51 OLD HOLYWOOD ROAD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A late-Victorian single storey with attic red-brick semi-detached house dating from 1881 possibly to designs by Thomas Jackson & Son. Rectangular plan form with single storey modern extension to rear. The house is attached to No.49 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 C) and forms part of a group of two pairs of semi-detached houses including 45 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 A) and 47 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 B), all fronting onto Old Holywood Road.

Half-hipped roof in plain red clay tiles with bonnet hip tiles, decorative bands of club and fishtail tiling, crested ridge tiles and terracotta ball finials. Moulded timber barge boards. Projecting eaves with exposed rafter ends supports ogee cast iron guttering discharging to rectangular section downpipes. Rectangular section red-brick chimney stacks shared with attached property having corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. Vertical hung red clay tiles to attic storey with club and fishtail bands. Red brick walling laid to Flemish bond. Dentilled string course to impost level, buff and black brick banding to cill level and projecting black brick plinth course. Square-headed window openings with flat-arch lintels, painted cills having margin paned double hung timber sash windows with diamond pattern to upper sash (unless otherwise noted).

The two-bay principal elevation faces W and has a square-headed door opening having a timber panelled door with fanlight to N bay. Canopy over is supported on decorative timber brackets and is slated in plain red clay tiles with fishtail banding. Gabled dormer to attic has a three-sided canted bay window with timber sashes, built off front wall and supported on moulded timber brackets. Vertical tiling to dormer cheeks laid in alternative course of club and fishtail red clay tiling. Crested ridge tiles and ball finials as main roof.

The N elevation has a window to GF and another to centre of FF. Single-storey flat roof extension to E end, with a square-headed timber panelled door with glazing.

The E facing rear elevation consists of the two-bay wide elevation of the extension, with a modern uPVC casement windows.

The S elevation is abutted by 47 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 C).

Setting:
Narrow paved pathway around the building, lawned garden shared between the two properties to front, lawned garden to rear. The site is enclosed by dwarf red-brick walling topped by stone coping and iron railings with arrow rail heads. Plain wooden gate to W supported on rectangular section sandstone piers with moulded coping.
The house is attached to No.49 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 C) and forms part of a group of two pairs of semi-detached houses including 45 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 A) and 47 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 B) fronting onto Old Holywood Road.

Materials:
Roof: Red-clay tiles
RWG: Cast iron
Walling: Red brick
Windows: Timber sash windows/ uPVC casement windows to rear extension

Historical information

Nos 45-51 Old Holywood Road, one-and-a-half-storey semi-detached houses located in the townland of Ballymaghan, were constructed in 1881. The four late-Victorian dwellings, which are also known as ‘Pilgrim’s Cottages,’ were erected by Sir William Ewart of Glenmachan House.

Ewart (1817-1889) was born in Sydenham and became one of Belfast’s most prominent citizens and linen manufacturers. In 1814 his father and grandfather had established William Ewart & Son. Ewart became a partner in 1843 and by the time of his death in 1889, he had transformed the family firm into one of the largest linen manufactories in the world (amongst the firms property included warehouses such as No. 17 Bedford Street - HB26/30/055). Active in political life, William Ewart was elected Mayor of Belfast in 1859-60 and an M.P. For Belfast from 1878-89 (Dictionary of Ulster Biography).

Glenmachan House, Ewart’s residence, was erected in 1879 to a design by Thomas Jackson & Son. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1902) records that the mansion possessed extensive grounds. The four semi-detached cottages on Old Holywood Road were constructed in 1881 (possibly also by Thomas Jackson & Son, although this cannot be confirmed) and were originally utilised as dwellings for the gardeners who worked the estate (DIA; Haines, p. 50).

The Annual Revisions note that No. 51 Old Holywood Road was initially valued at £4 10s. The occupants of the cottages were not recorded in the valuation sources until the early 20th century. In 1901 No. 51 Old Holywood Road was occupied by David McIlwaine, a gardener who maintained the estate at Glenmachan along with his neighbours. The 1911 census building return described McIlwaine’s cottage as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of five rooms. The Ewart family retained ownership of Glenmachan House, as well as nos 45-51 Old Holywood Road, until at least the 1970s. A number of the cottages continued to be occupied by the gardeners of Glenmachan House until the mid-20th century; in 1940s No. 51 was occupied by Hugh Warden Byers, who maintained the Glenmachan estate until his death in 1949 (PRONI Wills). The value of the building had been raised to £8 10s. By the end of the Second Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72).

Nos 45-51 Old Holywood Road were listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that the flat roof extension to the rear of No. 51 Old Holywood Road had been added in 1978. Emergency repairs to the roof of No. 51 were undertaken in 1991-92 which included the replacement of defective timbers along the bargeboards of the roof and the installation of new lead cover flashings. In 1993 the brickwork of nos 49-51 Old Holywood Road was repointed (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1902)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1919-20)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2C-2H - Annual Revisions (1879-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/1-9 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/47 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Belfast Street Directories (1877-1943)
8. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 Jun 1949)
10.First Survey Record – HB26/12/001 (1976)
11. First Survey Image – HB26/12/001 (No Date)
12. NIEA HB Records – HB26/12/001D

Secondary Sources
1. Haines, F., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Ulster Biography –
http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/1799
2. 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
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A small but well proportioned and detailed late-Victorian single-storey plus attic red-brick semi-detached house dating from 1881, possibly to designs by Thomas Jackson & Son. The house is attached to and has group value with No.49 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 C) and also with of two pairs of semi-detached houses including 45 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 A) and 47 Old Holywood Road (listed under HB26.12.001 B) fronting onto Old Holywood Road and facing Belvoir Park. The group of buildings were originally built for the gardeners of Glenmachan House for Sir William Ewart who was one of Belfast’s most prominent citizens and linen manufacturers and was elected Mayor of Belfast in 1859-60 and an M.P. For Belfast from 1878-89. His legacy includes the former linen warehouse on Bedford Street in the centre of Belfast which is a landmark building. The four houses built for Ewart's gardeners are reminiscent of the cottage dwellings built for workers at garden villages such as Bournville and Port Sunlight, grouped in pairs and set back from the road with good front and back gardens. The elaborate decorative tiling to the roof and attic storey and the decorative brick work, make this a unique and very distinct building within its setting.