22 Hawthornden Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

One of a pair of three-bay, one-and-a-half storey semi-detached Arts and Crafts style cottages, built in 1900, with almost 'T' -shaped plan comprising main north-south block with returns to east, and attached on north side to 24 Hawthornden Road (HB26/13/047B). Single storey lean-to contains entrance door set back from gabled return facing east containing principal windows, which sits proud of remaining wall shared with neighbouring building. Walls of red-brick with pebble-dashed finish to above ground floor cill level, rosemary tiles to roof with decorated terracotta ridge, red brick chimney stacks. Painted timber sliding windows with smaller top sash throughout at ground floor level. Buildings are located on a level corner site at the junction of Hawthornden Road and Knocklofty Park, and were built by William Pirrie, owner of the Ormiston estate.

Roof is hipped and gabled with rosemary clay roof tiles, decorated terracotta ridge with ball finials to gable ends and smooth rolled terracotta tiles to hips. Exposed rafter ends to west elevation. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Central red-brick chimneystack rebuilt using part reclaimed and part modern brick with 3nos. clay pots.

Principal elevation faces east and comprises entrance door in single-storey lean-to set back from one-and-a-half-storey gabled return which in turn sits proud of remaining wall. Building is constructed with Flemish bond red brick to lower ground floor walls, topped with projecting string and brick special coping with cyma moulding. Pebble-dashed finish above, terracotta string course below first floor window and half-timber effect to apex of gable. Entrance door is painted timber set within shallow arched head with smooth render detail. Window to ground floor gable is tripartite timber sash window, painted with central sash 6/1 and two side sashes 4/1. Painted cill, flush with wall. Painted paired 6/1 sash window to north bay. Oriel window to upper floor, central bay with top-hung timber window divided into two with upper sections divided into six panes each. Small flat-roofed dormer, with single casement window, shared with neighbouring property to north bay. Timber barge-boards throughout. Ivy obscures some brick detailing to corners of central bay.

South elevation comprises two bays, to east is porch with lean-to roof, to west gabled end to main north-south block. Walls as before, windows 6/1 timber sliding sash, one centrally placed with decorated vent above in apex of gable and smaller 6/1 window set to east.

West elevation has original walls to former yard, sitting forward of main house, topped with stone coping, now with section of wall removed and conservatory added, to north. Single-storey to this elevation. Two windows to remaining wall, one painted timber top-hung to centre and painted timber 6/1 sash window to south. Flat-roofed dormer, in three sections to central hip, top-hung opening.

North elevation is attached to 24 Hawthornden Road (HB26/13/047B)

Roof is hipped and gabled with rosemary clay roof tiles, decorated terracotta ridge with ball finials to gable ends and smooth rolled terracotta tiles to hips. Exposed rafter ends to west elevation. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Central red-brick chimneystack rebuilt using part reclaimed and part modern brick with 3nos. clay pots.

Materials:

Roof: Clay tiles
RWGs: Cast iron
Walling: Red brick and pebble-dashed finish
Windows: Timber sliding sash and top-hung.

Setting:
Located on the west side of Hawthornden Road, at the junction of Knocklofty Park, behind a modern low brick wall with garden area to front (east). Attached to 24 hawthornden Road (HB26/13/047B). Flat site with modern red-brick garage with concrete tiled pitched roof and metal 'up-and-over' door located to south-west corner of site. Rear gardens with hedge to boundary. Built By William Pirrie as part of the Ormiston estate.

Historical information

Early to mid nineteenth-century maps show this area of east Belfast to have been largely open countryside. The road that would later be named Hawthornden Road was in existence, but there were virtually no buildings along it. The development of this district of Belfast began in the latter part of the nineteenth century as it became increasingly popular as a residential district for the town’s business and commercial classes.

In the mid 1860s a mansion named Ormiston was built on the west side of Hawthornden Road for James Combe, a Scottish-born businessman. It was later acquired by the shipbuilder Edward Harland and then William Pirrie, himself a major figure in Harland & Wolff. Pirrie was responsible for the construction of numbers 22 and 24 Hawthorden Road.

The Valuation Revision Book for 1897-1905 indicates that this pair of semidetached houses was built in 1900. Each was given a valuation of £11. The first occupants were named as William Childerley and James Castle. The 1900 Belfast street directory indicates that they were both coachmen. The street directory also gives the name of this pair of dwellings as Ormiston Villas. The House and Building Return of the 1901 census records that each house contained three windows in front and each had seven rooms in occupation.

The houses are marked on the 1:2,500 scale Ordnance Survey map of 1902 where their ground plan matches the footprint from present-day aerial photographs. At that time Knocklofty Park had not been created and the 1902 map shows a path leading from the houses towards Ormiston itself. By the time of the 1913 street directory one of the dwellings was called The Nook and the other The Bungalow.

The 1935 street directory is the first to list them under their present addresses, 22 and 24 Hawthorden Road. At this time they were the homes of, respectively, J. B. Louden, an agent, and W. M. Knight. Louden died in that year, but his widow Nora remained in possession of the house until the 1960s. W. M. Knight, a high court official, died in 1962. Valuation books from the 1930s onwards indicate that the immediate lessor of no. 22 was Harland & Wolff, while the lessor of no. 24 was the occupier of no. 22.

References:

Primary sources
1. Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory, 1900 onwards
2. PRONI, Will Calendars
3. PRONI, VAL/12/B/43/N/1, 1897-1905
4. PRONI, VAL/12/B/43/N/9, 1916-1930
5. PRONI, VAL/3/C/3/31, 1936-57
6. PRONI, VAL/4/B/7/46, 1956-72
7. PRONI, OS/6/1/5/2, 1855
8. Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 scale map, County Down sheet 5.09, 1902 – reproduced by Alan Godfrey Maps (Gateshead, 1999)

Secondary sources
1. Timothy Campbell and Stephen Royle, ‘East Belfast and the suburbanization of north-east County Down in the nineteenth century’, in Lindsay Proudfoot (ed.), Down: History and Society (Dublin, 1997)

Online sources
1. 1901 and 1911 census returns (www.census.nationalarchives.ie)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

One of a pair of three-bay, one-and-a-half storey semi-detached Arts and Crafts style cottages, dating from 1900, with almost 'T' -shaped plan comprising main north-south block with returns to east. Attached on north side to 24 Hawthornden Road (HB26/13/047B). The houses have walls of red-brick with pebble-dashed finish to walls above ground floor cill level, a rosemary tiled roof with decorated terracotta ridges and red brick chimney stacks. Windows are painted timber sliding sash with smaller top sash throughout at ground floor level. Buildings are located on a level corner site at the junction of Hawthornden Road and Knocklofty Park, and were built by William Pirrie, owner of the Ormiston estate. The buildings exhibit some character but are not deemed to be of special architectural or historic interest.