48 McMaster Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey 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, 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 two polychrome brick string courses (including a continuous brick and sill course at first floor), pianted smooth render at rear; windows are replacement horizontally divided timber casements at ground floor, uPVC casements at first floor, door is replacement uPVC with square headed transom light, windows and door contained within camber headed reveals with polychrome brick chamfered reveals and voussoirs, projecting masonry sills.

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

North gable is abutted by No.46 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001NN).

Rear (south) elevation was partially visible, ground floor is abutted at right by two-storey extension with pitched roof. Exposed section at left has a single window at each floor. Extension south elevation contains replacement door at left, flanked by window at right, two windows at first floor, east gable and north elevation are blank. Access to enclosed yard from entry via timber sheeted entrance door at east, contained within high level brick walling at all sides.

South gable is abutted by No.50 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001PP).

Setting:

Located at the south end of the east terrace two-storey 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 1/1 timber sliding sashes
RWG: Ogee profile cast-iron

Historical information

No. 48 McMaster Street first appears on the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map for Belfast in 1920-21 which shows that both terraces of McMaster Street had been constructed by that time. The Belfast Street Directories indicate that although all the houses on the western terrace (nos 1-37 McMaster Street) and nos 6-14 McMaster Street were constructed in 1898 and 1899, the rest of the eastern terrace (nos 16-52) was not added until 1908. The Annual Revisions indicate that the first occupant of No. 48 McMaster Street was a Mr. Alex Girvan who worked as a fireman and came into possession of the house in the year that the terrace was completed. In 1908 the house was valued at £8 and was let by a Mr. John McMaster who owned the land on the south side of the Newtownards Road on which he constructed the present street.

Like the majority of the houses in the street, some of the occupants of No. 48 McMaster Street were employed at the nearby shipyards or the ropework factories which were the principal employers of workers in the area. The 1911 Census records that a John Cooke had come into possession of the house by that year and was employed as a blacksmith in the shipyards; the Census Building Return of that year described No. 48 McMaster Street as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of seven rooms. Cooke had vacated the house by 1918 when a James McMurray, who was also employed in the shipyards as an iron turner, was recorded as occupant in the Belfast Street Directory for that year.

By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of No. 48 remained at £8; however by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 its value had increased to £11. James McMurray lived at the address until at least 1935; however by 1940 a Mr. Robert Sanford, a riveter in the yards, had taken possession (Belfast Street Directories). During the Second World War McMaster Street escaped the damage of the 1941 Belfast Blitz when the Luftwaffe raided the nearby shipyards causing destruction to buildings and residential terraces along the Newtownards Road (Haines, p. 44). With the end of the war the government undertook 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). The value of No. 48 was increased to £12 and remained at that amount until the end of the revaluation in 1972. Robert Sandford resided at the house until his death in 1960 when his widow, Mrs. Eileen Sandford came into possession. Mrs. Sandford continued to occupy the house until the 1980s but had vacated it by 1990 (Belfast Burial Records; Belfast Street Directories).

Nos 16-52 were constructed in 1908 a decade after construction of McMaster Street had begun. The Department of the Environment Conservation Area plan for the street records that McMaster Street was designed by John Frazer & Sons; 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 when McMaster Street’s first phase of construction had finished (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

The land originally 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; as one of the southernmost houses on the terrace No. 48 McMaster Street therefore has a much smaller yard than the houses at the top of 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 providing lighting was a new practice which, along with the increased sanitary facilities, set McMaster Street apart from the more squalid housing common in 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. 48 McMaster Street was listed along with the rest of the terrace. In 1994 the neighbourhood was designated a conservation area by the DOE and criteria was put in place to ensure that additions to the terrace were in keeping with the original design and fabric of the late-Victorian street.

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/28 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/11 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/28 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
11. Belfast Street Directories (1901; 1907; 1908; 1910; 1918; 1930; 1940; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980; 1990)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. Belfast Burial Records (1960)

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

X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

A two-storey 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 48 has group value with the other listed buildings in McMaster Street and is of local interest.