Quarry House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey ten-bay irregular-plan house constructed in 1912 to designs by Watt, Tulloch & Fitzsimmons with later additions also by the now named, Tulloch & Fitzsimmons. The house has hipped natural slate roof with dormers, tall roughcast rendered chimneystacks, roughcast rendered walls with canted and round bays, a projecting staircase bay, single storey porch and glazed garden room and is located on a large plot on the south side of Quarry Road with vehicular entrances to the west and north of the site, extensive gardens to the south and a separate two-storey garage to the east.

Hipped natural slate roof hipped gables to south and north with rolled lead ridges and hips, finials to apex. 4 nos. tall rendered two-stage chimneys stacks with simple cornice and terracotta pots. Flat-roofed dormers to south and east. Skylights to south elevation. Deep overhanging eaves with timber brackets and timber fascia carrying ogee gutters and with cast-iron rainwater pipes.

Entrance elevation faces north and comprises single -storey yard wall, roughcast rendered with tiled coping to east with blank wall set back behind, abutting two-storey house with roughcast rendered walls having smooth rendered string course at first floor cill level. Square-headed window openings with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows and stone cills, three to ground floor and two to first floor level. Projecting staircase bay with tri-partite window having ornate circular coloured glass set in stone surround to ground floor and large square-headed timber framed leaded light window divided into nine to landing level. Projecting single storey porch with pitched roof to west of staircase bay with natural slate roof, timber bargeboards with swept eaves, sandstone surround with shouldered detail to opening with timber open-work tympanum. Small angled wing walls with sandstone coping to entrance with shallow step. Internally porch has roughcast rendered walls with square-headed door opening having timber panelled and beaded timber door. Square-headed window opening with sandstone cill to west elevation. Section of wall to west has two square-headed window openings to ground floor and one to first floor.

East elevation has single storey yard wall as north elevation with square-headed window and door opening. Window 6/6 timber sliding sash, timber sheeted stable -style half door. Small flat-roofed bay with 6/6 timber sliding sash window abutting blank wall of north elevation to first floor level, one 6/6 timber sliding sash window to north of this. Flat-roofed dormer window with one 3/3 siding sash window adjoining chimneystack with tiled gablet to east of stack. One small square-headed window to main wall at ground floor level.

South elevation has four distinct sections. Wall and window details as before. Flat-roofed dormer window to west end with lead cheeks and two timber casement windows. Wall section to east has one window to ground floor and two to first floor, irregularly placed. Section west of this steps forward and has large square-headed door and window screen with small square panes to overlight, pair of timber and glazed doors with glazed side lights. Two windows to first floor level. Section to west of this projects forward of main line of house with timber and glazed bay window to ground floor with tri-partite style window arrangement - larger square-headed 6/9 timber sliding sash window flanked either side by square-headed 4/6 timber sliding sash windows. Tri-partite arrangement to first floor with 6/6 timber sliding sash window to centre and 4/4 to either side. Section to far west has single-storey hipped natural slate roof with deep overhanging eaves and timber brackets to Garden Room at ground floor with modern multiple-paned timber windows across full width; top-hung opening lights and paired timber glazed doors to centre with lower sections of mullions decorated with recessed panel topped with small capital.

West elevation has single storey elevation to Garden Room to south with modern multiple-paned window; single storey canted bay with parapet roof to southern bay at ground floor level with single square-headed window opening with 6/6 timber sliding sash window under straight running mould. Single storey curved semi-circular bay at ground floor level with hipped natural slate roof to north; timber brackets to soffit, three square-headed windows with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows. Two window openings to first floor with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows.

Setting:
Quarry House is located on a large plot on the south side of Quarry Road with vehicular entrances to the west and north of the site, extensive terraced gardens to the south and a separate two-storey garage to the east. Site bounded by mature hedges to east, south and west. To north low roughcast rendered walls with deep coping and regularly spaced piers with pyramidal caps, wall topped with cast metal railings finished with arrow-heads. Curved gate screen to east with circular piers having conical caps and pair of modern metal gates. Boundary wall curves round to entrance to west with circular piers having conical caps and pair of modern metal gates.

