372 Beersbridge Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Semi-detached two-bay two-storey Scrabo sandstone cottage with half-hipped natural slate roof, dated 1880 most likely by architects Young & Mackenzie. Rectangular plan form facing south with entrance canopy to west side elevation, and single-storey returns to rear. Forming part of a row of three pairs of semi-detached cottages to the north of Beersbridge road.

Half-hipped natural slate roof with projecting eaves, rebuilt redbrick chimneystack to the west and original shared redbrick chimneystack to east with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. Front elevation of roof has exposed rafters, bracketed ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering and circular cast-iron downpipes. West side of roof has exposed purlins, angled red-clay hip-tiles and fleur-de-lis shaped clay finial. Stone walling laid in un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with stone-cut plinth course, continuous stone-cut sill to first floor and the windows flanked by stone dressings on painted sills.

The front elevation has two asymmetrical bays each with a square-headed window to the ground floor and a flat-headed lucarne (dormer built off face of the wall) with a natural slate roof. The square-headed window openings at ground floor have a discharging arch over the lintels with reglazed 1/1 double-hung timber sash windows and ogee horns. Both ground and first floor openings to east bay consist of paired sash windows.

The west side elevation has decorative timber barge boards and abutted by a projecting entrance canopy with a natural slate hipped roof supported by timber brackets with half-round cast-iron guttering and circular cast-iron downpipes. The replacement half-glazed timber panelled front door to the porch has brass door furniture and a fanlight. The entrance is recessed and faces west, opening onto a stone step. There is a stone boot scraper built in the wall to the right of the entrance. The square-headed window openings have a discharging arch over the lintels with replacement timber top-hung casement windows. The west side elevation has by a stone wall laid in un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with stone-cut plinth course, cut-stone capping and a square-headed door opening with a sheeted timber door leading to back yard.

The east side elevation is abutted by adjoining house No 374 (HB26/10/002F).

The rear elevation has a red-brick single-storey extension to east with pitched slate roof and red-clay angled hip-tiles paired with the adjoining house. Although no access to rear was granted, it would appear that there are two modern one-storey extensions. The rear elevation has two dormer windows with natural slate roof and angled red-clay hip tiles. Square-headed window openings have replacement timber top-hung casement windows. Timber rooflight and modern double-leaf eight-paned timber door to extension.

The front yard is divided into a paved and gravel driveway accessed by a metal gate and a modest landscaped garden enclosed by a hedge. Rear is enclosed by rendered wall.

Materials:
Roof: natural slate
Walling: Scrabo sandstone
RWG: cast iron
Windows: timber sash

Historical information

No. 372 Beersbridge Road, a semi-detached two-storey stone cottage, was constructed in 1880. The cottage, along with the neighbouring nos 364-374 Beersbridge Road (HB26/10/002A-F), were constructed as part of the easterly expansion of the town of Belfast which occurred during the late-Victorian period. Having formerly been characterised by its Georgian townhouses, Belfast’s town centre was redeveloped into a predominantly commercial area by the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. With the continued expansion of the town and the subsequent increase in population, a surge in the construction of new residential streets and terraced dwellings was undertaken in areas outside the town’s former urban boundary.

Nos 364-374 Beersbridge Road were most likely designed by Young & Mackenzie, a local partnership that the Dictionary of Irish Architects describes as ‘the most successful architectural practise in Belfast … the leading architects for the Presbyterian Church in the North East [who also] received some of the most important commercial commissions in the city.’ Young & Mackenzie’s papers record that the firm designed five double cottages for the Bloomfield Land & Building Co. Ltd. along the Beersbridge Road (nos 382-400) in 1878; these ten redbrick dwellings were joined by the neighbouring nos 376-380 in 1880. Nos 364-374 Beersbridge Road were also constructed in 1880 for the Bloomfield Land & Building Co. Ltd. and are remarkably similar in design to the cottages designed by Young & Mackenzie, however nos 364-374 are more impressive, possessing additional dormer windows and employing Scrabo sandstone in their facades (Stone Database)

No. 372 Beersbridge Road was first recorded in the valuation sources in 1880 when the Annual Revisions set its rateable value at £15. The building was leased by The Bloomfield Land & Building Co. Ltd., which was formed by the landowning Boyd family in 1874 to secure leases for building projects in the East Belfast townlands of Ballyhackamore and Ballycloughan. The valuations also note that No. 372 Beersbridge Road was also known as ‘Garron Cottage’ and that the first recorded occupant was a Mr Charles Hunt. By 1911 Garron Cottage was occupied by Henry Lennon, a linen merchant; in that year the census building return described Lennon’s property as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six rooms. By the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the total rateable value of the cottage had been only slightly decreased to £14 10s, however this was increased to £28 under the First Revaluation of 1935; by that year a Mr. William Campbell had purchased the property which he continued to hold by the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

No. 372 Beersbridge Road was listed, along with the adjoining cottages, in 1984. A renovation of the cottage was undertaken in 1987 when its roof was reslated, its exterior stonework was repointed and restored, and the chimney rebuilt.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1901)
2. PRONI D2194/2/2 – Young & Mackenzie Papers (1878)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2C-2G – Annual Revisions (1879-1897)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/1-10 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
5. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/11 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/25 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1943)
8. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
9. First Survey Record – HB26/10/002 (1984)
10. First Survey Image – HB26/10/002 (No Date)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB26/10/002E

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects website - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Natural Stone Database website - http://www.stonedatabase.com

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

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Handsome, semi-detached two-bay two-storey Scrabo sandstone house with half-hipped natural slate roof, dated 1880 most likely designed by architects Young & Mackenzie. Rectangular plan form facing south with entrance canopy to east side elevation and single-storey returns to rear. The exterior has retained its historic character, style and proportions and the building forms part of a row of three semi-detached cottages to the north of Beersbridge Road, all listed HB26/10/002 B-D & F.