Gate Lodge Craigavon House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey, three-bay Italianate gate lodge, orientated north-south and constructed in 1870 to designs by Thomas Jackson & Sons. Erected as the gate Lodge for Craigavon House (HB26/12/025A) and located south-west of the main house with the former Nightingale Wards (HB26/12/025B), Clock Tower (HB26/12/025A) and Walled Garden (HB26/12/025A) to the north-east, it is located on a level site on the east side of Circular Road.

Hipped natural slate roof with rolled ridges, centrally placed rendered chimney stack having projecting stepped cornice with dogs-tooth moulding and two decorated terracotta pots, metal rainwater goods supported on scrolled brackets carrying projecting blocking course. Lined and painted rendered walls with moulded stucco detailing, semi-circular stilted arched window openings with 1/1 panes to timber sliding sash windows. All openings have moulded and lugged architraves with slender engaged Ionic columns supporting arched heads and diamond headed keystone to centre of arch and . Modern flat-roofed extension to rear.

Principal elevation faces north. All walls smooth rendered and painted with deep plinth, topped by rolled moulding and flat band, deep string course at cill level and deep projecting plat band with moulded projection at impost level to window openings. Cornice comprises projecting band with scrolled brackets carrying projecting blocking course on which sits metal ogee-shaped gutter. Single window opening to east with recessed panel to lower wall also recessed under moulded cill. Central timber and glazed panelled door set in projecting porch with natural slate hipped roof with rolled ridge. Semi-circular stilted arched opening to porch with moulded architrave with pair of slender engaged Ionic columns supporting arched head and string course at springing point, small applied medallion below string course at cill level and with decorated keystone to centre of arch. Door opening has shouldered moulded architrave with medallion above. Single window to west, as before.

East elevation has rendered walls with pair of 1/1 panes to sliding sash windows, all as before. Cast-iron downpipe to north, square-section metal downpipe to south. Modern flat-roofed extension to south, set back from main block with single window opening having top-hung timber casement window, precast concrete cill, painted rendered walls, timber fascia and metal upstand to flat roof. Projecting porch visible to north.

South elevation has flat-roofed extension projecting from main wall of lodge with detailing as before. Window opening to west with deep cill and timber side-hung window. Square-headed door opening to centre with painted timber flush door with modern lever handle. Metal ogee-shaped gutter on timber fascia with circular metal downpipe to east. Modern bulk-head light fitting to east of door opening.

West elevation has flat-roofed extension to south, no openings, details as before. Main lodge elevation as east. Projecting porch visible to north.

Setting:
Located on a level site on the east side of Circular Road, set back slightly from the back of the footpath with a modest strip of lawn; a mature tree sits just to the north of the gate lodge. Side and rear garden area to west bounded by modern timber fence with vertical painted boards, hedge to south boundary and with planting and car park to east, that serves the neighbouring day care facility.

Materials:
Roof : Natural slate
RWG: Metal
Walls : Rendered and painted
Windows: Timber sliding sash to original gate lodge; timber casments to extension.

Historical information

The gate lodge to Craigavon House, a single-storey Italianate lodge located on the Circular Road, was constructed in c. 1870. The second edition Ordnance Survey map records that the townland remained predominantly rural in character during the mid-19th century. The map shows that the Circular Road had been laid out by 1858 but that few buildings had been developed in the area. With the swift expansion of Belfast’s industries and population in the latter half of the 19th century a number of new suburbs were established for the city’s politicians, merchants and professionals in the eastern townlands of Ballyhackamore, Strandtown and Ballymisert.

The Irish Builder records that Craigavon House was constructed in 1870 to designs by Thomas Jackson & Sons. The Dictionary of Irish Architects primarily describes Jackson (1807-1890) as a domestic architect ‘although he turned his hand to buildings of every type, commercial, industrial, educational and ecclesiastical.’ Having established his reputation as one of the leading domestic architects in the city, Jackson became the preferred architect to the town’s merchant elite. Between the 1860s and 1870s Jackson designed a number of suburban villas and mansions in East Belfast that included Glenmachan Tower, Glenmachan House and Lismachan House (HB26/12/002) (Irish Builder, p. 42; DIA; Larmour, p. 33).

