32 Station Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-Victorian gabled two-storey red-brick house dating from c.1865. Rectangular plan form with a single storey bay window to N. The house occupies the E end of a three-part terrace (listed under HB26.09.001 A-C) to the S side of Station Road, accessed through Inglewood Court.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled black-clay ridge tiles. Decorated timber barge boards to N gable. Dentilled cornicing supports ogee cast iron guttering discharging to circular downpipes to N elevation. Two red brick chimney stacks with buff brick dressings, corbelled coping and clay chimney pots. Rustic red brick walling to Flemish bond with buff brick quoins and projecting plinth, now rendered. Square-headed window openings with flat relieving arches and painted cills having double hung original timber sashes with ogee horns (unless otherwise noted), 1/1 pane to GF and 2/2 horizontal panes to FF.

The three-bay wide principal elevation faces E. Square-headed door opening to centre with painted architrave and moulded hood supported on floriated brackets. Either side of the entrance step, there is a low stone wall with rounded top. Timber panelled door with fanlight opening onto a single step. The door opening is flanked by a square-headed window to each side. A window to each bay to FF.

The N elevation is gabled and has a single-storey bay window to GF and a window to FF.

The W elevation is abutted by the neighbouring property 34 Station Road (listed under HB26.09.001 B).

Although no access was granted, the rear elevation facing S is rendered and appears to have a shallow projecting two-storey gabled return to E and-a two-storey lean-to extension to W.

Setting:
Graveled driveway and a modest landscaped garden to N of the site shared by the terrace. The driveway continues to E leading to a modern single storey pitched roof garage at the SE end of the site.
The site is enclosed to N, facing Station Road, by a hedge. Curved red brick dwarf walling ending in plain square section piers forms the main driveway to Inglewood Court and serves as the main entrance to the site.
An iron gate survives to the NE end of the site onto Station Road, now partially covered by the hedge. The gate is supported on simple rectangular section piers and has a small iron plaque with the name ‘Sandringham’ engraved (the original name of the houses as noted in the Historical Information).
The rear yard is enclosed by a red brick wall with a square headed sheeted timber door.
A modern two-storey red-brick housing development is constructed to the S of the site accessed through Inglewood Court.

Materials:
Roof: natural slate
RWG: cast iron
Walling : red brick
Windows: timber sash windows

Historical information

Nos 32-36 Station Road, a terrace of three two-storey red brick houses, were constructed in c. 1865 and were originally known as ‘Sandringham Villas.’ The First Survey described the villas as a ‘two-storey terrace [of] late 19th century’ and suggested that they were similar in appearance to the terraces on Windsor Park in South Belfast (HB26/28/031A-D and HB26/28/058A-K). The villas more closely resemble nos 268-272 Antrim Road, a contemporary red brick terrace in North Belfast which possesses almost exactly the same layout as the terrace on Station Road (HB26/47/003).

The first and second edition Ordnance Survey maps (1830; 1858) show that prior to the development of the Belfast, Holywood and Bangor Railway, the townlands of Strandtown and Ballymisert were predominantly rural in character with only a small number of gentlemen’s manors (such as Strandtown Cottage and Bunker’s Hill) dotting the land. With the laying of the railway line, and the opening of Sydenham Railway Station on 1st November 1851, housing began to develop in the area from the mid-19th century onwards. The third edition map (1902) records that only a few buildings had been erected along Station Road by the turn of the 20th century (the large scale construction of housing along the road did not commence until the 1920s and 1930s). Nos 32-36 Station Road is one of the few surviving remnants of the Victorian development along the road (DIA).

No. 32 Station Road, the south-eastern house along the terrace, was first recorded in the 1865 Ulster Town Directory and was first valued in the Annual Revisions in 1867. The valuer noted that the three dwellings were constructed for James Shaw, a local merchant, and his brother Thomas Shaw (PRONI Wills) and that No. 32 was originally valued at £28 when first completed. Upon James Shaw’s death, sole ownership of Sandringham Villas passed to Thomas Shaw in 1875. The Annual revisions note that nos 32-36 Station Road remained vacant until the 1880s although the Ulster Town Directories record that the dwellings were in fact occupied from 1868 onwards (the first confirmed occupant of No. 32 was a Ms Caroline Lennon).

Thomas Shaw continued to own Sandringham Villas until 1901 when a Mr. William Minnis, a retired gardener, took over ownership of the terrace. In addition to owning the terrace William Minnis also occupied No. 32 Station Road as his private dwelling. The 1901 census described Minnis’ house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of nine rooms. Minnis continued to reside at No. 32 until his death in 1913, but his family retained ownership of nos 32-36 Station Road until at least the 1970s (PRONI Wills). By the First Revaluation (1935) the value of No. 32 had been increased to £33. This was increased further to £36 under the Second Revaluation (1956-1972) which recorded that Sandringham Villas was owned by William F. Minnis.

Nos 32-36 Station Road were listed in 1982. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 32 Station Road underwent extensive repairs in 1993 that included the repair of its chimney stack, the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the repointing of its exterior brickwork and the eradication of dry rot and damp to its interior (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (1834)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1902)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1920-21)
4. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1931)
5. PRONI OS/6/3/4/6 – Sixth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1938)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2B-H – Annual Revisions (1867-1897)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/2-8 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/20 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/45 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 Jan 1875; 1 May 1913)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1868-1943)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13.First Survey Record – HB26/09/001 (1981)
14.First Survey Image – HB26/09/001 (No Date)
15.NIEA Pink Files – HB26/09/001A

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects website - 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
S. Authenticity
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Well proportioned and detailed mid-Victorian two-storey red-brick house dating from c.1865, one of a terrace of three fronting onto Station Road. Timber sash windows to main elevations. It has group value with no's 34 and 36 (HB26.09.001B and C) These buildings were one of the first developed on Station Road following the opening of the Sydenham Railway Station on 1st November 1851 and are therefore quite rare and among the most significant buildings in the area. Despite the new housing development to the rear no 32 enjoys a fine setting to the front.

General comments

Record re-numbered from HB26/09/001.