Materials:
Roof : Natural slate
RWGs: Metal
Walls : Roughcast render
Windows : Timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 42 Quarry Road, a two-storey irregular-plan house located in the townland of Ballymaghan, was constructed in 1912. The building was originally built as a merchant’s manor on land owned by Frank Workman of Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd., Belfast’s second largest shipbuilder. Despite building Quarry House, Frank Workman never resided at the site but leased the house out to other tenants (Frank Workman resided at The Moat (HB26/12/026) from 1910). The first recorded occupant of Quarry House was Cecil Lindsay, a linen merchant in the family firm Lindsay Brothers Ltd., linen and woollen merchants who operated from nos 7-9 Donegall Place (UTD). His Will records that Cecil Lindsay was Frank Workman’s son-in-law, having married his daughter Florence in c. 1911. Research carried out by the current owners of the house suggests that Frank Workman had Quarry House constructed as a wedding present for his daughter.

The Building Application Records held at Belfast City Hall record that Quarry House was constructed in 1912 to designs by Watt, Tulloch & Fitzsimmons, an architectural partnership formed between Robert Graeme Watt, Frederick H. Tulloch and Nicholas Fitzsimons in 1909 (the firm had previously designed Lindsay Brother’s business premises at nos 7-9 Donegall Place in 1910). Cecil and Florence Lindsay continued to reside at Quarry House, which was valued at £100, until c. 1917 when Cecil’s Brother David, a partner in Lindsay Brothers Ltd., took possession of the house. Cecil and Florence Lindsay resided at Lissue House in Lisburn at the time of Cecil’s death in 1946 (PRONI Wills). The Building Application Records note that David C. Lindsay contracted Tulloch & Fitzsimmons (Watt had retired or died in 1915) to design a number of additions to Quarry House. The firm constructed a bedroom over the car house (located to the east side of the house) and added a number of additional bays including the canted bay to the west elevation and the projecting bay to the first floor of the south elevation. The alteration of the property increased the value of Quarry House to £110 (NIEA First Survey Record; DIA).

The Workman family continued to own Quarry House until at least the 1970s despite suffering extreme economic difficulties as a result of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Lynch states that Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd. were hit heavily by the international depression following the crash and in 1930 Workman & Clark announced they would be closing the shipyard (Lynch). The shipyard did not close until 1935, however the announcement to close coincided with the auction of Quarry House on 24th January 1930. The auction of the house was organised by David C. Lindsay on behalf of the Workman family (Lindsay acquired Workman’s dwelling at The Moat in the same year – see HB26/12/026). The particulars of the sale of Quarry House described the house in the following terms: ‘This charming and beautifully appointed residence known as Quarry House, containing Oak-panelled hall, good dining room and double drawing room, six principle bedrooms, three servants bedrooms, boxroom, three bathrooms, cloak room, extensive and most conveniently arranged culinary apartments, wash house and all other necessary conveniences.’

Following the auction, Quarry House was occupied by Marcus A. Mitchell, a director in a Belfast-based company. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) increased the value of Quarry House to £134 and noted that Mitchell continued to lease the property from the Workman family until his death in 1949 (PRONI Wills). In 1959 the house was occupied by a Mr. A. T. Hardy who continued to reside at the site until at least 1972. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the value of Quarry House stood at £140. Field inspection of the site, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that the building continues to be occupied as a private dwelling.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1919-20)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/5-9 – Annual Revisions (1906-1930)
4. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/31 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/48 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. PRONI D2964/CB/316 – Quarry House Auction Leaflet (1930)
7. Belfast Street Directories (1910-1943)
8. Census of Ireland (1911)
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 Sept 1946; 26 Sept 1949)
10. First Survey Record – HB26/12/049 (1993)

Secondary Sources
1. Lynch, J., ‘Forgotten shipbuilders of Belfast: Workman, Clark 1880-1935’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush, 2004.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A well-proportioned and detailed two-storey ten-bay irregular-plan house, constructed in 1912 to designs by Watt, Tulloch & Fitzsimmons, with references to the Arts & Crafts Style. A good example of its type, the mansion house with its hipped roof, tall roughcast rendered chimneystacks, round bays, projecting staircase and glazed garden room, retains its character externally and internally and is reminiscent of the age in which it was designed. Retaining its original setting with extensive mature gardens to the south and with its historical connections to Frank Workman of Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd., Belfast’s second largest shipbuilder, it is of local importance.