Craigavon originally possessed two gate lodges, one on the Circular Road and one at the Holywood Road entrance to the site (now demolished). The Annual Revisions record that one of the lodges was constructed in 1870 along with the house (and was also designed by Thomas Jackson) whilst the other was built in 1875. The valuer did not specify which of these date belonged to the gate lodge on the Circular Road. Dean suggests that the lodge was not by Jackson but was designed by W. H. Lynn in c. 1880 despite describing the building as ‘displaying most of the architectural details of the house.’ The gate lodge bears a strong resemblance to the main body of Craigavon House in its Italianate style and in specific features (such as its round headed windows and ‘colonnettes with composite capitals resting on … moulded stringcourse’ (Dean). W. H. Lynn is believed to have been responsible for the design of the glazed logia and Neo-Palladian extension to the house which dates from c. 1880 and is starkly different in style to the lodge. It is therefore most likely that the gate lodge on the Circular Road was constructed in 1870 to designs by Thomas Jackson.

The Annual Revisions combined the value of Craigavon House and its gate lodges at £236. Dean described the lodge at the Circular Road entrance in the following terms: ‘Sturdy little lodge displaying most of the architectural details of the house. Tall, single-storey and perfectly symmetrical three-bay below a hipped roof. Below its own hipped roof is a projecting porch with an opening treated like the rest … all beautifully maintained, its stuccoes walls and detailing enhanced by contrasting colours’ (Dean, pp 70-71). In 1891 the gate lodge at the Circular Road (along with the ‘Coachman’s house’ on the Holywood Road) were valued separately from Craigavon House for the first time. The gate lodge was valued at £10 and was occupied by a Mr. Thomas Seaton at that time. The lodge was home to James Clement in 1901 when the census described the building as a second class dwelling that consisted of four rooms. Following the conversion of Craigavon House into a hospital in 1917 its former gate lodges were maintained as private dwellings that were leased out to private tenants. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the hospital and its outbuildings was increased to £530. This was further raised to £1,600 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

Craigavon’s former gate lodge was listed grade B in 1986. The NIEA HB Records note that, whilst the former coachman’s house has been demolished, the gate lodge at the Circular Road remained in use as a private dwelling until recently. The single-storey flat-roof extension located had been added to the south side of the building by the 1980s. In 2005 the lodge was converted from a private dwelling into office premises for a private medical consultants (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858)
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 VAL/12/B/17/2A-2H - Annual Revisions (1863-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/1-9 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/20 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/48 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Irish Builder (12 Feb 1870; 4 Aug 1917)
9. Belfast Street Directories (1868-1943)
10. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
11. First Survey Record – HB26/12/029 (1984)
12. First Survey Image – HB26/12/029 (No Date)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB26/12/029 (Missing)

Secondary Sources
1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Dixon, H., ‘Honouring Thomas Jackson’ Belfast: Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1970 77.
3. Gallagher, J., ‘Stormont: The house on the hill’ Belfast: Booklink, 2008.
4. Haines, F., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001.
5. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Well proportioned and detailed single storey, symmetrical, three-bay Italianate gate lodge, most likely constructed in 1870, to designs by Thomas Jackson & Sons. Erected as the gate Lodge for Craigavon House (HB26/12/025A) and located south-west of the main house with the former Nightingale Wards (HB26/12/025B), Clock Tower (HB26/12/025A) and Walled Garden (HB26/12/025A) to the north-east, it sits on a level site on the east side of Circular Road, with some remnants of the original landscaped gardens, such as the mature trees. The former gate lodge has both historical and social significance due to its association with Craigavon House, and is an important component of the group of buildings which constitute the former Somme Hospital.

General comments

Previoulsy recorded as HB26/12/029