8 McMaster Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey-with-attic single-bay late Victorian terrace built c.1898 by John McMaster to designs by J. Frazer and Son, located on the east side of McMaster Street, East Belfast.

Roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, central rooflight window on west slope, modern red brick chimney stack at south side; painted ogee profile cast-iron rainwater goods supported on projecting polychrome brick eaves course on ovolo moulded corbel course. Walls are English garden-wall bonded red brick laid with alternating courses of headers and stretchers with three polychromactic brick string courses (including a continuous brick and sill course at first floor) and decorative detailing above first floor windows; windows are replacement square headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes and door is timber panelled with multipane glazing and plainly detailed transom light, windows and door contained within camber headed reveal with polychromactic brick chamfered reveals and voussoirs, projecting masonry sills. (All polychrome brickwork now painted with exception of that above first floor windows).

Principal (west) elevation contains entrance door at left accessed by painted concrete threshold; entrance flanked by window at right; two windows at first floor offset slightly to right.

North gable is abutted by No.6 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001D).

Rear (south) elevation is abutted at right by two-storey extension with pitched roof with uPVC rainwater goods. (Access to house and yard not provided and remainder of rear elevation not visible from entry).

South gable is abutted by No.10 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001H).

Setting:

Located at the north end of the east terrace (two-storey-with-attic block) the house faces onto McMaster Street. The wide street formerly cobbled is now largely concrete with small cobbled area at each end. The house opens directly onto a wide pavement with granite kerbs and original lamp posts and electric lighting (former gas lights). Original tiled street signage at north and south. Rear elevation is enclosed by high level stretcher bonded modern red brick walling with painted vertically sheeted timber entrance door at centre, assessed via narrow entry which runs north south between back yards of Lendrick Street and McMaster Street. The street narrows towards Major Street at south.

Roof: Natural Slate
Walling: English garden-wall bonded red brick
Windows: Replacement square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes
RWG: Ogee profile cast-iron

Historical information

No. 8 McMaster Street first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map for Belfast in 1902 which only depicted nos 6 to 14 on the eastern terrace of the street at that time. The Belfast Street Directories indicate that all the houses on the western terrace (nos 1-37 McMaster Street) were constructed together in 1898; however the rest of the eastern terrace (nos 16-52) was not added until 1908. The Annual Revisions and the 1901 Census indicate that a Mr. Charles McMichael, a Presbyterian painter, was the first occupant of No. 8 McMaster Street. In 1899 the house was valued at £10 10s. and was let out to McMichael by a Mr. John McMaster who originally owned the plot of land on the south side of the Newtownards Road on which he constructed the present street. The Belfast revaluation of 1900 recorded that No. 8 McMaster Street was a two storey house with attic and measured 13.6 ft in width by 25 ft depth and 24 ft in height; the house was fitted with gas lighting and cost an estimated £131 to construct. McMaster let the house to Charles McMichael at a monthly rent of £1 8s. 4d. (£17 annual).

The 1901 Census Building Return described the house as a 1st class dwelling which possessed eight rooms, however on the 1911 Census the house was noted as a 2nd class dwelling which now possessed seven rooms (this change was repeated on the Census Building Returns for nos 6-14). During its history some of the occupants of No. 8 McMaster Street, like many of the residents of the street, were employed in the nearby shipyards or ropework industries. The 1911 Census records that a Mr. James White lived at the address with his family at that time. He and his son (also named James) were employed at the neighbouring shipyards as a joiner and an apprentice fitter. On a separate note the Belfast Street Directories record that James White also occupied nos 14 and 22 McMaster Street in 1907 and 1908 respectively suggesting that perhaps White was involved in the construction of the second phase of the terrace. What is certain is that White resided at No. 8 McMaster Street until at least 1918 making it his longest place of residence along the terrace; by 1930 a Mr. William Smith, who was employed as a plater at the shipyards, had come into possession of the house.

By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of No. 8 remained at £10 10s., however by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 its value had increased to £14 10s. when a Mr. J. Uprichard was in possession. McMaster Street escaped damage during the 1941 Belfast Blitz when the Luftwaffe targeted the Belfast Shipyards and caused huge destruction to buildings and residential terraces along the Newtownards Road (Haines, p. 44). At the end of the war the government carried out the second revaluation of property in Northern Ireland; this revaluation recorded that ownership of the street had passed from John McMaster to an L. McMaster (unknown relative) although the value of No. 8 had not been changed in the interim years. By 1940 the house had passed into the possession of a Mr. David Ball, who was employed as a pipe coverer; the property continued to be occupied by a member of the Ball family until the 1960s. Between the 1970s and 1990s No. 8 McMaster Street was the home of a Mr. Thomas Cordner (Belfast Street Directories).

Nos 6-14 McMaster Street were constructed in 1898 a year before nos 1-37 were constructed in 1899. The Department of the Environment Conservation Area plan for the street records that McMaster Street was designed by John Frazer & Sons; the Dictionary of Irish Architects states that Frazer was active between the 1890s and the second decade of the twentieth century and also designed a number of other terraced streets in Belfast including Chadwick Street and Meadowbank Place which are similar in design to McMaster Street. Chadwick Street was built in 1899 around the time McMaster Street’s first phase of construction had finished (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

The land owned by John McMaster was wedge shaped and so when the terraces were constructed they progressively became narrower, and the gardens became smaller, as they were built towards the end of the street; No. 8 McMaster Street is therefore one of the largest houses and possesses one of the larger yards on the street. The parlour houses on McMaster Street were constructed to new housing and planning regulations which were designed to improve the standard of living in Belfast and so the terraces were amongst the first late-Victorian industrial houses in Belfast to be supplied with running water and flushable toilets; this was made possible due to the construction of a new city drainage system. Further, the piping of gas into each house to provide lighting was a new technique which along with the increased sanitary facilities set McMaster Street apart from the more squalid housing which was common around Belfast during the early Victorian period. Haines records that electricity was not introduced to the street until the 1930s (Haines, p. 44).

During the 1970s the Ballymacarrett area was extensively redeveloped with the demolition of many redbrick terraces similar to McMaster Street. Due to this redevelopment the preservation of McMaster Street, an intact remnant of late-Victorian working class housing, was desired and in 1987 No. 8 McMaster Street was listed along with the rest of the terrace. In 1994 the neighbourhood was designated a conservation area by the DOE and recently c. 2003 a sympathetic two-storey redbrick extension was added to the rear of the property.

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/7/B/8/4 – Belfast Revaluation Field Books 1900
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/28 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/11 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/28 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
12. Belfast Street Directories (1901; 1907; 1908; 1910; 1918; 1930; 1940; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980; 1990)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. Belfast City Council: Town Planning Committee minutes (5 June 2003).

Secondary Sources

1. ‘McMaster Street Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1994.
2. Haines, K., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001.
3. First Survey Record – HB26/08/001 (1984)

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey-with-attic single-bay late Victorian terrace built c.1896 by John McMaster to designs by J. Frazer and Son, located on the west side of McMaster Street, East Belfast. Having survived the German Blitz in 1941 and the widespread demolition during developments of the 1970s the terrace is part of a complete street of late Victorian terraced housing. The terrace retains much original character, including polychromatic brick string courses and camber headed window openings. Built close to Harland and Wolff ship yards, this terrace provides a link with Belfast’s industrial past and is of further significance as it was originally designed to new housing and planning regulations, intended to improve the standard of living for working class people in Belfast at the turn of the twentieth century. Number 8 has group value with the other listed buildings in McMaster Street and is of local interest.