples of terraced housing in the townland. Number 36 has group value with its neighbours and is of local interest to the area.

General comments

Please note this record was originally listed as HB26/06/01.